Best paper presentation, Division of Environmental Chemistry. American Chemical Society National Conference, Boston, MA (August 2010).
International Precious Metal Institute (IPMI) Graduate Student Award (2009).
North American Catalysis Society Kokes Scholarship Award winner (2009).
First place in NASA National Aviation Team Design Competition (2002).
Recipient of Boeing Pride Award (2001).
Recipient of NASA Undergraduate Space Grant (2000).
Publications/Presentations:
Simson, A., Farrauto, R., Castaldi, M. “Steam reforming of ethanol/gasoline mixtures: Deactivation, regeneration and stable performance.” Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Vol. 106 (Ed. 3-4), pp. 295-303, 2011. (Abstract)
Simson, A., Waterman, E., Farrauto, R., Castaldi, M. “Kinetic and Process study for ethanol reforming using a Pt/Rh Washcoated monolith catalyst”, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Vol. 89 (Ed. 1-2), pp. 58-64, 2009. (Abstract)
“Kinetic and Process study for ethanol reforming using a Pt/Rh Washcoated monolith catalyst” Oral Presentation, 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) Annual Meeting, October 17, 2008
“Reforming of ethanol/gasoline blends for hydrogen production” Oral Presentation, 2009 North American Catalysis Society Meeting (NAM), June 12, 2009
Description of Research:
My research focuses on reforming fuels to produce hydrogen using precious metal catalysts. The intention of my work is to study the reforming of transportation fuels that will be available at service stations in order to generate hydrogen utilizing the current and near future fuel delivery infrastructure. Specifically I am researching the reforming of biofuels such as ethanol and E85. I have previously researched the catalytic reforming of pure ethanol using a precious metal catalyst (with Rhodium and Platinum). The catalyst was found to be active for reforming ethanol to the maximum possible hydrogen content predicted by thermodynamics and did not show any signs of deactivation. Current work studies the catalyst deactivation mechanism due to the presence of sulfur in ethanol/gasoline blends such as E85.
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