Open Competition - Advanced Materials/Chemicals (October 1999)

Combinatorial Tools and Advanced Data Analysis Methods for Heterogeneous Catalysis: An NDI and UOP Joint Venture

Sponsor: NovoDynamics, Inc. (formerly Nonlinear Dynamics, Inc.)

• Project Performance Period: 11/1/1999 - 10/31/2004
• Total project (est.): $29,816,783.00
• Requested ATP funds: $14,610,224.00

To maintain its competitive advantage, the U.S. chemical industry needs new methods for developing catalysts that enhance innovation and reduce cycle times. Breakthroughs are needed for platinum-based catalysts, which are costly and have undesirable side effects. In a five-year project, Nonlinear Dynamics, Inc., and UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.) propose to develop novel combinatorial methods to discover materials for replacing or enhancing platinum in heterogenous catalysts, reducing the time and cost associated with discovering new catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysts are complex, often containing multiple active components on a variety of unique support structures. The properties and performance of these catalysts are affected by each of the component materials, their arrangement, and processing conditions, thus making it very difficult to optimize the design. The project will require developing tools and methods for catalyst synthesis and evaluation as well as for informatics, including data management, analysis, mining, and predictive performance modeling. Two levels of automated parallel synthesis and evaluation are planned: a discovery subsystem to identify the most promising "hits" for further study, and a focus subsystem to investigate catalytic properties in detail. The research will require new approaches to parallel synthesis, miniaturized assays that rapidly predict bulk catalytic properties, and new data and analysis techniques. As a demonstration, a catalyst and process will be developed for propane dehydrogenation which converts paraffins to olefins (principally for polypropylene, a huge market.) The generality of the approach will be demonstrated by its application to catalytic reforming, which makes low-pollution, high-octane gasoline. If successful, the new technologies could increase the efficiency of catalyst research and development, saving billions of dollars in materials production annually, reducing waste in industrial processes, and creating new industrial sectors. The ATP co-funding enabled the two companies to cooperate and will accelerate technology development by at least five years. Subcontractors include researchers at Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.) and the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, Ill.).

For project information:

Judith Bondie, (734) 205-9117
jbondie@nonlineardynamics.com

Active Project Participants

• UOP LLC (Des Plaines, IL)
  [Original, Active Member]
  

ATP Project Manager

Linda Schilling, (301) 975-2887
linda.schilling@nist.gov