Penn State University
Energy and Mineral Engineering
Penn State University Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering

EME Faculty

Professor Yongsheng Chen

Yongsheng Chen

Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering;

Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker, Jr. Faculty Fellow
 
office:     155 Hosler Building
phone:     814-865-9834
email:     yongsheng@psu.edu
fax:     814-865-3248

View Full CV (.pdf)


Bio


Biographical Sketch

Yongsheng Chen received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1994. He attended the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out research work on surface physics at the Institute of Physics in Beijing, and received his M.S. in Physics in 1997. He came to the U.S. in 1998, advanced his graduate studies in heterogeneous catalysis at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2003. Dr. Chen started his postdoctoral training at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, working with Staff Scientist John L. Fulton on various research topics using synchrotron based x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. He joined the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University as an assistant professor in November 2007 after a short appointment as a Research Associate at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.


Educational Background

Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering), Lehigh University, 2003

M.S. (Physics), Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1997

B.S. (Materials Science and Engineering), Tsinghua University, 1994



Active Research Projects


Adsorptive desulfurization mechanism (in collaboration with Dr. Chunshan Song)

Deep desulfurization of liquid fuels has received much attention due to the stringent environmental regulations on sulfur concentrations in transportation fuels. The current industrial process of hydrodesulfurization (HDS) requires high temperature, high pressure conditions and large hydrogen consumption. A new process, adsorptive desulfurization (ADS), has been developed to produce ultra clean fuel at ambient temperature and pressure without using hydrogen. A few families of adsorbents have been successfully developed in Dr. Chunshan Song's group, and Dr. Chen leads a collaborative effort in understanding the fundamental principle governing the interactions between the sulfur compounds and the adsorbents. A trip to Argonne National Laboratory took place on June 11-16, 2008. See pictures here.


Sulfur poisoning in steam reforming catalysts (in collaboration with Dr. Chunshan Song and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Sulfur poisoning is a very important phenomenon that has been studied for decades for catalytic reactions. A presence of a very small amount of sulfur on the catalyst surface can significantly deactivate the catalyst. Due to a very low level of sulfur (easily below 0.1 wt.% of sulfur), most conventional characterization techniques have difficulty in detecting sulfur in the deactivated catalysts. By using brilliant x-ray source from a synchrotron, x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) at sulfur k-edge can detect sulfur in very dilute samples and determine the sulfur species in the deactivated catalysts. Dr. Chen led a team to Brookhaven National Laboratory on June 20-25, 2008. See pictures here. Stay tuned for the latest discoveries.



Selected Publications


  1. J. L. Fulton, J. C. Linehan, T. Autrey, M. Balasubramanian, Y. Chen, N. K. Szymczak. When is a Nanoparticle a Cluster? An Operando EXAFS Study of Amine Borane Dehydrocoupling by Rh4-6 Clusters. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129 2007, 11936-11949.
  2. Y. Chen, J. L. Fulton, W. Partenheimer. The structure of the homogeneous oxidation catalyst, Mn(II)- (Br-1)x, in supercritical water: An x-ray absorption fine structure study. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127 (40) 2005, 14085-14093.
  3. Y. Chen, J. L. Fulton, J. C. Linehan, T. Autrey. In-situ XAFS and NMR study of rhodium catalyst structure during dehydrocoupling of dimethylamine borane. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127 (10) 2005, 3254-3255.
  4. W. J. Shaw, J. C. Linehan, A. Gutowska, D. Newell, T. Bitterwolf, J. L. Fulton, Y. Chen, C. F. Windisch. Synthesis and characterization of a recoverable rhodium catalyst with a stimulus sensitive polymer ligand. Inorg. Chem. Comm. 8 (10) 2005, 894-896.
  5. Y. Chen, J. L. Fulton, W. Partenheimer. A XANES and EXAFS Study of hydration and ion pairing in ambient aqueous MnBr2 solutions. J. Solution Chem. 34(9) 2005, 993-1007.


Recent Activities and Awards


Professional Services


Awards and Recognitions

Research Interests


Teaching


EGEE 101 / MATSC 101 - Energy and the Environment (3)


EGEE 304 - Heat and Mass Transfer (3)


EME 570 / MATSC 570 - Catalytic Materials (3)


F SC 503 - Analytical Methods in Fuel Science (3)