________________________________ From: Peer, Rebecca J. [mailto:peerb@purdue.edu] Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 2:27 PM To: dstarewi@ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Biological Engineering faculty candidate seminar Could you please forward this to people in your area that would be interested. Thanks, Isa Mbaraka BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CANDIDATE Research Seminar Monday, August 28, 2006 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. - ABE 301 "Nanostructured Catalysts for Conversion of Biorenewable Feedstocks" Abstract -- Bioprocessing of biorenewable feedstocks will likely require the development of new chemical processes as well as biological processes for economical manufacture of chemicals and/or fuels. However, biorenewable feedstock conversion with heterogeneous catalysts provides new challenges in inorganic catalyst research and development relative to the voluminous historical work with petrochemical feedstocks. These unique challenges include the need to selectively convert highly functionalized molecules and to develop catalytic liquid-solid interfaces in which the liquid phase is commonly aqueous. The implications of these requirements on catalyst design will be discussed as motivation for the utilization of newly synthesized nanostructured materials. These catalyst structures with high surface areas and regular arrays of uniformly sized mesopores hold promise for precise control of the reaction domain at the molecular level. Presented will be results for the application of acid-functionalized mesoporous catalysts for the conversion of lipids. The influence on catalyst performance due to the control of the pore diameter size as well as the modification of the site acidity and hydrophobicity of the reaction domain will be shown. Finally, the potential use of nanostructured catalysts in achieving the elusive goal of biomimetic catalysts will be discussed. Thanks, Becky Becky Peer Administrative Assistant Ag. & Biological Engineering 225 S. University Street Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907-2093 Phone: (765) 494-1162 Fax: (765) 496-1115