Purdue University SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES Dr. W. Nicholas Delgass Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor of Chemical Engineering Purdue University "The Science of Catalysis" December 6, 2011 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. FRNY G140 ABSTRACT: A catalyst alters the course of a chemical reaction without being consumed. Catalysts are the fairy dust that drives the chemical and petroleum industries, and, through their ability to improve reaction selectivity, enable alternate reaction pathways, and degrade unwanted side products, catalysts are a key component of society's energy and environmental future. Fundamental understanding of catalytic phenomena requires knowledge at the molecular level. We learn about reaction pathways, i.e. the precise dance of the molecules, from chemical kinetic analysis, at both steady and unsteady state. To understand how a catalyst enables those pathways, however, we have to look into the reactor at the reacting catalytic site or at least characterize the chemical nature of the catalyst and its interaction with reacting molecules. We do this with an ever-expanding array of spectroscopic and microscopy tools. With the advent of reliable quantum level computation we now also have the ability to validate detailed molecule models of catalytic events. Thus, we are on the verge of making catalysis a science, i.e. of understanding the chemistry well enough to predict what chemical sites can catalyze particular reactions. This talk will illustrate how catalytic understanding has been gained in example systems including the water gas shift reaction, selective oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide, and olefin polymerization. A potential path forward to true catalyst design using a model-based approach we call Discovery Informatics will also be described. BIO: Nick Delgass is Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Center for Catalyst Design at Purdue University. Over his 43 years of catalysis research and teaching, he has worked with a variety of spectroscopic tools for catalyst characterization and focused on using surface chemical information from those methods to understand catalytic activity in water gas shift, methanation, HDS, hydrogenation, epoxidation, NOx reduction, olefin polymerization, and aromatization reactions. This work has resulted in over 150 papers, co-authorship of a book on Spectroscopy in Heterogeneous Catalysis, awards from the Michigan and New York Catalysis Societies, the inaugural North American Catalysis Society (NACS) Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Catalysis and numerous teaching awards. He is a past editor of the Journal of Catalysis and has served as consultant to major petroleum and chemical companies. His current work, in collaboration with several Purdue faculty members, emphasizes a systems and model-building approach to catalyst design in a framework called Discovery Informatics and catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of molecules derived from biomass to make high energy density fuels. Jenni Mamph Secretary Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering 480 Stadium Mall Drive, Room 1144 West Lafayette, IN  47907-2100 (765) 494-4069