NETL shined at the 2024 Ignite Off! competition hosted by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE.)

A presentation by Ashley Daniszewski, a fellow in NETL’s Postgraduate Research Program (PGRP) on the Lab’s Reaction Engineering Team, earned the Fan Favorite award, which was presented to the contestant who received the greatest number of votes from the online audience.

The annual ORISE Ignite Off! contest showcases the talents of interns from participating federal agencies and offices. Ten finalists presented projects on Aug. 28. Each competitor had five minutes to present a project, using 20 picture-centric slides that automatically advanced every 15 seconds.

In her Ignite Off! presentation, Daniszewski, who received her doctorate in chemical engineering at West Virginia University, discussed “Decarbonizing Industrial Processes with Microwaves.” Her mentor at NETL is Dushyant Shekhawat, supervisor of the Reaction Engineering Team, which has been instrumental in building the one-of-a-kind NETL Center for Microwave Chemistry.

While conventional heating works by heating reacting materials from the outside, microwaves target materials on a molecular level volumetrically from the inside out.

Consider the long heating times for boiling water on the stove versus the short heating time for a cup of water in the microwave. When microwaves are applied to chemical conversion, the result is an almost instantaneous on-demand chemical production process, which can replace existing energy-intensive conversion processes traditionally heated by combusting fossil fuels and generating significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas.

In her research, Daniszewski uses catalyst materials to increase the microwave reaction rates that can transform feedstocks, including CO₂, waste plastics and natural gas, into hydrogen and other value-added chemicals.  

Daniszewski has deployed fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to provide real-time analysis of surface chemistry on a catalyst while undergoing microwave heating. Her setup involves passing an infrared beam through a catalyst pellet to detect the evolution of chemical bonding during the reaction. This fundamental characterization technique is aimed at developing innovative catalysts.

“Microwaves show incredible promise to save our planet. Microwave technology can be used in many ways. It can provide rapid and selective heating. It can improve energy efficiency compared to conventional systems. And with shorter startup and shutdown times, it can work with intermittent energy sources (for example, wind or solar power) to lower costs,” Daniszewski said. Click here to watch Daniszewski’s award-winning presentation.

NETL also had two other finalists in the Ignite Off! contest. Both participated in the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) program over the summer and conducted research under the supervision of mentors on the Reaction Engineering Team. These two finalists were:

• Nathan Denning, a third-year civil engineering student at Michigan State University. For the past two years, Denning, who is also minoring in energy and environmental/sustainability studies, has worked as a research assistant at Michigan State to develop sustainable and resilient concrete materials.

While at NETL, he collaborated with mentor Fan Shi on the project “Sustainable Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Domestic Unconventional Resources.” Click here to watch Denning’s presentation.

• Julius Yoh, a rising senior studying chemical engineering at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. He is also minoring in biomedical

  

  engineering and conducting research at the Maurice Kanbar Center for Biomedical Engineering.

At NETL, Yoh teamed with mentor Isaac Gamwo on the project “Predicting CO₂ Plumes: A Pipeline to Future Safety.” Click here to watch Yoh’s presentation.

NETL is a DOE national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By using its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.