Catalysis for Energy Fundamental Science and Long-Term Impacts of the U.S. Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Catalysis Science Program (2009) / Chapter Skim
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constitutes one of the most important and challenging issues in the United States. To achieve its mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States, DOE 1 For the purposes of the report, the DOE's basic research in the science of catalysis is defined by the portfolio of grants that are funded by the BES Catalysis Science Program (formerly the Catalysis and Chemical Transformations Program)
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This is because catalysts are essential to energy: they are crucial to the development of new energy technologies and to the processing and manufacturing of fuels for energy storage.5 Since 1999, the Catalysis Science Program has sponsored more than 1,000 catalysis basic research grants at universities and national laboratories (Figure S-1)
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approximately 20 years earlier. TABLE S-1 Funding and Number of Catalysis Science Program Grants for Research in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis, FYs 1999–2001, 2002–2004, 2005–2007 Funding Percentage (millions of of Total dollars)
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Impact of the Catalysis Science Program on Fundamental Science and Future Contributions to National Energy Goals For the purposes of this study, the committee defined the fundamental science of catalysis as the general understanding of or insight into a catalysis system or a material that is fundamental enough to be applied to more than one specific catalyst. Examples of fundamental science include the development of quantitative models of a class of reactions (such as hydrocarbon oxidation)
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The resulting materials contain chemical functions and physical properties that can be tuned for energy conversion, petrochemical synthesis, and environmental reactions. Several of the groups that have been funded by the Catalysis Science Program have made contributions to this area of fundamental science, such as Bell,11 Guliants,12 Hrbek, 13 Iglesia,14 Peden,15 Suib,16 and Wachs.17 8 Linic, S., J
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, especially for the fiscal years 1999 to 2007, the committee concludes that BES has done well with its investment in catalysis basic research through the Catalysis Science Program. The program's success can be attributed to key management decisions over the past eight years that have led to a current 18 Cortright, R
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However, there are variations in the quality and relevance of the research in the program's portfolio, as summarized in the committee's main findings and recommendations below. FINDINGS The Catalysis Science Program portfolio is distributed between the two main types of catalysis: heterogeneous and homogenous, each of which is assessed separately below.
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Ten awards were originally funded under the NNI, and seven of them were still being funded in 2007. Overall, the recent influx of funding for the Catalysis Science Program under the NNI has led to funding of several new investigators.
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The Catalysis Science Program has strongly supported single-site polymerization research from the inception of the field and must be credited with having a great impact on its development. This is an excellent example of the value of basic research and of how funding productive, well-qualified individual principal investigators can lead to
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RECOMMENDATIONS The Catalysis Science Program should continue its current approach to funding decisions. Multi-investigator and interdisciplinary programs such as the Catalysis Science Initiative should remain a part of the portfolio, but future teams might benefit from the inclusion of more homogeneous catalysis and biocatalysis researchers that are interested in energy solutions.
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Principal Investigators The Catalysis Science Program should continue on its current path of maintaining support for productive, long-term researchers and of recruiting new researchers. The program also must ensure that the best researchers are identified and supported -- this is especially important in heterogeneous catalysis, because program funding is essential to the success of a heterogeneous catalysis researcher (see Chapter 3)
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CONCLUSION The Catalysis Science Program is the primary funder of catalysis basic research in the United States, especially in the area of heterogeneous catalysis. The program has supported many well-established researchers who are world leaders in catalysis science.
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