Graduate Seminar: Jan J. Lerou

Abstract

Minichannel process technology offers process intensification, in the form of enhanced heat and mass transfer, to a wide range of chemical reactions. This presentation discusses the application of minichannel technology to the production of ultra-clean synthetic fuels. These fuels, which are one-to-one replacements for petroleum derived fuels, are produced by passing synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, over a cobalt or iron catalyst; a process known as Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis for its German inventors. The most efficient path to syngas is the conversion of natural gas via steam methane reforming (SMR). Both the SMR and FT benefit from the process intensification offered by minichannel technology, resulting in smaller, less costly processing hardware; thus, enabling cost effective production of synthetic fuels from smaller facilities, appropriate for stranded and associated gas resources, both on and offshore. The products from FT processes can be upgraded into diesel or synthetic paraffinic kerosene, or simply blended with crude oil for transport to the world market. Leading companies in this field include CompactGTL (UK), INFRA Technology (Russia) and Velocys, Inc. (USA.

Bio

Dr. Jan J. Lerou is Principal of Jan Lerou Consulting, LLC, which offers consulting in a wide variety of heterogeneous catalytic processes with particular emphasis on the conversion of biomass to renewable fuels and chemicals. He has over 35 years of experience in chemical reaction engineering in academia, large chemical industries and start-up companies. He is also adjunct professor of chemical engineering at Penn State and at Washington University in St. Louis.

He recently retired as Group Chief Technology Officer of Oxford Catalysts Ltd and Velocys, Inc., subsidiaries of Oxford Catalysts Group PLC. Oxford Catalysts produces specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels, and Velocys, Inc. is commercializing processing systems that provide energy and chemical companies with substantial capital cost savings, improved product yields, and greater energy efficiencies.

He was previously Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of NovoDynamics, Inc., a start-up

company based in Ann Arbor, MI, which creates and sells leading-edge pattern recognition and data mining software products.

Prior to this position he was technical manager of the Nylon Intermediates business at DuPont. In his 16 year career with DuPont, Dr. Lerou has held a variety of engineering and management positions and has contributed in both capacities in the successful commercialization of new processes which include: fluoromonomers, butane to tetrahydrofuran and ozone safe hydrofluorocarbons. Before joining DuPont, Dr. Lerou was a research associate in Professor Froment's Laboratorium voor Petrochemische Techniek at the University of Gent.

He has published more than forty scientific papers and was awarded nine patents. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering degree from the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) and a Ph.D. from the University of Gent (Belgium).

Dr. Lerou is actively involved in academic and technical and scientific institutions. He was a visiting professor of Chemical Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium between 1997 and 2004. He has served on the industrial advisory boards of the chemical engineering departments of the University of Virginia, the University of Houston, the Pennsylvania State University and Washington University, St. Louis. He is currently, chair of the AIChE Publication Committee and 1st Vice Chair of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division. He is Past President of ISCRE, Inc, and Past Chair and Director of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of the AIChE. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the recipient of the 2008 Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Practice Award from the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.