Paul Dauenhauer, PhD

Paul Dauenhauer received a bachelor of science in chemical engineering and chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2004, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, Paul worked as a senior research engineer for the Dow Chemical Company before joining the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2009. As of 2014, he is the Lanny & Charlotte Schmidt Professor and MacArthur Fellow at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. His work has been highlighted with the NSF CAREER award, the DOE Early Career Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, and the AIChE CRE Young Investigator award. In 2020, he was selected as a MacArthur Fellow. His published patent applications serve as the scientific foundation of five startup companies including Sironix Renewables, Lakril Technologies, Carba, Activated Research Company, and enVerde, LLC.

Abstract: The challenge of the 21^st century is the development of sustainable technologies for new systems that supply and control energy and materials.  In the next five decades, chemical engineers and materials scientists must develop entirely new processing architecture to address the challenges of waste. Plastic must be designed to either biodegrade or be recycled, and the processes to collect and chemically recycle plastic must convert waste plastic back to their constituent monomers at competitive cost. New chemicals must be manufactured from renewable resources and designed with new characteristics that make them more effective, biodegradable, and flexible in their application. Finally, new chemical technologies are required to address the issue of carbon in the atmosphere, including the ability to extract carbon directly from the air for long-term storage underground. Energy from wind turbines and solar photovoltaics must be stored as a fungible carbon-free liquid fuel that can be stored, transported, and traded as a commodity, opening up a new economic model of carbon free energy.