New findings by chemical engineering researchers could improve renewable energy production

Regents Professor Lanny Schmidt (chemical engineering and materials science) and his university colleagues–graduate students James Salge, Brady Dreyer and Paul Dauenhauer–invented a new process that could significantly improve the efficiency of fuel production from renewable energy sources.

The process yields a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases called synthesis gas, which is now used to make synthetic diesel fuel (dimethyl ether, also a substitute for propane gas) and ammonia, a constituent of fertilizer. Hydrogen is also the energy source for fuel cells and may someday be burned in car engines instead of fossil-based gasoline. The research is published in the Nov. 3 issue of Science. More…