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Sustainable Energy Systems

APPLICATIONS

Chemical engineering processing for renewable and conventional energy extraction and carbon sequestration.

Fabrication of next-generation solar cells and batteries from nanoscale building blocks.

Production of energetic materials and fuels from biomass feedstocks.

Professor Jeff Tester is an expert in geothermal energy and supercritical fluids for green chemical synthesis.
Tester’s group examines chemical and physical transformations in hydrothermal and supercritical media with a natural focus on renewable energy capture and conversion and cleaner, more sustainable chemical processing.

THE ROLE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

Growth in world population and continual improvements in living standards in many developing countries will dramatically increase demands for energy in the next 40 years, posing tremendous challenges for providing affordable energy. Together with the economic and geopolitical issues surrounding energy security, there is a compelling need to minimize the environmental consequences that accompany supplying energy globally. Alternative methods of generating and converting energy with reduced greenhouse gas emissions are required. Although the scope and urgency of these tasks are daunting, new technologies and materials present chemical engineers and scientists with exciting opportunities to participate in discovering and developing sustainable solutions.

Cornell University is committed to being a leading institution in the field of sustainable development. In addition to the Cornell Energy Institute, several Cornell Centers coordinate efforts in related research and including the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future, and the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute. The School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is a key part of these efforts. With a framework that includes physical, chemical and biological energy transformations, transport of heat and mass in fluids and solids, materials for energy capture and storage, process analysis, design, and simulation, and full life cycle analysis of energy and mass flows, a chemical engineering education provides the ideal skill set ideal for tackling a wide range of energy problems.

Within the School, a number of research projects address energy-related technologies. In the field of bio-derived energy, faculty are exploring the effects of cellulose microstructures on enzymatic hydrolysis rates. Our faculty are reprogramming the spatial organization of metabolic enzymes via engineered scaffolds for microbial production of energetic materials. This collaborative effort also examines thermochemical transformations in hydrothermal and supercritical media when converting lignin cellulosic and lipid-rich feedstocks to liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels.

Nanofibers with controlled nano/microstructures are being utilized in various fundamental studies in Professor Joo's lab, such as cellulose hydrolysis in biomass and non-continuum gas-phase transport in sensing.
Microscopic view of electrospun cellulose nanofibers: Yong Joo’s Lab conducts research on nanostructured fibers for biodegradable textiles, biofuels, or antimicrobial filters.

Nanoscale semiconductor materials present exciting opportunities for efficient and cost-effective harnessing of solar energy in next-generation photovoltaics. We are working to understand and control chemical and photophysical aspects of interfaces in nanocrystal-based solar cells, and are combining computational and experimental tools to explore the assembly of nanoscale semiconductor building blocks towards metamaterials with tunable electronic and optical properties for high performance solar energy capture. Given the inherent intermittency of solar and wind energy resources, efficient energy storage technologies will be needed. Research in this area focuses on nanoscale materials for high-performance next-generation lithium ion batteries and novel materials for high capacity thermal energy storage.

Chemical Engineering faculty in collaboration with faculty in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences are working on a range of fundamental engineering science issues associated with geothermal energy capture, advanced thermal methods of drilling and carbon capture and sequestration. We study the coalescence of aerosol drops relevant to pollutants forming during combustion to understand mass transfer in suspensions for clean coal technologies. Given Cornell’s broad and unique combination of expertise located on a single campus, its recognized strength in collaborative research, and its state-of-the-art research facilities, we are excited about the possibilities of applying core chemical engineering principles to profoundly advance our progress towards a more sustainable energy future.

TYPICAL PROJECTS

• Development of single-step casting of aluminium and steel processing to dramatically reduce energy consumptions and CO2 emissions.
• Controlled assembly of nanocrystals into robust scaleable device structures for low-cost solar cells.
• Engineering metabolic enzymes for the production of energetic materials.
• Designing chemically reactive tracers for thermal sizing of geothermal energy reservoirs.
• Converting algae-based biomass to fuels in hydrothermal and supercritical fluid media.

Click here to see the faculty involved in this area.