Dr. R. J. Gorte received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1976 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1981. While completing his PhD, he worked for Shell Development Corporation in Houston, Texas from June through August of 1977 and for the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan from June through November of 1979. He joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in February of 1981.

Since joining Penn, Dr. Gorte has served as Chairman of Chemical Engineering from 1995 to 2000 and was the Carl V. S. Patterson Professor of Chemical Engineering from 1996 through 2001. He is currently the Russell Pearce and Elizabeth Crimian Heuer Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is author of more than 170 publications in refereed journals and has received a number of awards for his research, including the 1997 Parravano Award of the Michigan Catalysis Society, the 1998 Philadelphia Catalysis Club Award, the 1999 Paul Emmett Award of the North American Catalysis Society, and the 2001 Penn Engineering Distinguished Research Award. He is on the Board of Editors of Applied Catalysis A and the Journal of Molecular Catalysis A.

Among his service activities to the Catalysis community, he has served as Chairman of the Gordon Conference on Catalysis (1998) and Program Chairman of the 12th International Zeolite Conference (1998). His work on fuel cells has been featured on NPR Science Friday, Reuters, and MSNBC. He is also well known for his research on zeolite acidity and for metal-support effects, especially with ceria-supported precious metals, used in automotive emissions control.

Some Key Publications:

1) "Direct Oxidation of Sulfur-Containing Fuels in a Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell", H. Kim, J. M. Vohs, and R. J. Gorte, Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications, 2001, 2334-2335.
2) "Direct Oxidation of Liquid Fuels in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell", H. Kim, S. Park, J. M. Vohs, and R. J. Gorte, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 148 (2001) A693-A695
3) "The Direct Oxidation of Hydrocarbons in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell", S. Park, J. M. Vohs, and R. J. Gorte, Nature, 404 (2000) 265.
4) "A New Calorimeter for Simultaneous Measurements of Loading and Heats of Adsorption from Gaseous Mixtures", F. Siperstein, R.J. Gorte, and A.L. Myers, Langmuir, 15 (1999) 1570.
5) "What Do We Know About the Acidity of Solid Acids?", R.J. Gorte, Catalysis Letters, 62 (1999) 1.
6) "A Comparative Study of Water-Gas-Shift Reaction Over Ceria-Supported Metallic Catalysts", S. Hilaire, X. Wang, T. Luo, R. J. Gorte, and J. Wagner, Applied Catalysis A, 215 (2001) 271
7) "Effect of SO2 on Oxygen Storage Capacity of Ceria-Based Catalysts", S. Hilaire, S. Sharma, R. J. Gorte, J. M. Vohs, and H.-W. Jen, Catalysis Letters, 70 (2000) 131-135.
8) "An Examination of Confinement Effects in High-Silica Zeolites", L. Yang, K. Trafford, O. Kresnawahjuesa, J. Sepa, R. J. Gorte, and David White, Journal of Physical Chemistry, B, 105 (2001) 1935.
9) "A Calorimetric Study of Oxygen Storage in Pd/Ceria and Pd/Ceria-Zirconia Catalysts", L. Yang, O. Kresnawahjuesa, and R. J. Gorte, Catalysis Letters, 72 (2001) 33-38
10) "Steam Reforming of n-Butane on Pd/ceria", X. Wang and R. J. Gorte, Catalysis Letters, 73 (2001) 15.

By: Raymond J. Gorte

Summary :

Fuel cells are an attractive method for electrical power generation because they offer the possibility of very high efficiencies compared to normal heat engines. One of the major hurdles preventing their implementation for a wide variety of applications is the fact that, until recently, only H2 could be used as the fuel. The first part of this talk will describe the operating principles behind the major fuel-cell technologies and the anticipated applications for these technologies. Special attention will be given to a discussion of the advances that will be required before fuel cells can be commercialized. The second part of the talk will describe some of our own research aimed at using hydrocarbon fuels, including liquids, to generate electrical power without the need for first reforming that fuel to H2.

List of Speakers