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Jiajie Huo, Postdoctoral Associate – Medlin Lab

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021
2:45 p.m., JSCBB A108

"Catalyst Development for Aqueous-phase Biomass Conversion and Gas-phase Methane Activation"

Seminar Abstract

Catalysis plays a crucial role in the production of energy, fuels and chemicals. In this talk, I will first discuss my previous graduate work on improving hydrothermal stability of carbon supported metal catalysts for aqueous phase biomass conversion. Compared with predominantly gas-phase petroleum processes, aqueous-phase biomass conversion offers a sustainable alternative to produce chemicals and fuels but also a challenge for catalyst stability in the harsh high-temperature water environment. By controlling carbon surface chemistry, better catalyst stability against support structural collapse, metal leaching and sintering was achieved. I will also talk about my research on methane partial oxidation to methanol. Direct methane conversion to liquid products is desired for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, better utilization of distributed methane feedstock, and convenient energy storage and transportation. However, this is also a very challenging reaction where decades of research have still resulted in low catalytic performance. We are exploring this chemistry in a high pressure continuous flow reactor system with oxygen gas on multifunctional 2-D catalyst materials.

Biosketch

Jiajie Huo is a postdoctoral associate in Will Medlin’s group at CU Boulder since November 2020. He is working on catalyst development for methane partial oxidation to methanol and for plastics upcycling reactions. Jiajie got his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology in 2013 and PhD from Iowa State University in 2018. He worked with Brent Shanks on improving hydrothermal stability of carbon-supported metal catalysts for biomass conversion during his PhD research. After graduation, he spent 2 years as a postdoctoral researcher developing organic corrosion inhibitors in the Shanks group.