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Innovation in Catalysis for Energy and The Environment
Research Experience
Solar Methane Reforming
Methane Coupling
CO2 Reforming
CO Oxidation
C1 Chemistry
NOx Reduction
Chemical Sensor Technology
Selective Oxidation
Research Interests
Our research interests are broad in scope and continually evolving. We believe the most creative and effective solutions can come from a heterogenous team, with a variety of expertise and diverse backgrounds.
Contact us to discuss the possibility of creating a collaborative research program.
News & Announcements
May 26, 2010: Teachers at Hawk Point Elementary School receive the first annual award for
"Excellence in Education"
Contemporary global energy and environmental challenges…
One of the most challenging and important problems now facing humanity is the finite supply of petroleum from which a vast array of fuels and products essential to OUR MISSION The need for efficient, economical, and environmentally benign processes for producing fuels and products from gas, coal, and biomass can be met with the design of novel catalytic materials that can perform complex bottom-up 
a day, and at this rate the proven world oil reserves will be depleted in 40 years (US Energy Information Administration 2009). As oil reserves decline, natural gas will begin to replace oil as the major feedstock for fuels and industrial chemicals. How to supply the vast quantities of fuels and chemicals when oil is no longer readily available is one of the most challenging and important problems now facing humanity. At present, natural gas and coal are the only viable alternatives to oil, but like oil, burning gas or coal emits CO2 (a greenhouse gas). At current rates of production, the CO2 concentration will more than double the preindustrial concentration by 2050. The long-term, sustainable solution to the problems of dwindling petroleum resources and global warming is to switch to renewable sources. However there are currently no economically viable processes for producing many of the materials now obtained from oil.
Addressing our global challenges through catalysis…
syntheses from C1 starting
Catalysts play a key role in improving and maintaining air, water and soil quality and are central to the production of food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. At the Langmuir Research Institute our scientists and engineers are dedicated to pursuing advances in catalyst design and new catalytic technologies that address many of the energy and environmental challenges we are faced with today. The Institute was formed to address the need to advance the traditional endeavor of catalysts development to a new methodology based on experiment guided design that will accelerate the pace of research with high-quality, fundamental understanding.
OUR VISION
Serving humanity through advanced catalytic science…
At present, our primary research endeavor is focused on the development of a novel transport-bed solarthermal reactor that will capture abundant solar energy in the form of chemical bonds and offer a new means for efficient energy transport to population centers. This process technology uses sunlight as an energy source to upgrade abundant CO2 and methane greenhouse gases to syngas, a high-energy CO and H2 fuel mixture. In our vision, modular transport-bed solarthermal reactors will be distributed among areas of high solar intensity where the energy content of methane and CO2 mixtures is increased by endothermic reforming to syngas. The syngas mixture may be transported or, using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, converted on site to liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
The Langmuir Research Institute, possessing an exceptional set of talent and catalyst characterization tools, is pursuing technology and catalyst formulation patents to sustain our efforts for the long-term. We also collaborate with researchers worldwide on a variety of energy and environmental challenges and offer access to our talent and unique instrumentation on a fee-scheduled contract basis. As a centerpiece of our research instrumentation, the TAP (Temporal Analysis of Products) reactor system is used to guide advanced kinetic characterization of catalyst performance. Our scientists are the global experts on TAP technology and our efforts serve to support the advancement of the TAP technique through education, collaboration and training services.