Semester:Week 3As the world's supply of non-renewable energy is depleted, it is imperative that we study and develop natural fuels from biomass to accommodate fuel needs. Petroleum resources are decreasing while raising environmental concerns and new cost effective biomass fuels are necessary to take place of crude fuels. This week, Dr. Jason Hicks from the University of Notre Dame, came to speak about his preliminary research on heterogeneous catalysts that may be used in the chemical conversion of biomass into fuels used for energy. The main goal of Dr. Hicks' research group was to understand and discover the various properties and structures of catalysts and how they select for certain reactions.Currently, the Hicks' group is characterizing catalysts such as for the use of catalytic pyrolysis. For the time being, most of the effort is being directed at the enhancement and development of new synthetic techniques for metal based catalytic materials. These catalysts vary in their synthetic makeup and include bimetallic catalysts, zeolites and other multi-functional catalysts. What was found was that bimetallic FeMoP catalysts were recyclable and selective to deoxygenation of aryl ethers. Also, the selectivity towards deoxygenation correlates with surface acidity and Molybdenum composition. Overall, I thought the presentation proposed a research area that can have a huge impact in our world. There are many researchers out there trying to figure out how to create sustainable and renewable fuels from biomaterials. It is a complex and tough field of study, and Dr.Hick's presentation illustrated the interesting yet promising area of his study. What he has found so far was that FeMoP showed promising results as selective catalysts in deoxygenation reactions. To the non-scientists, I would describe this topic as developing fuels from biomaterials.
