(HyPT-3) Overview of Session 4A - Redox Thermochemical

Wednesday 13th September 2023 10:00am - 11:30am ACST (UTC+9:30)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Prof Robert Wexler (Washington University), Dr Tony McDaniel (Sandia), Prof Tatsuya Kodama (Niigata University), PANELLISTS Prof Ellen B. Stechel (Arizona State University), Dr. Peter Loutzenhiser (Georgia Institute of Technology), CHAIR Prof Gus Nathan

SESSIONS AIMS TO:

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Prof Robert Wexler (Washington University)

Robert Wexler is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Wexler earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania under the supervision of Prof. Andrew M. Rappe and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University with Prof. Emily A. Carter. Dr. Wexler’s research is focused on theoretical materials innovation for renewable energy and environmental applications, with a special emphasis on developing computational methods for the more realistic modeling of interfacial phenomena in electrocatalysis, solar energy conversion, and environmental energy harvesting.

Dr. Wexler is driven by the prospects of using first-principles calculations, molecular simulations, and machine learning as a synergistic approach for developing a fundamental understanding of complex materials systems, discovering relationships between their structure and function, and identifying promising routes for device optimization.

Dr Tony McDaniel (Sandia)

Dr. McDaniel is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.  His research experience spans a range of topical areas important to functional materials and their application to developing technologies for energy storage and conversion. These include complex oxides used in the production of hydrogen by thermochemical water splitting and high temperature electrochemical processes. He has authored or coauthored over 100 peer reviewed papers and technical reports.

Dr. McDaniel is the Solar Thermochemical Technology Lead for the HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium (h2awsm.org), which is a US Department of Energy—Energy Materials Network dedicated to advancing the technology readiness level of renewable hydrogen production. Through HydroGEN and other programs, he manages multidisciplinary teams comprised of US National Laboratories and Universities in collaborative R&D settings focused on developing and demonstrating technologies for sustainable solar fuels.

Prof Tatsuya Kodama (Niigata University)

Prof. T. Kodama has been working in the field of concentrating solar thermochemistry (CSTC) for more than 20 years, developing the technologies on two-step water/CO₂ splitting cycles, solar coal gasification, and solar methane reforming. He has authored over 100 research papers and some international patents in CSTC field. He conducted one of the biggest Japanese CSTC R&D projects, promoted by Japan Cabinet Office in 2010-2013 (NEXT). An100-kW_th new solar beam-down system was built in Japan for demonstrating his innovative solar “particle fluidized bed” reactor to split H₂O/CO₂ to produce H₂/CO.

He is currently one of the key partners of ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) project of “Solar Thermochemical Hydrogen Research and Development (2018-2024))” to demonstrate his solar particle fluidized bed reactor to split H₂O using 500 kW_th solar facility of CSIRO, Newcastle, Australia.

PANELLISTS

Prof Ellen B. Stechel (ASU)

Ellen B. Stechel is Co-Director, ASU LightWorks®; Professor of Practice, Molecular Sciences; and Senior Sustainability Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Lab, and Fellow in the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society. She has built and coordinated research programs at a national laboratory, in the automotive industry; at a U.S. government agency; and now in academia. Her current research focuses on materials and systems design for concentrating solar technologies for producing sustainable liquid hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide, hydrogen from advanced water splitting, clean water, renewable ammonia, and for thermochemical energy storage.

Dr Stechel holds numerous positions of an advisory or editorial capacity, nationally and internationally, and has published over 100 peer reviewed articles. Recently a project team, in which she is a co-PI, won the U.S. Department of Energy 2021 R&D award for Hydrogen Production Technologies.

Dr. Peter Loutzenhiser (GIT)

Dr. Peter Loutzenhiser is an Associate Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT). He joined the faculty of GIT in May 2012 and is pursuing research in the area of Solar Thermochemistry and Technology, and he has directed research in this area funded by the U.S Department of Energy and NASA.  He was the recipient of the ASME Solar Energy Division’s prestigious Yellott Award in 2018, and he was elected Fellow of the ASME in 2023. He also serves as an Associated Editor for Solar Energy and is on the editorial board of Materials. Dr. Loutzenhiser received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University in May 2006.

Research for his PhD was performed at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) and focused on Building Physics.  Dr. Loutzenhiser was a post-doctoral researcher at the Paul Scherrer Institute, applying his extensive solar experience to the field of Solar Thermochemistry. He continued his research at the ETH Zurich in Solar Thermochemistry where he was a Lecturer and Research Associate prior to moving to GIT.