Grant: Industrial Research Chairs

This program represents a renewal of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in New Microporous Molecular Sieves in the Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. This program will build on discoveries made in the first term of this Chair by the Chairholder Dr. S.M. Kuznicki. These include the design of adsorbents to replace energy intensive cryogenic processes for the harvesting of ethane from natural gas thus, the separation of ethylene from ethane, the removal of methane from pure hydrocarbon streams and other energy friendly adsorptive processes. This Chair will also approach the design of catalytic membranes for the synthesis of polymer precursors such as ethylene and propylene, which would eliminate the need for energy intensive separations in their preparation. New applications of molecular sieves and the generation of new molecular sieves for energy and pollution abatement will continue to be explored. The industrial sponsor of this program is NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a Calgary based company and a world's leading producer of ethylene and a major supplier of other related chemicals.