Technology Systems Analysis Group
Don J. Stevens
Dr. Stevens has 25 years of experience in the area of renewable energy from biomass and wastes. As a Senior Project Manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, he is using this background to lead research and development projects for the production of power, fuels, and chemicals from biomass. These projects are aimed at the development of innovative technologies for producing renewable biobased products.
At present, Dr. Stevens is conducting research and analysis activities on projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and other clients. In the area of biomass power generation, he is conducting technical and environmental analyses to evaluate emerging biomass power generation concepts. This effort provides DOE with technical information of emerging technologies on a worldwide basis. He is also conducting research on innovative processes to convert biomass to chemicals. This work includes new approaches for converting animal manures to higher value products such as medium-volume commodity chemicals.
Dr. Stevens also manages a project organized by the International Energy Agency to identify the influence of policy and regulatory issues on the deployment of biofuels. The project provides for the assessment and analysis of regulatory and other non-technical influences on the deployment of biofuels technologies throughout Europe and North America. The goal of this work is to help identify and eliminate non-technical barriers to deployment of biofuels.
He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Biomass Energy Research Association. BERA is a national organization that provides biomass information to its members, policy makers, and the public.
From 1990 to 1998, Dr. Stevens was President of Cascade Research Inc., a company that he started. In this position he worked to develop biomass conversion technologies that would solve energy and environmental problems. This effort included analysis of technical needs for biomass power generation, development of systems to model biomass energy systems, and related activities. The modeling efforts were used to more closely match developing technologies with sites where favorable opportunities existed. During this period, Dr. Stevens also lead international energy programs on biomass conversion.
From 1988 through 1990, Dr. Stevens was the Biofuels Program Manager at National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. He initiated the Biomass Electric Program in 1990, which dealt primarily with the use of high-efficiency biomass gasification/gas turbine systems. That program has evolved into the present DOE Biomass Power Program with its emphasis on biomass gasification.
From 1978 to 1988, Dr. Stevens was a Senior Research Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In this position he was part of a team that managed DOE's Biomass and Municipal Solid Waste Thermochemical Conversion Program. He participated in various research and development projects in combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis to convert renewable feedstocks into energy.
As a research fellow at University of Illinois from 1976 to 1978, he studied energy transport in biological membranes. The work led to a better understanding of the structure of a key enzyme. Prior to this work, Dr. Stevens conducted graduate research on high-energy reactions that occur in highly radioactive environments.
Publications
- Publicly Available Publications - list generated from external ERICA search