Catalytic Upcycling of Polyolefins, by Susannah Scott, Distinguished Professor, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemistry, University of California-Santa Barbara

 The Department of Chemistry Presents, via Online Zoom Presentation:  Susannah Scott, Distinguished Professor, Chemical Engineering and Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California-Santa Barbara

Please note that this seminar will be on Thursday whereas our seminars normally are on Friday.

A successful circular plastics economy will depend on the ability to create value from commodity plastics in ways that mechanical recycling has simply not delivered. Chemical strategies to disassemble polymers must take into account thermodynamic and kinetic barriers, and target products of higher value. I will describe strategies to obtain valuable chemicals from polyolefins without the need for large inputs of energy or chemical resources, by coupling reactions that create and consume hydrogen.

Bio

Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Iowa State University in 1991. She pursued her postdoctoral studies at the Institut de recherches sur la catalyse in Lyon, France with a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship, and joined the faculty of the University of Ottawa (Canada) in 1994, where she was named to a Canada Research Chair in Catalyst Design. She moved to UCSB in 2002. She is the recipient of an NSERC Women’s Faculty Award (1994-1999), the Polanyi Prize in Chemistry (1994), a Cottrell Scholars Award (1997), and a Union Carbide Innovation Award (1998).

Current research projects include:
• Redox reactions catalyzed by PGM-substituted complex oxides
• Controlled, autocatalytic synthesis of supported metal nanoparticles
• Well-defined supported catalysts for olefin metathesis and tandem alkane metathesis
• Creating and understanding supported olefin polymerization catalysts and cocatalysts
• Surface structure and chemistry of oxides
• Catalytic routes to polymer nanocomposites
• Catalysts for converting biomass to fuels and chemicals
• New spectroscopic and kinetic methods for studying heterogeneous catalysts

Research Group Website: https://www.scott.chemengr.ucsb.edu

[email protected]

This will be an Online Zoom Seminar.  Please click Here for the Zoom Meeting Link