Kennesaw State Assistant Professor of inorganic chemistry Altug Poyraz was awarded an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund grant this past fall to conduct research on petroleum coke.
“What makes Petroleum Research Fund funding unique is that they give researchers an opportunity to pursue new research directions,” Poyraz said. “I have considerable experience making inorganic nanoporous materials but not in carbon-based materials. We are hoping to bring our expertise in porous materials synthesis and characterization to carbon materials.”
Poyraz was awarded $55,000, which Poyraz said he and his research team of KSU students will use to conduct a fundamental study on the formation of mesopore networks in petroleum coke.
Poyraz said he and his team will conduct this study with a solution-based, low-temperature hydrothermal method.
With the grant money, Poyraz also said he hopes to fund one graduate student and two undergraduate students to work on this project with him. He plans to send those students to a conference to present their research to others in the field and receive feedback.
Petroleum coke is a product of heavy oil upgrading in oil refinery processes that is used in the cement and steel industries, Poyraz said. Poyraz and his team believe petroleum coke can be a starting material for nanoporous carbon materials. His team is currently working on developing transition metal oxide-based cathode materials for rechargeable batteries, Poyraz said.
“Carbon-based nanomaterials are increasingly gaining popularity in many areas of science and engineering,” Poyraz said. “This is an area that I don’t have much expertise in but I like to pursue considering its huge potential and features. American Chemical Society Research Fund grants will give me the opportunity to conduct my proposed research related to petroleum coke.”
Federal funding typically expects researchers to have a background and expertise in the area of their proposed research, Poyraz said. The ACS Petroleum Research Fund grants are intended to allow researchers to initiate new research directions, according to the American Chemical Society website.
Similar to other federal funding, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund is competitive. The ACS funds less than the top 20 percent of applications, Poyraz said. Poyraz was awarded funding on his third application and the funding period starts in September of 2020.
“As a relatively new faculty [member], receiving such a prestigious grant is very motivating and encouraging,” Poyraz said.
Poyraz joined Kennesaw State in 2017.
