Description:

30th Annual Hulbut Lecture

Jack Burgman - PPG
Departmental Lunch to be held at 2122 Performance Hall

Title:

Engineering Opportunities in Coatings R&D

Abstract:

From planes, trains and automobiles to soda cans, laptops, and batteries, PPG leads the industry in driving new ways to use coatings to protect and beautify the world around us. In this global leadership role, we continually seek opportunities to couple engineering principles and chemistry to improve internal processes and enable new products. In this talk, case studies of how new engineering is applied in this industry will be presented, as well as a brief discussion of PPG’s transition to a dedicated coatings company.

Throughout his 30-year career at PPG, Jack Burgman has held a variety of different positions. Currently, he is the Director of R&D for PPG Architectural Coatings in the United States and Canada. Previous roles include Associate Director for Automotive Coatings R&D at the Coatings Innovation Center in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, Technical Director for Substrate Protection Systems at PPG’s laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, Technical Manager for Elastomeric Coatings and Product Manager for Automotive Clearcoat. Dr. Burgman received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Description:

Student Presentations
Louisa Savereide - Notestein Group
Cassandra Whitford - Snurr Group

Cassandra Whitford, Snurr Group:

Title
Investigating the Complexity of Composite Nanoparticle-MOF Catalysts

Abstract
In the commodity chemicals and energy industries, there is a focus on atom-efficient chemo- or regioselective reactions that minimize the consumption of raw materials and the formation of byproducts. Composites of metal nanoparticles encapsulated by metal-organic frameworks (NP@MOFs) have recently emerged as intriguing heterogeneous catalysts for regioselective reactions. These catalysts utilize the pore system of a MOF to direct reactants to the surface of nanoparticles. While various NP@MOF composites have been synthesized and shown to be regioselective, their characterization has been limited. By coupling in situ techniques with DFT calculations to study Pt@ZIF-8 as a prototypical NP@MOF, we were able to chemically define the nanoparticle-MOF interface, identify an electronic effect imparted on the nanoparticle by the MOF, and construct a model of the encapsulated Pt surface. Further, this work highlights the necessity of characterizing the nanoparticle surface in future NP@MOF synthetic and kinetic studies due to its direct influence on catalysis.

Louisa Savereide, Notestein Group:

Title
Design of Highly Dispersed Cobalt Oxide Ceria-Supported Catalysts for the Reduction of NO by CO

Abstract
Developing non-precious metal catalysts for the reduction of nitrogen oxides is an important step towards reducing toxic automotive emissions. Cobalt oxide supported on ceria (CeO2) has shown promising activity for the reduction of NO. A simple, scalable technique for producing this type of catalyst is called incipient wetness impregnation (IWI). Unfortunately, IWI as it is traditionally carried out leads to a variety of types of oxide surface species, which obscures what type of site is responsible for high catalytic activity. In this work, I test several tunable synthesis handles to understand relationships between catalyst synthesis, structure, and activity. We found that independent of synthesis method, catalyst activity scales linearly with cobalt oxidation state of a fully oxidized catalyst, particularly at sub-monolayer cobalt coverage. This suggests that highly dispersed CoO sites rather than bulk Co3O4 crystallites are important for NO reduction. By systematically modifying support morphology, metal precursor chelating ligand, and additional promoter ions, we demonstrate various techniques to increase cobalt dispersion, improve catalyst activity, and understand the interaction between cobalt oxide and the ceria support.

Description:

Mike Reynolds
Shell

Title:
Opportunities Recycling Produced Water from Shale Gas and Tight Oil Recovery Operations

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing is a subsurface well stimulation technique used to improve the production of oil and gas from low permeability shale reservoirs. During the process, water, sand and chemicals are combined and then pumped into the wellbore under high pressures to create fractures in the shale formation. The sand is deposited into the fractures to ‘prop’ them open. These propped fractures then provide the conductivity necessary for the oil and/or gas hydrocarbons to flow back into the wellbore and up to the surface for recovery through production operations.
Water is the base fluid used to facilitate the hydraulic fracturing process. Together with chemicals and additives such as polyacrylamides or guar-based polymers, these fluids help improve the overall process. Once the fluids return to the surface, the water-based fluid, oil and gas are separated. However, the fate of the produced water from these operations can be a challenge to manage. One option is to recycle and reuse the water after treating it with various chemicals and filtering technologies. However, the extent of recycle is dependent on the process economics.
This presentation will provide a perspective and overview of the currently available water treatment technologies used in upstream oil and gas operations. It will also provide some insights for opportunities and challenges in developing new technologies in water recycle.

Bio:
Michael A. Reynolds is the Principal Production Chemist at Shell in Houston, Texas where he provides expertise for chemistry related to hydraulic fracturing, water recycle and production technology for the Upstream Americas business. He also has responsibility for implementing and deploying new R&D technologies in the oilfield. During his 14 years at Shell Mike has led projects across upstream and downstream businesses including: heavy oil upgrading catalysis, surfactant development for enhanced oil recovery, and strategic projects in alternative energy. Mike obtained chemistry degrees from Michigan State University (B.S. 1995) and Iowa State University (Ph.D. 2000). Prior to joining Shell he was a post-doctoral associate at the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana. Mike has held elected offices in the ACS Division of Energy & Fuels (ENFL), the Southwest Catalysis Society (SWCS) and the North American Catalysis Society (NACS); served on the Editorial Advisory Board for ACS Energy & Fuels; and has organized or presented at numerous symposia at ACS, SPE and related national meetings. Mike has co-authored 10 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 40 patents in catalysis research and methods for oil & gas production. In July 2013, Mike was honored to accept an appointment as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University in Houston, TX where he lectures to graduate and undergraduate engineering classes during time away from his duties at Shell.

Description:

Rick Register
Princeton University

Title:
Polyethylene Block Copolymers: Synthesis, Miscibility, and Properties

Abstract:
Polyethylene (PE) is the world’s most widely produced synthetic polymer: 92 million tons in 2016, or about 35% of total thermoplastics production. Yet the mechanical properties of PE (relatively low stiffness and yield strength, poor creep resistance, etc.)—even for the most-crystalline “high density” linear PE—are limiting for many applications. Polymer properties are commonly tuned either through copolymerization, or through blending, but very few polymer species have been identified with sufficiently weak repulsive interactions against PE to yield block copolymers with disordered (homogeneous) melts, or PE-containing miscible blends at high molecular weights. Moreover, most suitably miscible candidates are chemically similar to PE, such as copolymers of ethylene with an α-olefin; these polymers also have low glass transition temperatures (Tg) and thus do not ameliorate the limiting properties outlined above.
We have found that several members of another family of hydrocarbon polymers—hydrogenated substituted polynorbornenes—are substantially miscible with PE in the melt, yielding symmetric block copolymers with homogeneous melts at molecular weights exceeding 100 kg/mol, tunable through the substituent attached to the polynorbornene repeat unit. The polymers are synthesized by “living” ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of cyclopentene, as the precursor to perfectly linear PE, and various 5-substituted norbornene monomers (alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl), yielding narrow-distribution polymers of targeted molecular weight and composition. We characterize the interaction energy density X (proportional to the Flory interaction parameter, ) by measuring the order-disorder transition temperature of near-symmetric diblocks via small-angle x-ray scattering or dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. These values of X are then compared against various mixing rules proposed to describe the mixing energy in terms of pure-component properties, starting with the classical regular mixing (solubility parameter) treatment of Hildebrand, as employed originally for polymer solutions by Flory. Despite the relatively simple nature of the dispersive interactions in these all-hydrocarbon polymers, they do not quantitatively obey regular mixing, nor do entropic contributions from chain stiffness nor free volume mismatches appear to be responsible for the observed deviations from regularity. Instead, the interactions within this family of polymers can be satisfactorily described by an empirical mixing rule of the form X = (Δγ)1.5, where X is the interaction energy density and γ is a pure-component quantity, operationally analogous to a solubility parameter, with a distinct value for each polymer. Attaching relatively short blocks of hydrogenated poly(norbornylnorbornene), with Tg = 115C, to PE effectively doubles its modulus and yield strength, while retaining an easily-processed single-phase melt.

Biography:
Richard A. Register is Eugene Higgins Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. His research interests revolve around micro- and nanostructured polymers, such as block copolymers, polymer blends, semicrystalline polymers, and ionomers, ranging across their synthesis, physics, properties, and applications. He served as chair of his department from 2008-2016, and as Director of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials from 2005-2008. He received the Charles M.A. Stine Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2002, and was honored with the Graduate Mentoring Award from Princeton University in 2008. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, of the American Chemical Society, and of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Description:

Marianthi Ierapetritou
Rutgers University

Title:
A Process Systems Engineering Perspective to Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Abstract:
Over the past decade, there has been a significant growth of research in modernizing manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical industry. The main goal is to improve the agility, flexibility, and robustness of the manufacturing process, which is important for solving the drug shortage problems.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recognized the deficiencies of pharmaceutical product manufacturing and has launched an initiative for enhancing process understanding through Quality by Design (QbD). The major goals of this effort can be summarized into the development of mechanistic understanding of a wide range of processes; harmonization of processes and equipment; development of technologies to perform online measurements of critical material properties during processing; performance of real-time control and optimization; minimization of the need for empirical experimentation and finally, exploration of process design space. As a result of this effort to change the mindset in pharmaceutical manufacturing, transition of the production from batch to continuous mode is becoming more appealing to the industry.

However, continuous production requires detailed process understanding in terms of the evolution of all critical material properties as a function of its operating parameters and environmental conditions. Once process knowledge is translated into models, process systems engineering tools allows the design, analysis and optimization of continuous integrated processes. The major challenges to achieve this goal, and highlights of the work that has been performed in our lab in the recent years to address these problems will be covered in the talk.

Bio:
Marianthi Ierapetritou is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Dr. Ierapetritou’s research focuses on the following areas: 1) process operations; (2) design and synthesis of flexible production systems focusing on pharmaceutical manufacturing; 3) modeling of reactive flow processes; and 4) metabolic engineering with focus on biopharmaceutical production. Her research is supported by several federal (FDA, NIH, NSF, ONR, NASA) and industrial (BMS, J&J, GSK, PSE, Bosch, Eli Lilly) grants.

Among her accomplishments are the 2016 Computing And Systems Technology (CAST) division Award in Computing in Chemical Engineering, the highest distinction in the Systems area of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Award of Division of Particulate Preparations and Design (PPD) of The Society of Powder Technology, Japan; the Outstanding Faculty Award at Rutgers; the Rutgers Board of Trustees Research Award for Scholarly Excellence; and the prestigious NSF CAREER award. She is also appointed this year as a Consultant to the FDA under the Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology and elected as a fellow of AICHE and more recently as a Director. She has more than 250 publications, and has been an invited speaker to numerous national and international conferences.

Dr. Ierapetritou obtained her BS from The National Technical University in Athens, Greece, her PhD from Imperial College (London, UK) in 1995 and subsequently completed her post-doctoral research at Princeton University (Princeton, NJ) before joining Rutgers University in 1998.