Carols Alberto Carrero

Abstract:
My overarching goal is to understand the factors controlling reactivity and selectivity of supported transition metal oxide catalysts in the activation of light alkanes. In the first part of my presentation, I will highlight and explain the properties and advantages of using supported metal oxides at sub- and monolayer coverage. Then, I will discuss relevant results on the synthesis, characterization and kinetics of a library of different supported binary and ternary metal oxide catalysts, emphasizing the synergetic effects of mixed transition metal oxides at sub-monolayer and monolayer coverage in the C-H activation of gaseous alkanes. I will describe my research’s journey on the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane on well-defined supported vanadium oxide catalysts to achieve the highest productivity towards propylene (~9 KgC3H6/KgCAT*h) and - recently - the highest vanadia dispersion on SiO2 (~9 V/nm2) ever reported. Finally, I will show the importance of linking kinetics and - in situ/operando - spectroscopy to get new mechanistic insights to eventually establish quantitative structure-activity/selectivity relationships.

Biography:
Dr. Carlos A. Carrero is a postdoctoral researcher currently working with Prof. Ive Hermans at University of Wisconsin-Madison (2014-present). Carlos has been working on crude oil, natural gas, and biomass upgrading with heterogeneous catalysts. His research is inspired by industrially attractive reactions, while at the same time he implements fundamental experiments to gather new mechanistic insights in order to improve and develop catalytic processes. Prior to his appointment at UW-Madison, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Robert Schloegl’s group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy conversion in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany (2013-2014). Carlos obtained his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Berlin (2008-2012) tutored by Prof. Reinhard Schomaecker and Prof. Klaus-Peter Dinse. During his Ph.D., he joined the “Berlin International Graduate Scholl of Natural Science and Engineering” (BIG-NSE), a highly respected catalysis school. Carlos is originally from Venezuela, where he completed his undergraduate studies (2005) and then joined Venezuela’s oil company (2006-2008).

This seminar is sponsored by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Please view the Carlos Alberto Carrero flyer for more information.