webcasts2008 Finalist :: Gang Wang
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Gang Wang
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Gang Wang has tested the efficiency of his innovation on one of the most important environmental technologies in use today—the emission control technology on a coal power plant. In his computations, Wang found that his innovation utilized 20 to 40 percent less material while blocking the emission of 40 to 70 percent more nitrogen oxide than traditional control technology.
Wang has developed a technique for design of specialized porous catalysts. Catalysts are used to quickly convert raw materials such as crude oil to gasoline, or the harmful emissions from automobiles and power plants into harmless components like water, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. Modern catalysts that are currently widely in use are dispersed over the vast internal surface of nanoporous materials. Because of the narrow pore size, the nanopores are easy to block, and reactant and product cannot move quickly through the nanopores, limiting the efficient use of the catalysts. This accessibility problem could be solved by introduction of large pores.
Wang used computer simulation, mathematics, and chemical engineering know-how to develop a quick, simple approach that engineers can use to determine the optimal large-pore diameter for a given catalyst, ensuring that reactants and products can move through the nanoporous catalyst as quickly as possible.
Catalysts are valuable for more than just their efficiency. Most catalysts are made out of expensive precious metals like platinum and palladium. Wang’s technique ensures the least amount of catalyst material is used.
With trillions of dollars worth of products developed worldwide each year with catalysts, Wang’s process could have global impact. Catalysts produced with Wang’s simulations are highly efficient, and in practice, could have a huge impact on environmental protection, cost control, and energy savings. And people have taken notice. Wang is already working with top chemical engineers and industry leaders to develop actual models of his porous catalysts.
Wang grew up in a city of more than one million people in northeast China. The son of a nurse and a miner, Wang was the first member of his family to attend college. His parents, who were not given the opportunity to attend college, always valued and fostered their son’s education.
Wang attended one of the best high schools in his area and went on to earn a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology in China in 2001 and a master’s in chemical engineering from the Institute of Coal Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2004. He began his doctorate at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and transferred to Rensselaer in 2006, where he is currently working toward his doctorate in chemical engineering. An extremely promising engineer, Wang has already published four articles in the top journals in his field and presented his research at several international conferences.
