Dr. Suljo Linic seminar

Dr. Suljo Linic, the Martin Lewis Perl Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering; Associate Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering; Professor of Integrative System Design; Director, Energy Systems and Engineering Program at the University of Michigan, will deliver a department seminar, "Beyond the active site - controlling the local chemical environment of active sites to achieve improved catalytic performance: examples of oxidative methane coupling and propane dehydrogenation" on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

Abstract:
I will discuss our recent work on developing multifunctional catalytic materials that allow for not only the control over the structure of the active catalytic site but also the environment in which this active site resides. By controlling the environment, we are able to control the chemical potential of reactive species and therefore direct chemical transformations in specific (desired) directions.

I will illustrate the phenomena using examples of developing catalyst/membrane multifunctional systems for oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) and propane dehydrogenation (PDH). OCM is a direct route for converting methane into ethylene and ethane (C2). When performed in conventional packed bed reactors (PBRs) this process suffers from significant thermodynamic and kinetic limitations over almost all explored catalysts.  We will show that a membrane/catalyst system with distributed oxygen feed (i.e. an O2- conducting membrane reactor) and properly selected catalyst and membrane materials can give significantly higher C2 selectivity and yield compared to a PBR. In another example, we will focus on PDH. The conversion in the PDH reaction is equilibrium limited. We will show how membrane/catalyst systems allow us to in-situ remove H2 from the product stream and by taking advantage of the Le Chatelier's principle remove the equilibrium limitations on the reaction conversion.

1. AH Motagamwala, R Almallahi, J Wortman, VO Igenegbai, S Linic*, Stable and selective catalysts for propane dehydrogenation operating at thermodynamic limit, Science, 373 (6551), 217-222, 2021, (DOI: 10.1126/science.abg7894)

2. V.O. Igenegbai, R. Almallahi, R.J. Meyer, S. Linic*, Oxidative Coupling of Methane over Hybrid Membrane/Catalyst Active Centers: Chemical Requirements for Prolonged Lifetime, ACS Energy Letters, 4 (6), pp 1465-1470, 2019: (DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.9b01075)

3. V.O. Igenegbai, R.J. Meyer, S. Linic*, In search of membrane-catalyst materials for oxidative coupling of methane: Performance and phase stability studies of gadolinium-doped barium cerate and the impact of Zr doping, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 230. 29-35, 2018: (DOI 10.1016/j.apcab.2018.02.040)

4. B. Lancaster Farrell, V. O.Igenegbai, S. Linic*, A viewpoint on direct methane conversion to ethane and ethylene using oxidative coupling on solid catalysts, ACS Catalysis, 6 (7), 4340, 2016: (DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.6b01087)

Bio:
Professor Linic received his PhD degree, specializing in surface and colloidal chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis, at the University of Delaware in 2003. He was a Max Planck postdoctoral fellow at the Fritz Haber Institute of Max Planck Society in Berlin (Germany), working on first principles studies of surface chemistry. He started his independent faculty career in 2004 at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he is currently Martin Lewis Perl professor of chemical engineering and energy systems engineering. He was a Hans Fischer Fellow at Chemistry Department at Technical University, Munich from 2015 to 2019.

Prof. Linic’s research has been recognized through multiple awards including the 2023 Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis by American Chemical Society (ACS),  the 2017 Emmett Award by The North American Catalysis Society, the 2014 ACS (American Chemical Society) Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science, awarded annually by the ACS Catalysis journal and Catalysis Science and Technology Division of ACS, the 2011 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Young Investigator Award, awarded by American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the 2009 ACS Unilever Award awarded by the Colloids and Surface Science Division of ACS, the 2009 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award awarded by the Dreyfus Foundation, the 2008 DuPont Young Professor Award, and a 2006 NSF Career Award. Prof. Linic has presented more than 200 invited and keynote lectures and published more than 80 peer reviewed articles – with over 17000 citations - in leading journals in the fields of catalysis and general science. He serves as the associate editor of ACS catalysis journal.

Start date
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 1:25 p.m.
End date
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 2:30 p.m.
Location

B75 Amundson Hall

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