Breakthrough Alert: MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35

“In finance, other people’s money, or OPM, is a slang term that refers to financial leverage” – Strategic CFO

MIT’s 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2023 has hit the digital shelves. This is exciting news for anyone interested in discovering useful new technologies as they emerge from the fevered brains of their creators.

MIT’s free newsletter The Download offers a sneak preview of the list. For full access, a subscription to the MIT Technology Review is well worth the price.

Using OPM – Other People’s Money – is a way to achieve financial goals that might be difficult to achieve using one’s own resources. As long as we are dealing in good faith, and are successful, everybody wins. As Dolly Parton famously sang, “Ain’t nothing dirty going on.”

By the same token, we can use OPR – Other People’s Research – to achieve goals we could not reach on our own. As long as we don’t claim that we performed the research, and provide proper attribution, everybody wins.

In that spirit, here is a link to The Download’s preview of the list …

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MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35
Source:
https://www.technologyreview.com/supertopic/2023-mit-technology-reviews-innovators-under-35/?truid=36d06cee295f2d97fb732a7572a23410&utm_source=the_download&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_term=&utm_content=09-12-2023&mc_cid=f8a4a36418&mc_eid=76363cef0a
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The Spark, another free MIT newsletter, highlights a few of the innovators on the 2023 list …

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The Spark
By Casey Crownhart • 09.13.23
Hello hello, welcome back to The Spark!
A lot of bright minds are working on solutions to climate change. You can find some of them in the latest edition of our annual 35 Innovators Under 35 list, which was just published yesterday.
We’ve highlighted a lot of innovators over the years, usually before they become household names. Sergey Brin of Google was on the list in 2002. JB Straubel was honored in 2008 when he was CTO of Tesla. That year also saw Andrew Ng make the list (he’s one of the biggest names in AI right now, and he came back this year to write an intro essay, which I highly recommend.)
As I looked through the folks who made the list in the climate and energy category in 2023, I noticed a few trends. In particular, there was a concentration in two areas I think a lot about: batteries and fuels. So let’s take a closer look at a few of this year’s innovators and consider what their work could mean for the future of climate action.
Charging up
As you probably know if you’re a frequent reader here, I see batteries as one of the most crucial pieces of technology in the fight to address climate change. Not only are powerful, long-lasting batteries crucial to electrifying vehicles and other forms of transportation, but they are expected to play a growing role on the grid, storing energy from intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar for when it’s most needed.
Batteries have come a long way in recent years, and prices have plummeted. (They just fell to under $100 per kilowatt-hour for the first time in two years, continuing a downward trend that’s lasted for a decade.)
However, there’s huge potential for more progress, especially in battery materials. And two innovators on this year’s list are looking to new materials to help make batteries more useful in more ways.
Tongchao Liu of Argonne National Lab is working on making batteries last longer.
Over time, batteries tend to wear out as they charge and discharge. Liu developed a diagnostic system to determine where that failure takes place and identified part of the battery called the cathode as the major culprit. He and his team then came up with an alternative cathode material based on perovskites. (You may have heard of perovskites in the context of solar cells.) In lab tests, battery lifetimes tripled with the new material.
David Mackanic of Anthro Energy is developing bendy batteries, which could power things like wearable devices as well as EVs.
One of the most crucial parts of a battery is the electrolyte, the material that charge moves through in a cell. Many batteries, including the lithium-ion cells that power EVs and laptops today, use a flammable liquid as an electrolyte. But Mackanic and his team invented a flexible polymer electrolyte, which can bend without compromising battery performance.
It’s not easy to bring new battery inventions to the market, and there’s a long path ahead for both of these projects, but I’ll definitely be watching to see how they turn out.
Fueling up
Another trend I noticed among the innovators this year was a focus on fuels. Like batteries, fuels store energy, but they tend to pack more energy into a smaller space than many batteries can, making them easier to transport. So fuels could be the best solution on the table for industries like aviation and shipping.
Peter Godart of Found Energy has a vision of using aluminum as a fuel. He developed a process to pull apart the metal with water, producing both heat and hydrogen that can be used as energy sources. His startup’s initial plans are to work with aluminum producers to help them use scrap to partially power aluminum recycling.
Stafford Sheehan of Air Company developed a process to convert carbon dioxide into alcohol, which can then be used to make jet fuel. The company has a deal with the US military and hopes to sell its fuel more widely in the next few years.
Young Suk Jo of Amogy wants to power ships using ammonia. The chemical is typically used in fertilizer, but it could also be used as a handy way to store hydrogen, a leading clean fuel. Jo and Amogy invented a reactor that can pull ammonia apart into nitrogen and hydrogen that can be used onboard vehicles. The company has tested its system in a drone, a tractor, and a semi-truck and plans to power a tugboat using ammonia later this year.
You might remember Young Suk Jo from an earlier edition of the newsletter—I spoke with him in June, when I visited Amogy’s headquarters in Brooklyn. I also wrote a longer profile of him that was just published yesterday, which you can read here.
A lot of innovators are working on batteries and fuels, but even these fields are a small piece of climate action overall. There are also folks on the list who are tackling demand response on the grid, satellites for climate monitoring, and materials for carbon capture, not to mention all the people in the biotechnology, AI, robotics, and computing categories. Be sure to check out the full list of 35 Innovators Under 35 to get all the details.
Thermal battery startup Antora just flipped on its first commercial-scale system. The company’s technology could help power industrial plants that require high heat and constant power. (Bloomberg)
There’s lots of big news in steel this week. H2 Green Steel raised $1.6 billion in equity to help build its planned green steel plant in Sweden. (Canary Media) And Boston Metal, a startup working to electrify production of one of the world’s most used and most polluting materials, raised a $262 million funding round. (Bloomberg)
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else

Conference Alert: Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2023

Fun fact: Historically and in literature sulfur is also called brimstone, which means "burning stone". -- Wikipedia

The Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2023 Conference, & Exhibition (https://events.crugroup.com/sulphur/home ) is set for November 6-8 2023, New Orleans

The text of an email that landed in my inbox appears below.

TIP: Browse the list of speakers. Use Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com ) to search for papers authored by speakers of your choice.

FOR EXAMPLE …
Google Scholar Search: Rob Marriott Alberta Sulphur Research
Two results of the search …
The rheology of liquid elemental sulfur across the λ-transition (2018)
https://pubs.aip.org/sor/jor/article/62/2/469/241431
Liquid-phase sulfur recovery within a eutectic solvent coupled with low temperature carbon disulfide hydrolysis (2021)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236121015702

The email reproduced below has more details …

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Dear Jean,
In November, the sulphur and sulphuric acid community will gather in New Orleans for CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid, to discuss the key issues affecting the industry. Don't miss your opportunity to join them to discuss new drivers for the industry.
Now, more than ever, it is crucial for the industry to come together to develop operational efficiencies and to understand how new processes and technology developments are enabling more sustainable production.
Join the sulphur and sulphuric acid community face-to-face to share experiences and develop shared best practice approaches to operations through case studies, panel discussions and interactive clinics.
Some of the thought leaders speaking include:
Peter Harrisson
Senior Analyst & Sulphur Team Leader
CRU

Collin Bartlett
Sales Director, BL Metals & Chemical Processing
Outotec (Canada) Ltd

Nelson Clark
President
Clark Solutions

Domenica Misale
Technical Director
Industrial Ceramics Ltd
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Rob Marriott Alberta Sulphur Research
Director of Research
Alberta Sulphur Research Ltd (ASRL
Google Scholar search: Rob Marriott Alberta Sulphur Research
The rheology of liquid elemental sulfur across the λ-transition (2018)
https://pubs.aip.org/sor/jor/article/62/2/469/241431
Liquid-phase sulfur recovery within a eutectic solvent coupled with low temperature carbon disulfide hydrolysis (2021)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236121015702
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Martin Alvarez
Solution Specialist
Topsoe A/S

Marco van Son
Technology Manager
Worley Comprimo

David Savage
Sr. Project Manager
Matrix PDM Engineering

Kaitlin Gebbie
Consultant
CRU

Randal Sarrazin
Technical Sales and Operation Manager
NORAM Engineering and Constructors Ltd

Aldifi Putro
Process Engineer
PT Petrokimia Gresik

Alina Green
Market Segment Specialist
WIKA

Avi Jakkulwar
Superintending Engineer
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd

Scott Kafesjian
Director of Sulphur Technologies
Wood

Elmo Nasato
President
Nasato Consulting

Frank Flow
Head of Analyzer Products & Chemical Industry
FLEXIM AMERICAS Corporation

Ivan Gong
Sales Manager
XUANDA Group

Keith B. Belton
Senior Director for Policy Analysis and Economics
American Chemistry Council

Marcus Weber
Executive Process Director
Fluor

Delfian Lutfiananda
Assistant Vice President of Sulfuric Acid Plant & Utility
PT Petrokimia Gresik

Gerton Molenaar
Director Business Development
Comprimo Americas
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else

Conference Alert: North American Refining Technology Conference, January 2024 in Houston

Houston has three seasons. July, then August, followed by summer. -- Stan Musial (American baseball outfielder and first baseman)

Here is the text of a recent email alert that landed in my inbox …

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Hi Jean

We are delighted that the North American Refining Technology Conference is taking place on January 30 - 31 2024, reuniting our North American downstream network in Houston. 

The 2024 agenda-at-a-glance is now live, following conversations led by Chevron, Motiva, PBF Energy, Par Pacific, ExxonMobil, Shell, and many more, to identify the key topics to address at this year's conference, including:  

    How can refiners capitalize on the IRA act and position North America as the global refining leader?
    Pragmatic approaches to decarbonization – how companies are structuring and diversifying their offerings in 2024?
    Who defines what successful digital transformation look like?
    How can we overcome the main inhibitors to increased sustainable fuel production, converting at the right time, place and pace?

If you would like to discuss speaking or partnership opportunities at NARTC to share thought leadership and broaden your network, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Cannon
Portfolio Manager – Americas
T: +44 207 384 3891
E: elizabeth.cannon@wraconferences.com
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TIP: Visit https://worldrefiningassociation.com/event-events/nartc for more details on the event.

You may also want to visit https://worldrefiningassociation.com/events/ from time to time to see if there are any other events you might want to attend.

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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else

Conference Alert: 2 MIT events … ClimateTech and EmTech

"College had little effect on me. I’d have been the same writer if I’d gone to MIT, except I’d have flunked out sooner.” ~ Robert B. Parker (1932-2010), American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre

Two (2) MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) events are on the horizon.

The first, ClimateTech, is scheduled for October 4-5, 2023 on the MIT campus.

The second, EmTech (Emerging Technologies) is scheduled for November 14-15, 2023.

At ClimateTech, Celina Mikolajczak, Chief Battery Technology Officer, Lyten (www.lyten.com ), San Jose California, will speak on new lithium-sulphur battery technology.

TIP: Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com) search on lithium-sulphur battery for background on the technology

Here is MIT’S description of the EmTech event …

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MIT Technology Review’s flagship event returns in November. EmTech MIT unwraps the technologies and trends driving social and commercial impact and offers trustworthy guidance needed to navigate the ever-changing landscape of a world transformed by technology.

What’s on the agenda this year

•     The ABC Forces: We look at how artificial intelligence, biotech, and climate change are changing everything.
•     Business Impact: AI is changing every job description, and climate change is impacting every product decision, so what does this mean for you and your business?
•     Social Impact: What does it mean to live a longer life, enriched by AI, in an environmentally responsible world?
•     Economic Impact: How will the policies that might govern AI, our bodies, and our planet change the economy.
•     Research Impact: We examine the ideas in our the labs that will change our lives tomorrow.

Mark your calendar and register to join us online or on campus for EmTech MIT November 14-15, 2023.
https://event.technologyreview.com/emtech-mit-2023?utm_source=event_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ETM23-FIRSTMOVERS&utm_campaign=emtech_mit_2023.unpaid.acquisition&discount=EMAILFM081450&mc_cid=954b5a300d&mc_eid=76363cef0a#register
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else

Staying Alert … How To Improve ROI on Subscribed Databases

“Be on the alert, like the red ant that moves with its claws wide open.” -- African Proverb

The blessing and the curse of the age we live in is the extraordinary amount of information that is available to us, at our literal fingertips.

The challenge we face is to learn how to swim in this sea of information without drowning in it.

Organizations, from academia to corporate, subscribe to various databases that offer access to huge numbers of peer reviewed articles. That helps provide access to the sea of information, but it leaves us with the information overload problem.

Creating alerts is one of the tools we have at our disposal to deal with this problem.

The vendors offering information access include ScienceDirect, ACS-American Chemical Society, IEEE Explore, IHS, to name a few. Each vendor offers an “alerts” feature.

The problem is, each vendor has its own procedure. And each vendor has its own way of licensing its content to end users.

It is not unusual for smaller organizations to opt for the minimum number of licenses available, in order to make the subscription affordable.  This approach is understandable. But it creates a gatekeeper system which can erode the value of the agreement your organization makes with the vendor.

Here is a strategy to help your organization maximize ROI-Return on Investment in its database subscriptions. The strategy enables you to bypass the cumbersome vendor requirements for setting up alerts, while still preserving the value of your organization’s database subscription.

The Gatekeeper Strategy

• IDENTIFY your gatekeeper. In some cases, that will be a librarian. That would be ideal, but not necessary, as long as you know who the gatekeeper is
• CREATE Google Scholar alerts (https://scholar.google.com/ )
• CONTACT your gatekeeper when an alert has an item of interest to determine whether the full text of the article is available via your subscribed database(s)
• ASK your gatekeeper to download and send to you the article you want to read

TIP: If you happen to be a gatekeeper, let your people know, and encourage them to contact you whenever they need full text of an article of interest. They will love you for it.

For example … one of my recent Google Scholar alerts included the following item …

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Data governance in smart factories: Consistency rules for improved data quality in logistics & operations
    Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum – Bologna University, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Received 29 December 2022, Revised 5 July 2023, Accepted 31 July 2023, Available online 7 August 2023, Version of Record 11 August 2023.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213846323000524
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IF my organization subscribes to ScienceDirect, and IF I know who my gatekeeper is, I can contact him/her to request a download of the full text of the article. I am able to do so without going through the process of creating an alert within the ScienceDirect system.

This becomes even more useful when your organization subscribes to more than database. With ONE Google Scholar Alert, you are covering ALL of the major databases … and a lot of the smaller ones, as well.
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else

Conference Alert-Digitalization in Oil and Gas

Too much agreement kills a chat. -- Eldridge Cleaver

The Energy Conference Network (https://energyconferencenetwork.com/ ) has announced the Digitalization in Oil and Gas conference (https://www.digitalizationoilgas.com/23/2647079), scheduled for September 14-15, 2023 in Houston, Texas.

REGISTRANTS include … Aramco, Dow, ExxonMobil, Sabic, Chevron … to name a few.

The conference is organized into FIVE TRACKS … IoT in Oil & Gas, Digital Twins in Oil & Gas, Blockchain in Oil & Gas, Edge Computing Technologies in Oil & Gas, and Connectivity in Oil & Gas.

TIP: View a recent Desulfurization Blog post: Reviews and PDFs (http://desulf.blogspot.com/2023/06/reviews-and-pdfs.html) for a list of free full text articles on the five conference tracks. Pick out one or two in preparation for the conference.

For example:

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Industrial Engineering with Large Language Models: A case study of ChatGPT's performance on Oil & Gas problems
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown great potential in solving complex problems in various fields, including oil and gas engineering and other industrial engineering disciplines like factory automation, PLC programming etc. However, automatic identification of strong and weak solutions to fundamental physics equations governing several industrial processes remain a challenging task. This paper identifies the limitation of current LLM approaches, particularly ChatGPT in selected practical problems native to oil and gas engineering but not exclusively. The performance of ChatGPT in solving complex problems in oil and gas engineering is discussed and the areas where LLMs are most effective are presented.
Cite as: arXiv:2304.14354
source: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.14354
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And here’s another …

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Blockchain in Oil and Gas Supply Chain: A Literature Review from User Security and Privacy Perspective (2023)
International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance
The oil and gas industry grapples with supply chain process challenges and is known to have high risks, significant investments, and large asset volumes. These include (i) tracking extracted resources, (ii) managing equipment and assets, (iii) preventing company data leaks, (iv) managing data, and (v) ensuring process security and integrity. Such issues can result in human errors, misguided decisions due to inaccurate data, inflated operating costs, transaction delays, and fraud. Blockchain technology could provide solutions to some of these problems. For example, it facilitates reliable and secure data storage, ensuring data integrity. Additionally, blockchain-based smart contracts could deter oil trade fraud by automating contract execution when agreement conditions are met. By incorporating blockchain technology, businesses in the oil and gas sector can enhance their operations’ efficiency, transparency, and security, leading to improved decision-making and cost savings.
source: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.16576
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Americas (https://americas.aramco.com/ ), Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at jstoneheart@gmail.com with questions on research, training, or anything else