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Conventional biodiesel production methods from vegetable oils come with significant drawbacks, which include unwanted soap production, low yields and/or difficulty in purification. Currently, homogenous base catalysts have received the most attention for biodiesel production due to their availability and low price. Common base catalysts utilize hydroxide in the form of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) for the transesterification of vegetable oils in methanol (MeOH). The role of hydroxyl group (-OH) is to deprotonate the mildly acidic proton of MeOH, forming [-OMe] ions for the transesterification reaction. Both NaOH and KOH show excellent catalytic activity towards biodiesel production but come with the major drawback of producing water. This reduces biodiesel yield and adds complications for purification of the desired biodiesel from the alkali-metal fatty acid carboxylate (i.e. soap) as a side product Sodium methoxide (NaOMe) and potassium methoxide (KOMe) have also been used in biodiesel production since they are a direct source of [-OMe] ions. However, these reagents result in a more complex separation of biodiesel from the byproduct. Mostly notable, fatty acid methyl esters (also called FAMEs) containing double bonds are not suitable for use diesel engines since the alkenes react with hydroxyl radicals present during combustion. These radicals polymerize diesel fuel during combustion, resulting in premature aging of the engine. Thus, a new approach to the transesterification of vegetable oils is desired.

Professor Matthew Conley from the University of California, Riverside has discovered that catalysts used to generate polyolefin plastics also perform well in hydrotreatment reactions of plastic waste. This method works by treating plastic materials with known catalysts at 200⁰C to degrade  polymers into smaller alkanes in the presence of hydrogen. This technology is advantageous compared to existing methods since it does not require high temperatures​, has a relatively high yield (+80%)​, and can be applied to a variety of plastics to generate a feedstock of smaller polymers and monomers for further processing.  

Determining the properties that control fluid flow and pressure migration through rocks is essential for understanding groundwater, energy reservoirs and fault zones. Hydraulic diffusivity is the key parameter that controls pressure migration in reservoirs. There is a need to determine it in situ for energy, groundwater and earthquake applications. Direct measurements of these properties underground generally require expensive and invasive processes such as pumping large volumes of water in or out of the ground. Most current methods rely on either active pumping between wells or proxies such as seismic velocity or the migration time of microseismicity. These conventional methods may change the structure that they are trying to measure and do not resolve variations in space without complex, multiple experiments. Moreover, active pumping is expensive, invasive and sensitive to a limited set of scales, while proxies are difficult to calibrate.

Researchers from UC San Diego have developed an invention that allows the continuous monitoring of atmospheric He, Ne, and H2 at unprecedented precision. This enables important new applications including in the understanding of the global carbon cycle, verifying reported natural gas emissions, and predicting earthquakes.

Prof. Charles Cai and colleagues from the University of California, Riverside have developed a method for high yield co-conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to produce high octane fuel additives dimethyl furan (DMF) and methyl furans (MF). This technology works by using Cu-Ni/TiO2, a unique catalytic material that enables high yield (~90%) conversion of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) and furfural (FF) sourced from lignocellulosic biomass into methylated furans (MF) in either single or co-processing schemes. This invention is advantageous compared to existing technologies due to its high yield and efficiency, low cost, and stable conversion process.   Fig 1: UCR’s furfural conversion and product yields as function of reaction time over Cu-Ni/TiO2.  

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed synthetic biochemical compounds that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sources such as power plants. These new derivatives mimic how some plants capture carbon dioxide from the air and use it for photosynthesis.

Oil and natural gas extraction techniques commonly rely on hydraulic fracturing to induce and/or improve fluid flow in low permeability rocks. Hydraulic fracturing can be environmentally costly though as it uses a variety of materials, including chemicals and solids, injected into the ground to mechanically fracture and artificially maintain cracks in the subsurface. A UC Santa Cruz researcher has developed a method that uses site-specific reservoir properties to determine the best frequency of forcing to clear fractures and increase fluid flow with pressure oscillations. 

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The production of light olefins (ethylene, propylene and butylene) via the activation of carbon dioxide as a feedstock is a challenging reaction that requires intermediate steps and often suffers from low yields. The researchers at the University of California, Irvine, discovered a novel bifunctional catalyst comprising of Zirconium and Indium combined with a zeolite matrix to promote the production of light olefins in higher efficiency and yields.

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UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have developed a new strategy to electrochemically functionalize methane at low activation energies under ambient conditions.

The ability to accurately quantify gas volumes in liquid flows has important applications in environmental science and industry. For example, environmental processes that significantly contribute to changes in earth’s climate, such as methane seeps from the sea floor and the exchange of gases between the ocean and atmosphere at the sea surface, demand precise sensors that are small and sensitive enough to measure the ratio of liquids and gases in these bubbly mixtures. These measurements also play a critical role in the operational efficiency of a wide variety of different engineering processes. Applications include, the monitoring the optimal amount of bubbled oxygen in the treatment of waste water and sewage, and the oil and gas industry, especially in undersea oil pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico alone, have spent billions of dollars annually on added refinement techniques to remove seawater that could be preventable if sensors were able to measure the ratio of crude oil, seawater and gas as the mixture is pumped through pipelines. These challenges exist in both research and industry because the current manufacturing process for making the needed gas/liquid probes have significant cost constraints. Clearly, there is a need for a new and cost-effective technology to produce these probes.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel system for acetoin and 2,3-butanediol synthesis from carbon dioxide.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry have developed a method of using nanowires to detect underground fluid reservoir interconnectivities and reservoir contents with high accuracy.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system and method for determining oil and water compositions in drilling mud.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel group of enzymes with the potential to facilitate production of energy dense alcohols for use in biofuel and chemical production.

Nearly all hydrocarbons are generated from petroleum or natural gas processing. Hydrocarbon mixtures are separated into component fractions at scale for the commercial production of fuels and chemical feedstocks. These large-scale systems use a lot of energy and require many sub-systems with expensive adsorbents or membrane materials like zeolites, polymers, metal oxides, and carbon. Since many of these hydrocarbon mixtures have molecules with similar structures, properties, and reactivities, many of the technical challenges and associated high costs remain. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) hold promise for efficient and complex separations based on their desirable surface areas, tunable pore geometries, and adjustable surface functionality. To help align MOFs with challenges in hydrocarbon separations, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed thermally robust and tunable MOF materials which are capable of separating mixtures of saturated, unsaturated, and aromatic hydrocarbons. The researchers have demonstrated the purification of a four component gas-phase mixture. 

Conventional power conversion cycles which turn fuel into heat and heat into power are constrained by basic thermodynamic considerations. The most modern technologies have been limited to 60% even with multiple cycles combined (i.e. Brayton and Rankine combined cycle). Recent demonstrations have shown relative efficiency gains of 30% in both spark-ignited and compression-ignited regimes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are working to outdo these efforts by working on an ultra-high efficiency power cycle framework using argon as the working fluid. Early laboratory results suggest the argon engine could easily achieve 70% or greater thermal efficiency. Under such research the argon replaces nitrogen as the working fluid and is recycled in the closed-loop system.

There are many applications that require the storage of a high density of gas molecules. The driving range of vehicles powered by natural gas or hydrogen, for instance, is determined by the maximum density of gas that can be stored inside a fuel tank and delivered to the engine or fuel cell. In certain situations, it is desirable to lower the pressure or raise the temperature needed to store a given amount of gas through the use of an adsorbent. Developments in next-generation adsorbents, such as metal-organic frameworks and activated carbons, have shown certain weaknesses in terms of the amount of gas that can be delivered when an application has a minimum desorption pressure greater than zero and when a significant amount of heat is released during adsorption or cooling occurs during desorption. To help solve these problems, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a next generation of materials using novel porous metal-organic frameworks that demonstrate unprecedented deliverable gas capacities. These engineered adsorbents maximize the amount of gas delivered during each adsorption/desorption cycle. This shows promise in developing next generation gas storage materials for applications with a wide range of operating conditions.

UCLA researchers have developed a cathode that generates oxygen, consumes the oxygen as needed, and stops the oxygen generation when it is not consumed, all in a self-regulated fashion.

The selective and efficient conversion of light alkanes into value-added chemicals remains a challenge for those in the petrochemical and chemical industries.  Currently, there is no go-to commercial process for the selective oxidative conversion of C1-C3 hydrocarbons into value-added chemical feedstocks, such as methanol and ethanol. Industrially, methanol is produced in an indirect and energy intensive process beginning with the steam reformation of natural gas into synthesis gas. After fermentation, ethanol is largely produced from the hydration of ethylene/ethene, which relies on the use of concentrated acids and elevates risk for human safety and environment. To overcome these challenges, researchers at UC Berkeley have devised novel materials and methods involving redox-active metals within porous metal-organic frameworks for driving improved catalytic oxidation of small hydrocarbons to their corresponding alcohols and aldehydes. This innovation could be of special importance to the boom of shale gas processing, which consists of largely methane, but also contains large amounts of ethane and other light alkane impurities.

With over 100 million tons produced annually, oxygen (O2) is among the most widely used commodity chemicals in the world -- and the demand for pure O2 could grow enormously due to its potential use in processes associated with the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-burning plants.   The separation of O2 from air is currently done on a large scale using an energy-intensive cyrogenic distillation process. Zeolites are also used for O2 / N2 separation, however this process is inherently inefficient as the materials used adsorb N2 over O2 with poor selectivity.   To address this situation, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed novel redox-active metal-organic frameworks for gas separation. In comparison to conventional materials, the Berkeley material displays incredible separation properties at temperatures that are much more favorable to those currently used in numerous gas separaton and storage applications.   

A major challenge facing petroleum refiners is the desulfurization of diesel where sulfur levels must be reduced to less than 10 ppm.  This is difficult because alkyl groups inhibit access to the sulfur atom.  Furthermore, it requires high hydrogenation under great pressures. This invention provides an alternative to hydrodesulfurization by the adsorption of thiophene derivatives on a solid adsorbent.  It is a method for predicting selective performance of an adsorbent from a list of metals or cations for use in removing contaminants as thiophene derivatives in a hydrocarbon feed.