This opportunity focuses on the development of new catalytic routes to renewable high performance fuels. Fuels derived from biomass sources have the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the Navy while concomitantly improving the performance of Navy platforms. To achieve this goal, novel catalysts will be synthesized and atom-economic methods will be explored to synthesize fuels that meet or exceed current military specifications. Fuel molecules will be generated from renewable and biosynthetic precursors, characterized both from a fundamental and applied perspective, and optimized for utilization by Navy platforms. The research department has a number of unique facilities to support these studies including intermediate scale batch and continuous reactors, a world class clean-room/nanoscale fabrication laboratory, and small-scale fuel characterization equipment (bomb calorimeter, viscometer, flashpoint detector, DSC, TMA). The department also maintains a variety of analytical capabilities including NMR, IR, MS, UV/Vis, GC/MS, HPLC, ICP-AES, SEM, single crystal and powder XRD.

 

key words

Renewable fuel; High temperature composites; Green chemistry; Catalysis; Inorganic chemistry; Polymer chemistry;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants