CHBE Seminar Series: Ronald Stanis

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering presents its seminar series featuring guest speaker Ronald Stanis, R&D manager at GTI Energy, who will present “Low Carbon Energy Projects at GTI Energy and a Highlight of a Novel Batch-Mode Water Electrolysis Demonstration.” This seminar will take place on Wednesday, February 11, from 3:15–4:30 p.m. in room 131 of Perlstein Hall.

Abstract

Ronald Stanis will visit Illinois Tech to give an overview of GTI Energy’s research portfolio and highlight an electrolysis pilot project being demonstrated with a partner technology developer BST Systems Inc. The novel and patented electrolyzer technology in development leverages battery architecture and chemistry to split water into oxygen and hydrogen in separate batch steps using zinc as a redox couple. It can be thought of as a battery that charges with electricity and generates hydrogen when discharged. When the battery is charging, zinc is plated on the negative electrode and oxygen is generated at the positive electrode. The energy can be stored until needed. Upon discharging the battery, the electrochemical redox potential of the zinc oxidation reaction is sufficient to drive the hydrogen evolution reaction at the positive electrode without external power input, at the same time producing byproduct electricity that can be used to drive pumps, compressors or other loads. This batch-mode process is ideal for load following solar power and potentially eliminates the need for hydrogen storage if the hydrogen can be used on site. The chemistry is performed in an alkaline environment and uses low-cost materials including zinc and copper. This architecture offers several advantages: low-cost materials, simple manufacturing processes, inherent hydrogen storage, byproduct electricity, and the potential for direct connection to renewables with DC power sources such as solar power without requiring rectifiers for AC-to-DC conversion. Stanis will introduce the technology and chemistry fundamentals, as well as the engineering process for scaling up from laboratory experiments to a functional prototype.

Biography

Ronald Stanis, R&D manager at GTI Energy, received his Bachelor’s degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in chemical engineering and mathematics in 2003 and received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 2007. His Ph.D. was focused on PEM fuel cell catalysts. Stanis then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Sandia National Laboratory and performed R&D on membranes and electrode layers for fuel cells as well as materials development for photovoltaics and water desalination equipment. He joined GTI in 2008 and worked with a highly innovative team developing materials and systems for gas separation and a variety of electrochemical devices including flow batteries and PEM, AEM, Solid Oxide, and direct methanol fuel cells.

From 2014–2015, Stanis transitioned his research to gas conversion technologies starting with electrochemical and then thermochemical systems. In 2018 he became the manager of the Process Engineering group at GTI. This group of process engineering and principal investigators are tasked with developing processes and quantifying their value proposition. This work is done through laboratory experiments at the bench, pilot, and demonstration level and through process simulations, technoeconomic analysis and lifecycle analysis to determine the performance, efficiency, economic, or emissions benefits of the process compared to the state-of-the art. These processes span the entire breadth of research topics explored by GTI Energy including hydrogen generation, storage, transportation, blending and utilization, coal and biomass gasification, renewable and synthetic fuels synthesis (ex. jet fuel, propane etc.), carbon capture and utilization, ammonia combustion, advanced power cycles, and other emerging fuel energy topics.

Stanis has served as GTI’s representative for CISTAR and is currently GTI’s lead member of the Ammonia Energy Association. Stanis leads GTI’s gas-to-value strategic initiative and is the GTI Electrolysis technical subcommittee lead for a GTI/EPRI joint run program called LCRI or Low Carbon Resources Initiative. Stanis has also been an adjunct faculty member of Oakton College in Des Plaines, from 2017–present.