Join us on September 22 at 3:30 p.m. for this Sustainable Energy Seminar presentation by Shannon Stahl, Professor of Chemistry at UW-Madison.

Abstract

Environmental crises associated with climate change and global plastics waste have inspired extensive efforts to replace petroleum-based feedstocks with renewable resources and to create a circular plastics economy. Catalytic aerobic oxidation has the potential to serve as a platform technology for conversion of lignin, waste plastics, and other recalcitrant organic matter into valuable feedstocks that could be integrated within the chemical economy. Such methods are thermodynamically favorable and offer significant potential energy savings and reduced CO2 footprint relative to pyrolysis, the leading alternate technology. The water solubility of the oxygenated products (e.g., relative to pyrolysis oil) positions them as an ideal complement to emerging advances in biotechnology.

This talk will survey our efforts to develop catalytic aerobic oxidation methods for selective deconstruction of natural and synthetic polymers into useful building blocks. Our work prioritizes understanding the mechanisms of reactivity between O2 and the “waste carbon” materials, including lignin and polyolefins, in addition to the development of practical processes that could be paired with effective separation products and biological conversion of mixtures into individual valuable chemicals.

Registration

This event is offered online only through Zoom Webinar. Registration is required through Zoom. Click here to register for this and all other webinars as part of the Sustainable Energy Seminar series in Fall 2025.