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The 2008/2009 George D. Graffin Lectureship in Carbon Science and Engineering

Dr. Frederick Baker
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nanoporous Carbon Materials - How They Benefit Our Lives and the Environment  

Abstract
Broad topic areas covered in the talk will include the development, production, properties, and many uses of nanoporous (activated) carbon materials, especially those that have bearing on our lives and the protection of the environment. A brief walk will be taken through the history of porous carbon, from its first recorded medicinal uses in 1550 BC, its link to the Royal Navy’s blockade of French ports during the Napoleonic wars, its major development and use in the Great War (and subsequent wars), to helping to put America’s national beverage, Coca-Cola, in our shopping carts. Examples will be discussed of how activated carbon is used to purify the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the food that we place on our dining tables. The many industrial uses of activated carbon will be highlighted in the contexts of preventing environmental pollution and the economical recovery of valuable process chemicals. Insights will be provided on the use of porous carbon materials for electrical energy storage, notably in increasingly smaller, yet higher energy density electrochemical (super) capacitors, and in the gasoline vapor recovery systems on vehicles. For those that have yearned to circumvent the Ideal Gas Laws, information will be provided on how to store as much fuel gas (e.g., natural gas) in a cylinder at 500 psi as in the same size cylinder pressurized to 3,000 psi. And just in case those same folks have signed up for a seat on a manned mission to Mars, the talk will conclude with an introduction to projects on the production and use of activated carbon on the surface of the red planet, for the growing of food crops, recycling of oxygen and water, and use in life support breathing systems.

For those audiences interested in the additional subject matter, the talk will include a discussion of a major research program underway at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the development of processes for the low cost production of carbon fibers from renewable resource materials for lightweight automotive composites. The additional subject matter will include the melt spinning of precursor fibers from lignin, conversion to carbon fiber, and an introduction to the economic modeling of this and related processes under development at Oak Ridge. To comply with Export Control (ITAR) requirements, the discussion of conversion processes will be confined to a broad brush description, but the advanced processing techniques under evaluation will be mentioned, including microwave-assisted plasma. The relevance of this research program will be placed into context with the nation’s latest “energy crisis,” and how this and related biomass research work could greatly help to alleviate the nation’s dependence on imported oil for the production of fuels and chemicals.

Lecturer
Dr. Frederick Baker is a Senior Staff Member at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he is Manager of the Low Cost Carbon Fiber (Alternative Precursors) Project. Prior to joining ORNL in 2004, Fred worked for 40 years in the pharmaceutical (antibiotics) and specialty chemicals industries, developing new products and production processes. His work over the past 30 years has been directed to the production and use of activated (nanoporous) carbon products for diverse gas phase and liquid phase applications. He is widely recognized as an expert in the mechanisms of carbon activation, and how to manipulate process conditions to tailor product properties to specific applications. He has extensive hands-on experience in transferring R&D technology into the production and commercial environments. Fred has been awarded over 40 United States and foreign patents on the production and applications of activated carbon materials. He is a Fellow and past Chairman of the American Carbon Society.

Current Research Activities and Interests in Nanoporous Carbon Materials:
  • Development of processes for low cost production of carbon fibers from renewable resources for lightweight automotive composites and also the manufacture of activated carbon fibers
  • Development of electrical swing adsorption (ESA) system for air separation to produce O2-enriched streams for enhanced combustion and gasification of coal (production of hydrogen for fuel cells)
  • Development of regenerable, ESA-based collective protection system for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats (military and civilian uses)
  • Development of ESA-based system for achieving regulatory CO2 levels and enhanced energy-efficiency (+30%) in HVAC systems in public buildings (e.g., schools)
  • Development of ESA systems for scrubbing of CO2 from hydrogen, syngas (reformate), and air streams for fuel cell applications
  • Development of engineered forms of nanoporous carbon catalyst for desulfurization of syngas streams for fuel cell applications
  • Gas storage in nanostructured carbon materials, including low pressure storage of natural gas as a vehicle fuel and of hydrogen for fuel cell use
  • Enhanced and more efficient CO2 scrubbing and purification of submarine atmosphere, including passive CO2/VOC removal in disabled submarines for increased survivability
  • Development of cost-effective processes for production of nanoporous carbons for electrochemical capacitors (“supercapacitors”), including nanoporous carbon fibers


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