ChBE's eighth seminar of the Spring Quarter will be presented by Chris Jones, detailed information is given below:

Date & Time: Thursday, May 19th 9:00 am - 10:00 amLocation: Ford ITW Room (refreshments will be available at 8:45am)

Speaker: Christopher W. Jones, Georgia Institute of TechnologyTitle: Amine-Modified Silicates as CO2 Sorbents and Catalysts

AbstractWorldwide energy demand is projected to grow strongly in the coming decades, with most of the growth in developing countries. Even with unprecedented growth rates in the development of renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and bioenergy, the world will continue to rely on fossil fuels as a predominant energy source for at least the next several decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that anthropogenic CO2 has contributed measurably to climate change over the course of the last century. To this end, there is growing interest in new technologies that might allow continued use of fossil fuels without drastically increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations beyond currently projected levels. In this lecture, I will describe the design and synthesis, characterization and application of new aminosilica materials that we have developed as cornerstones of new technologies for the removal of CO2 from dilute gas streams. These chemisorbents efficiently remove CO2 from simulated flue gas streams, and the CO2 capacities are actually enhanced by the presence of water, unlike in the case of physisorbents such as zeolites. Interestingly, the heat of adsorption for these sorbents is sufficiently high that the sorbents are also capable of capturing CO2 from extremely dilute gas streams, such as the ambient air. Indeed, our oxide-supported amine adsorbents are quite efficient at the direct "air capture" of CO2 and we will describe our investigations into development of "air capture" technologies as well. Finally, the amine-modified silica materials have also been used as efficient catalysts in coupling reactions important in organic synthesis, such as aldol and nitroaldol condensations. Inspired by biological catalysts that make and break bonds using cooperative organocatalytic sites, chemocatalysts designed to promote cooperativity between amines and hydrogen bonding sites are shown to be highly effective catalysts. Kinetic evidence for cooperative catalysis will be presented.

BioProfessor Jones is the Love Family Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Associate Vice President for Research at Georgia Tech. Dr. Jones leads a research group that works in the broad areas of materials, catalysis and adsorption. Since joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Jones has been recognized with a number of awards for his research and teaching. The American Chemical Society recognized his catalysis research with the Ipatieff Prize in 2010, followed by the North American Catalysis Society with the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis in 2013. Also in 2013, he was recognized by the American Society of Engineering Education for his work in CO2 capture with the Curtis McGraw Research Award. Dr. Jones is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the new journal, ACS Catalysis, which was recognized with the 2012 Prose Award as the Best New Journal in Science, Technology or Medicine, by the American Association of Publishers. As Associate Vice-President for Research, Jones is responsible for leading and managing interdisciplinary research activities across six colleges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the Enterprise Innovation Institute.