A "Transforming Energy" Lecture by Anthony Dean
November 5, 2010

Abstract

The improved understanding of elementary chemical reactions has markedly improved our ability to describe “real-world” systems. Such approaches require development of accurate, detailed chemical mechanisms, which in turn require careful analysis of different types of elementary reactions. This talk will describe our approach to the characterization of elementary reactions, the construction of detailed mechanisms, and the application to several systems, ranging from hydrocarbon oxidation to biomass-derived syngas cleanup to the impact of gas-phase reactions in the mixing region of catalytic reformers. A key component to the characterization of elementary reactions is the development of rate rules for the various types of free radical reactions, and our approach to such characterization will be described.

Biography

Anthony M. Dean is the W. K. Coors Distinguished Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Spring Hill College and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Harvard University. He joined the Chemistry Department of the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1970 where his research program involved shock tube studies of elementary combustion-related reactions. In 1979 he moved to the Corporate Research Labs of Exxon Research and Engineering and focused on the quantitative kinetic characterization of gas-phase combustion systems.  He joined the CSM faculty in 2000, where his group currently studies the gas-phase kinetics within solid-oxide fuel cells, the combustion of renewable fuels, and the kinetics of biomass pyrolysis and gasification. A common element in these projects is the use of electronic structure calculations to develop rate rules that can be applied to develop detailed kinetic mechanisms.