Summary of Achievements

Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

• Published Chemical Industry R&D Roadmap for Nanomaterials By Design: from Fundamentals to Function.
• Identified joint chemical & semiconductor industry research needs for modeling of nanomaterials.
• Estimated energy savings and financial impacts of nanomaterials by design on select chemical industry applications.
• Recommended topics for R&D on toxicological hazard assessment of nanomaterials.
• Established National Nanotechnology Initiative-Chemical Industry Consultative Board for Advancing Nanotechnology (CBAN).
• Defined high-priority R&D areas for NNI & EPA.
• Created searchable database of ES&H literature, and identified R&D progress and needs.
• Developed proposal evaluation criteria for ONR.
• Established collaboration with Semiconductor Research Corporation and American Chemistry Council.

Nanomaterials are an opportunity for the U.S. chemical industry to introduce a host of new products that could energize the economy, solve major societal problems, revitalize existing industries, and create entirely new businesses.

Ionic Liquids

• Published Accelerating Ionic Liquid Commercialization Roadmap.
• Conducted literature search on industrial applications of ionic liquids.

The thermodynamics and kinetics of ionic liquids offer the potential for solvent-free processing and green chemistry. Research could pave the way for more efficient catalytic reactions, separations, electrochemistry, and combined reaction-separation processing.

Computational Methods for Chemical & Physical Properties

• Estimated economic value of improved computational methods for materials design and development.
• Completed study Advanced Modeling Techniques for Physical Property Estimation.

Design of new, high-performance materials depends on leading-edge research into material properties, computational methods and models of thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and solid-state physics.

Separations

• Published Carbon Dioxide Separations Technology: R&D Needs for the Chemicals and Petroleum Industries.
• Published Separation Technology for Hydrogen Production in the Chemical and Petrochemical Industries.
• Implemented the "Driving Gas Phase Equilibrium Processes with Adsorbents and Membranes" Initiative.
• Guided NSF separations R&D planning.
• Initiated projects in the post-biotransformation capture of organic acids; polymer-grade diacids, polyols, and organic acid esters; solvents; and oils.

New separations technology is vital to improved productivity, energy efficiency, and environmental performance in chemical production.

Utility Energy Mapping and Benchmarking

• Helped develop new software tool for assessing plant-wide energy use and opportunities for energy savings. See the Quick Plant Energy Profiler (PEP) Tool.

About 53% of the primary energy associated with chemicals manufacture is lost prior to being used in processes. Energy systems account for 2.7 quadrillion Btu in losses annually (including generation and transmission losses at offsite utilities as well as losses at chemical plants). These losses offer a key opportunity for chemical plants to improve productivity and reduce costs.

Innovative Energy Systems Integrated into Chemical Processes

• Identified opportunities for innovative energy systems integrated with chemical processes.

Biomass-to-Energy

• Published Highlights of Biopower Technical Assessment.

Biomass derived from forestry and/or farming could be efficiently and cost-effectively transformed into a sustainable supply of renewable energy for chemical plants.

Materials of Construction

• MTI published Process Equipment Materials Technology Roadmap.

R&D to create new solutions and materials is essential to reducing equipment failure, lengthening the time between equipment shutdowns, extending operating life, and consequently reducing the use of energy and other raw materials.

Alternative Feedstocks

• Published Alternative, Renewable and Novel Feedstocks for Producing Chemicals.

Expanding the options for industrial feedstocks could reduce costs, reduce reliance on petroleum and vulnerability to supply disruptions, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.