Catalysis - The Science and Engineering of Chemical Transformations at Complex Interfaces
Experts at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory contributed to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences report identifying the catalysis research needed to stretch the fossil fuel supply and to make biomass, hydrogen, and sunshine significant energy sources. Enlarged View
The Chemical & Materials Sciences Division's fundamental catalysis science research is a critical part of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's overall portfolio of catalysis research and development. The Institute for Interfacial Catalysis was established at PNNL in February 2005. The Institute's research capabilities and facilities are described in a brochure and in a press release.
Catalysis is a particularly strong research area at PNNL, taking advantage of the historical emphasis on chemistry and chemical engineering at this DOE National Laboratory. Catalysis programs at PNNL range from fundamental science to process development across all four research directorates within the lab, with significant activities in the following areas:
- fundamental catalysis science
- catalytic vehicle emission measurement and control
- solid acid catalysis
- heterogeneous catalysis of bio-based feedstocks
- catalyst and process development using microchannel reactors
- catalyst materials for solid-oxide fuel cells.
Fundamental research on how molecules react on solid surfaces has been the driving force behind the basic catalysis science projects at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Enlarged View
PNNL's basic science takes advantage of the Laboratory's internationally recognized strengths in understanding the surface chemistry and physics of metal oxides, unsurpassed capabilities and expertise for computational chemistry, chemical physics, and magnetic resonance spectroscopies. The focus of the basic science research involves furthering a fundamental understanding of the chemical reaction mechanisms that occur on catalyst surfaces, including an identification of the catalytic sites directly involved in the rate-limiting elementary processes. The grand challenge is to develop precise control of chemical transformations using catalysis.
Specific basic science catalysis research in PNNL's Chemical & Materials Sciences Division includes
- reactive intermediates in the catalytic transformation of organic substrates
- selectivity and mechanisms of oxide-catalyzed nitrogen oxide reactions
- catalysis by early transition metal oxides
- mechanisms of transition metal catalyzed conversions of carbon dioxide
- the synthesis and characterization of nano-dimensional oxide/oxide nanostructures, and mechanisms of their catalytic chemistry driven by thermal and electromagnetic energy.
This research includes studies aimed at developing fundamental mechanistic studies of intermediates in hydrocarbon hydroprocessing, selective partial oxidation and simple acid-catalyzed reactions of hydrocarbons, catalyzed NO reduction, electron/hole pair chemistry of a number of important surface reactions such as water splitting and hydrocarbon oxidation, and green chemistry utilization of CO2. New theoretical approaches are developed and applied to characterize structural, electronic, and spectroscopic properties of catalysts and adsorbed reaction intermediates. These computational studies are intimately coupled to the experimental efforts in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Novel catalyst synthesis methods are being used to provide nano-dimensional catalysts with well-defined geometric and electronic structures to minimize the traditional issue of extracting detailed molecular site information from ensemble-averaged experiments.