Steven Jorgensen

Develop a (minimum) Level 4 design of a process to replace a minimum of 5% of current U.S. production capacity of a non-fuel commodity chemical normally derived (directly or through intermediate steps) from coal, petroleum, or natural gas, with a process that uses either plants (including algae) or animals as feedstock/feedstock source (i.e., as the source of carbon).

Some constraints:
• The end product commodity chemical may not have its primary use as a fuel (ethanol e.g.)… Show more

Develop a (minimum) Level 4 design of a process to replace a minimum of 5% of current U.S. production capacity of a non-fuel commodity chemical normally derived (directly or through intermediate steps) from coal, petroleum, or natural gas, with a process that uses either plants (including algae) or animals as feedstock/feedstock source (i.e., as the source of carbon).

Some constraints:
• The end product commodity chemical may not have its primary use as a fuel (ethanol e.g.), although the process may produce a chemical that is normally a fuel as an intermediate.
• The process must be able to produce no less than 5% of 2010 U.S. capacity, and ideally, be able to produce up to 10% of 2010 U.S. capacity. This means that annual availability of your plant/animal source must be sufficient – or must be reasonably able to be increased – to supply your proposed process.
• Your process must not use the edible portion of any of these major U.S. food / animal feed crops: barley, canola (rapeseed), corn, flaxseed, oats, peanuts, potatoes, rice, sorghum, soybeans, or wheat. Your process may use non-edible portions of these crops, such as straw, cobs, peels, hulls, or the edible portion of any other food/animal feed crop.
• If you choose microbial production, the source of its carbon has the same restrictions as above – e.g., you cannot use fermentation with a rice or corn feedstock, for example. Microbes can also use carbon dioxide as their carbon source, as appropriate.
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Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the dominant technology for producing hydrogen today. Evaluate the technical and economic viability of producing hydrogen by integrating a modern-type reforming plant with a nuclear power plant and CO2 capture technology.
Specifically, completing a Study Design of a first-of-its-kind hydrogen plant that utilizes heat generated by the nuclear power plant as an energy source for the main steam reforming reactors. The plant will in addition employ high… Show more

Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the dominant technology for producing hydrogen today. Evaluate the technical and economic viability of producing hydrogen by integrating a modern-type reforming plant with a nuclear power plant and CO2 capture technology.
Specifically, completing a Study Design of a first-of-its-kind hydrogen plant that utilizes heat generated by the nuclear power plant as an energy source for the main steam reforming reactors. The plant will in addition employ high efficiency CO2 capture to provide a climate-change-friendly process for hydrogen production.
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