Fall 2001

ME/IE 8773-8774

 

Chemicals and Energy from Alkanes in Millisecond Reactors

by

Lanny D. Schmidt
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota

Wednesday, October 17, 2001
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Room 108 ME
Broadcast on UNITE Channel A
Coffee and cookies will be available in 152 ME following the seminar

The partial oxidation of light alkanes to chemicals offers exciting prospects for developing new chemical processes. This can be accomplished at very short contact times using noble metal monolith catalysts operating at sufficiently high flow rates that the process is autothermal and adiabatic at 800 to 1200oC. We will describe recent experiments using this technology to convert methane to syngas, ethane to ethylene, gasoline to hydrogen, and higher alkanes to oxygenated hydrocarbons with high conversions and selectivities. We will also describe extensive modeling of these processes using detailed reaction mechanisms for both surface and homogeneous steps and using full two-dimensional simulation for flow patterns to compute temperature and concentration profiles within the reactor.

Lanny D. Schmidt is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. Professor Schmidt's research focuses on various aspects of the chemistry and engineering of chemical reactions on solid surfaces. Reaction systems of recent interest are catalytic oxidation processes to produce products such as syngas, olefins, oxygenates, and HCN by partial oxidation and NOx removal and incineration by total oxidation. Professor Schmidt has published over 300 papers in refereed journals. He has supervised approximately 60 Ph.D. theses and 15 M.S. theses at Minnesota. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Informal Faculty Luncheon: Wednesday, October 17, 2001, 12:00 noon Prof. Schmidt will be able to attend.