The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering welcomes Dr. Michael J. Nash, a Plantserv™ & Product Management Manager at Linde Engineering North America in Canton, Georgia. He is an experienced project manager, research scientist, and sales engineer in chemistry and chemical engineering specializing in Heterogeneous catalysis processes.
His seminar titled, “Catalysts for a Reaction & a Career,” will take place on Thursday, December 6 from 2:00-3:00pm in Earle 100.
There are more than a thousand different types of catalysts that occur in nature or are artificially created by humans. Typical examples of biological catalysts are enzymes, which the human body uses to function, while traditional homogeneous & heterogeneous catalysts are used in industry to create many of the products we use every day. This talk will focus on the author’s experience in the heterogeneous catalyst field in three separate industries, 1) Specialty Chemicals, 2) Environmental Control Technologies, and 3) Industrial Catalysts. For each of these industries the author will present his experiences developing new catalyst technologies, such as the development of new Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalysts for higher NOx reduction on power plants and vehicles. He will then contrast how industrial catalyst research in each of these industries differs not only by their industry but also by the properties of the reaction. For example, in applications where the reaction is kinetically controlled such as SCR catalysts on cars, catalyst manufacturers invest heavily in understanding the catalysts at a fundamental level. However, in industrial catalysts such as Steam Methane Reformer catalysts, which are used in thermodynamically controlled reactions, catalyst manufacturers invest more in modifying the physical properties of the catalyst to make them cheaper or provide a benefit. In additional to presenting the catalyst technologies being developed in each of these industries the author will also touch on the dynamics of commercialization of these catalysts. The commercialization dynamics will vary drastically depending on the impact the catalysts may have on the cost of operations and the risk the customer is taking. Finally, throughout the entire talk the author will emphasis the inadvertent impacts researching these catalysts has had on his career, particularly in terms of interacting with customers, patenting of catalysts, and career progression.
Dr. Nash earned his B.S. from University of Florida in Chemistry & Chemical Engineering in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2008. Dr. Nash’s dissertation was “An investigation into the Photocatalytic properties of microporous titanosilicate materials”. He has also served in the Army National Guard following by working as an Advanced Research Chemical Engineer with Eastman Chemical. Then, Dr. Nash joined Johnson Matthey as a Principal Scientist and later promoted to Senior Application Engineer. He currently works with Linde Engineering North America as Plantserv™ & Product Management Manger.