“ Biomass to high value chemicals: a dialog between experimental catalysis and theory”.

El lunes 3 de abril a las 15 horas en el Aula 122, el Dr. Javier Giorgi, del Departamento de Química de la Universidad de Ottawa, brindará una charla titulada “ Biomass to high value chemicals: a dialog between experimental catalysis and theory”.

Abstract:

Catalysis has played a fundamental role in chemistry and industry for many years. The next challenges are in the creation of a clean and sustainable world. Biomass is a sustainable and renewable feedstock for potentially high value chemicals that, due to its abundance, could theoretically supply the world demand. The presentation will focus on the transformation of biomass into useful compounds with applications in a large range of industries. The biomass target will be lignin, trying to address fundamental questions regarding the conversion of lignin into valuable compounds. Lignin, an important biomass component, is the second most abundant polymer in wood and represents up to 40% of the dry biomass weight. The removal of oxygen to produce higher value compounds is a necessity but it still remains one of the challenging tasks for lignin exploitation. We are to discuss the reactivity of simple lignin models such as anisole and 2-phenoxyethanol (with the quintessential β-O-4 linkage, one of lignin’s dominant structural motifs) with Pt metal surfaces in order to compare the facility of the C-H vs. C-O vs. C-C bond cleavage. In the present work, we have chosen Pt(111) as the catalyst to study several decomposition pathways to determine the preferential conditions for each reaction. Experimental and computational approaches are brought to bear to identify reaction pathways and intermediates.

Bio

Javier Giorgi is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. Originally from Argentina, he received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Concordia University in Montreal and obtained his doctorate from the University of Toronto in the area of reaction dynamics applied to surface reactions. His training in surface science under the supervision of Prof. JC Polanyi (Nobel Prize winner, 1986) led to a postdoctoral fellowship at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society with Prof HJ Freund for the study of surface interactions during catalytic processes. Dr Giorgi’s research interests are in catalysis and surface science. Structure-reactivity relationships are at the heart of the research for a guided approach to enhancements in technology. The group synthesizes and characterizes a variety of defective oxides and studies fundamental bulk and surface properties. In recent years, the focus has been on the development of electrocatalytic anodes for solid oxide fuel cell technology. Combining surface science, materials chemistry and electrochemistry, his group has recently developed anode materials with improved performance in high sulfur content fuels. Additionally, a new family of perovskite materials have shown great promise as mixed-ion-electron-conductors with application as carbon resistant solid oxide fuel cell anodes. Prof Giorgi has received multiple grants (individual and joint) including an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and a Premier’s Research Excellence Award while mentoring more than 25 students in the past 6 years. He belongs to the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Canada (SOFCC) network and has served in the executive of the Ontario Fuel Cell Research and Innovation Network (OFCRIN) as well as a Chair of the Steering committee of the Center for Catalysis Research and Innovation (CCRI). His current interests involve single crystal and nano-structured metallic or defective oxide materials for applications in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology, chemical sensors and catalysis. In particular, two current projects involve the development of low temperature anodes for SOFCs and the catalytic transformation of biomaterials into value added chemicals.