Process, Reactor and Catalyst Development
Staff and facilities at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory can help industry transform manufacturing processes, improve energy efficiency and reduce waste. Effective partnerships can be built on formal contracting vehicles and on exchanges of personnel.
Applied Process Engineering: From Molecules to Money
Methodology: Molecular, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and economic modeling tightly integrated with experimental studies of chemical transformations in specialized (microchannel, semi-structured, electrochemical, photochemical) and conventional reactors.
Facilities: Bench and high-bay process development stations equipped with online, at-line and advanced off-line analyses.
Commercializing New Products and Processes
Catalysts deposited on reticulated foams, either thermally or electrically conductive, permit enhanced energy transfer that helps intensify desired chemical reactions.
PNNL's templating with carbon during the hydrothermal synthesis of HZSM-5 produced mesovoids that protected supported Pd from sulfur during hydroconversion of octane.
Upstream
Downstream
Catalyst Research Integrates with our Reactor Research
Advanced Modeling
We routinely combine quantum chemistry with molecular dynamics to design and understand catalysts that operate in complex media, e.g., strong electrolytes and electrochemical interfaces.
AIMD simulation of hydrophobic functionalized C-support, in contact with Pt nanoparticle and Nafion ionomer. (H:white, C:grey, O:red, F:green, S:yellow, Pt:cyan).
CMD simulation of C-supported Pt nanoparticle in contact with water and organics. (H2O:turquoise, C:grey, Pt:black, phenol:pink).
Advanced Reactors
Laminate fabrication of PNNL's microchannel reactors facilitates incorporation of catalysts and sorbents and deploys them in appropriate architectures. For example, solar-thermal powered conversion of methane.
Working Together: DOE Allows a Spectrum of Contracts
Enterprise-Level Research Spans from Crud to Climate
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute: Facilitates modular chemical process intensification for clean energy manufacturing. PNNL and OSU co-lead the Module and Component Manufacturing Focus Area.
- Signature Discovery: A structured generalizable system for pattern recognition, developed in the course of our work in national security, which could help identify best practices from plant operating data.
- GridOpticstm: Combines information from grid, data, transmission and distribution networks, and could help optimize dispatching of go-generated power from refinery and chemical plants.
- Co-Optima: Aims to develop fuels and engines that maximize performance and energy efficiency while minimizing environmental impact. PNNL helps lead.
- Chemical Transformations: A new initiative to devise modular, intensified conversion technologies to transform waste and distributed carbon resources into fuels and chemicals.
- PRIMA: Multi-scale climate modeling that links human and natural systems to estimate regionally specific impacts and explore mitigation & adaptation options.
About PNNL
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs more than 4,000 staff and has an annual budget of approximately $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
For more information, contact:
Bob Weber, Manager, Commercial Sector Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999, K2-12 | Richland, WA 99352 (509) 372-4748 | Robert.Weber@pnnl.gov
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