Sarah Zeutschel has been awarded the NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Scholarship in Science and Engineering. She will continue her work with Professor Haluk Beyenal. The award was made in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements and will facilitate her continued success in research at Washington State University. Her research focuses on how electrons are transferred from microbes to the solid phase electron acceptors.
Studies have shown that students who participate in an undergraduate research experience effectively integrate coursework, enabling them to more quickly become productive engineers. For these reasons, we are extremely pleased that NASA has enabled an outstanding student like Sarah to conduct research by working with a member of our faculty.
(l to r) Prof. Haluk Beyenal, Jerome Babauta, Sarah Zeutschel, Prof. Bernard J. VanWie and Sarah Haarsma.
Three Voiland School students were selected to receive NASA Space Grant Fellowships in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements. The awards will facilitate their continued success in research. Campus-wide, 12 graduate fellowships and 6 undergraduate fellowships were awarded. Thus, Voiland School students received a disproportionately high fraction of the fellowships which were awarded. Sarah Zeutschel received the undergraduate fellowship. Sarah is working with Prof. Haluk Beyenal. Ms. Zeutschel’s research focuses on how electrons are transferred from microbes to solids. This work has application in fuel cells and wound healing. Graduate fellowships were awarded to Jerome Babauta and Sarah Haarsma. Mr. Babauta, who is seeking his PhD in chemical engineering working with Prof. Beyenal, studies electron transfer mechanisms in biofilms with an emphasis on microbial fuel cells. Ms. Haarsma is seeking her MS degree working with Prof. Bernard J. VanWie and is developing a unique detector for monitoring heart health. This device may be used to monitor the health of astronauts during extended space travel.
The Secretary of Energy recently announced significant new initiatives, including the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium, which is to be led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Voiland School faculty in Pullman and at the Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL) at WSU/TriCities will contribute to the execution of these projects. Voiland Distinguished Professor Yong Wang, who is a joint WSU/PNNL employee, will play a key role in catalytic pyrolysis and catalyst development related to syngas conversion and novel approaches to remove oxygen from biomass. WSU STAR Researcher and Voiland School Faculty member, Birgitte Ahring, the Director of the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy, will do pretreatment of biomass raw materials to create a dedicated sugar stream, which will be supplied to the different partners in the project. This work will make use of the newly established pilot facility at BSEL and will use innovative separation technologies. Catchlight Energy, whose Bioconversion Lead Dwight Anderson serves on the Voiland School Advisory Board, is one of the consortium members. Learn more of this initiative at http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=773 and of the DOE announcement at http://www.energy.gov/news/8519.htm.
Su Ha’s lab is creating and testing nanoparticles catalysts to more efficiently use transportation fuels. [Photo by Geoff Crimmons, courtesy of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News]
Yong WangPULLMAN, Wash. – Yong Wang, an internationally known researcher in the area of energy and renewable fuels, will join the Washington State University faculty as the first Voiland Distinguished Professor.
Last year Gene and Linda Voiland donated an unprecedented $17.5 million to the School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. The gift allows for the school to advance research and scholarship and to hire faculty in the area of new energy conversion technology.
Wang, who received his master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Washington State University in 1992 and 1993, is a leading researcher in the area of catalysis and biorenewable energy, where his prolific work has had a significant impact on improving energy efficiency, particularly in the chemical and fuels industries.
Improving the efficiency of catalysts, which are used in many industries to chemically transform and create products and fuel, is an important factor in increasing supplies, reducing costs and improving environmental impacts of petroleum-based and alternative fuels. Wang’s work spans from fundamental to applied research in clean energy conversion including fundamental studies of structure and function relationships of transition metal oxide and bimetallic catalysts, development of novel catalytic materials, and innovative work in reaction engineering to improve the conversion of biomass and hydrocarbons to fuels and chemicals. He also developed novel and durable materials for fuel cell applications.
“Dr. Wang’s innovative research has had a direct and significant impact on lowering costs and increasing efficiency in the chemical and energy industries,” said Gene Voiland, (BS Chem E, ‘69). “We are all pleased that he is returning to WSU. He will dramatically advance chemical engineering’s and WSU’s leadership in the development of new catalysts for transformational energy systems while he also participates in the education of the next generation of engineers and leaders.”
Wang joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 1994 as a postdoctoral fellow. He became a research engineer in 1996, and by 2005 became a laboratory fellow- the highest scientific rank at PNNL. He established and managed a team of researchers focused on catalysis & reaction engineering from 2000 to 2007. In 2008, Wang became the associate director of the Institute for Interfacial Catalysis at PNNL. The institute works to develop and improve new catalysts to increase energy efficiency in a number of areas, such as the conversion of biomass to fuel.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2008 for his groundbreaking contributions to the fields of chemical reaction engineering and catalysis innovations. The Chinese Institute of Engineers also named him the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year. He is the recipient of three prestigious R&D 100 awards, which annually recognize the 100 most significant and innovative technologies that have been introduced in the marketplace. He is recipient of the Presidential Green Chemistry Award and was twice named PNNL Inventor of the Year. He was honored as a Battelle Distinguished Inventor and is also a first-time recipient of PNNL Laboratory Director’s Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement.
“It’s always exciting when we bring a researcher of Yong Wang’s caliber to Washington State University,” said Provost Warwick Bayly. “Wang has demonstrated outstanding ability to develop innovative technologies in the field of catalysis and reaction engineering. His appointment has already attracted interest in WSU from other leading researchers, and developing a strong research program in the Voiland School will advance our reputation, educate undergraduate and graduate students, and better serve the state and nation. This is exactly the type of impact envisioned by Gene and Linda Voiland when they made their generous gift.”
Wang has been honored as guest professor in many renowned universities and institutes such as the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. He currently serves on the editorial board of Catalysis Today and Journal of Nanomaterials. He also served as the Program Committee Chair of the ACS (American Chemical Society) Petroleum Division (2006-2008). He has organized numerous international and national conferences and has more than 130 peer reviewed publications, more than 60 invited presentations over the past five years, more than 100 issued patents, and six edited books and topic journals issued on novel materials and reaction engineering for fossil and biomass conversions.
“Research to develop clean technologies and to address the daunting and exciting energy challenges of the 21st century is a top priority in the College of Engineering and Architecture,” said Candis Claiborn, dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. “Yong Wang has been recognized as an outstanding leader and cutting-edge innovator in this important research area, and I think he really exemplifies exactly where we want to head into the future.”
In recognition that the work he conducts will also have dramatic positive impacts on Washington’s agricultural industry, a portion of Wang’s appointment is also funded by WSU’s Agricultural Research Center, the state’s agricultural experiment station.
“Our continued relationship with Yong will enable PNNL and WSU to work more closely together in the critical area of catalysis directed at increasing US energy supply and reducing green-house gas emissions,” said Ed Baker, director of the Energy and Efficiency Division at PNNL.
“Yong Wang brings expertise to WSU in the research areas of catalysts, biorenewables, and energy that I believe will positively impact the agricultural industry with its role in the production of biofuels and bioproducts and, consequently, the economy of Washington State,” said Ralph Cavalieri, associate dean and director of the Agricultural Research Center. “I look forward to seeing many of the innovations that come out of Dr. Wang’s research program as they help to cement Washington State’s position at the forefront in the alternative energy economy.”
BELLEVUE REPORTER — Kelsey Whittaker of Bellevue is participating in Research Experience for Undergraduates, a summer program at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
As part of the program, students researched projects advancing state-of-the-art applications in the biomedical, aerospace, architectural, manufacturing, composite, biomolecular and electro-optical industries. Whittaker, a chemical engineering student at Washington State University, is working on a research project titled “Compatibility of Hydraulic Fluids.”
Eugene Becker, CEO of Global Sulfur Systems, Inc., received the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering alumni award at Washington State University on April 22 in recognition of his service to the industry and the school.
“I’m stunned that I received this award,” said Becker. “It really touched me.”
Becker graduated from Washington State University with a BS in chemical engineering in February of 1956 and immediately went to work for Bechtel, Corp. in San Francisco as a process design engineer. Over the course of the next 33 years, Becker held numerous positions in the petroleum design and environment industries. In 1989, he and five fellow investors formed what is now Global Sulfur Systems in Pasadena, Calif. with the primary goal to commercialize the British Gas, plc Stretford Desalting Process to address some of the environmental impacts associated with oil refining.
Over the past 20 years, the company has treated almost 28 million gallons with the Desalting Process. Treatment can be performed as a once through treatment, typically during a plant shutdown, or on a slipstream during plant operation. Slipstream processing eliminates the need to shutdown and empty an operating plant. Global Sulfur Systems has also developed a system for the filtration of sulfur sludge generated in the Stretford process, which eliminates the need for melting the sulfur sludge which can cause other operating and environmental problems.
“Gene has had a wide variety of experience in the industry and is recognized for his experience in sulfur recovery. He’s solved many, many vexing problems over the years,” said Gene Voiland, a longtime advisory board member and supporter of the school. “Plus, he’s a very good, nice guy!”
One of Becker’s crowning achievements has been his work as the lead process design engineer in developing the Beavon Process, the first sulfur recovery process for treating tail gas. The process was developed jointly by Parsons and Unocal in 1971 in response to Rule 66, passed in 1966 by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), then known as Los Angeles Air Pollution Control District (LAAPCD), which limited sulfur emissions to a maximum of 500 ppmv.
The rule and the implementation of controls for sulfur emissions were critical, especially to residents in the LA basin who suffered stinging eyes and throats due to the high sulfur levels in the area. The adoption of the rule and subsequent implementation of the Beavon Process ultimately eliminated over 100 tons per day of sulfur going into the atmosphere.
The Beavon Process consisted of hydro treating the Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) tail gas to convert all of the sulfur species back to hydrogen sulfide, followed by recovery of the Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), either as a solid sulfur as in the Stretford process or an amine system and recycle H2S to the front of the SRU. When the plant started up in August, 1973, it was extremely successful; emissions were consistently less than 50 ppm and the plant received world wide interest with many engineers visiting to see it in operation.
“Gene is a hands-on, practical engineer who epitomized the best characteristics of an education in the Voiland School,” said School Director Dr. James Petersen. “He has made a career of devising innovative designs that maximize production and minimize the environmental impacts of petroleum processing. We are pleased to count him among our most distinguished graduates.”
Recipients of the Voiland School alumni award are selected by the school advisory board in tandem with the director and faculty. The award is based on accomplishments that illustrate the impact of the education received at WSU in either Chemical Engineering or Bioengineering. To date, only eight other individuals have received this award. Mr. Becker will join the ranks of alumni like O.H Reaugh (‘33), Gene Voiland (‘69), Tim Clossey (‘80), Tom Gradel (‘60), Paul Hohenschuh (BS ‘64, MS ‘70), Jim Lafferty (‘44), Brion Wise (‘68) and Yong Wang (PhD ‘93).
