Chunshan Song

Chunshan Song, Pennsylvania State University

Chunshan Song, distinguished professor of fuel science in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and director of the EMS Energy Institute in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State has been selected to receive the 2011 Distinguished Researcher Award from the Petroleum Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award, which began in 2008, will recognize Song for his extensive original contributions to research in the petroleum chemistry field.

Song, who is also professor of chemical engineering (courtesy) and associate director of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, is internationally known for his contributions to clean fuels, catalysis, and CO₂ capture and utilization research. He has designed shape-selective alkylation catalysts for synthesis of precursors for advanced polymers from naphthalene; and developed a new method for hydrothermal synthesis of nano-sized ultra-high-surface sulfide catalysts, both of which have been patented and licensed to industry. For ultra-clean fuels and fuel cells, he devised an innovative approach to removing sulfur by selective adsorption from hydrocarbon fuels over solid surface based on direct sulfur-sorbent interaction without using hydrogen, which has also been licensed to industry. His group recently developed a novel approach to CO₂ capture by "molecular-basket sorbents" consisting of nanoporous matrix and functional polymers with superior capacity and selectivity. In addition, his group developed sulfur-tolerant and carbon-resistant bimetallic and trimetallic catalysts for low-temperature steam reforming of liquid fuels and non-pyrophoric catalysts for oxygen-enhanced water gas shift. He recently proposed a new design concept of sulfur-tolerant noble metal catalysts for low-temperature hydrotreating and dearomatization.

A prolific author of many high-impact publications, Song has delivered 45 plenary or keynote lectures at international conferences and over 210 invited lectures worldwide. He has over 180 refereed journal articles (which received over 5000 citations), 6 refereed books, 11 special journal issues, 22 patents and patent applications, and over 280 conference papers.

Song has also received a number of major awards, including the Henry Storch Award in Fuel Science from ACS; ACS Fellow; the Herman Pines Award for Outstanding Research in Catalysis from Catalysis Club of Chicago in the North American Catalysis Society; the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar from US-UK; the Chang Jiang Scholar from the Ministry of Education of China; Most Cited Authors in Catalysis from Elsevier; Outstanding Scholar Overseas from the Chinese Academy of Sciences; the Distinguished Catalysis Researcher Lectureship from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; the Robinson Distinguished Lectureship from University of Alberta, Canada; the NEDO Fellowship and AIST Fellowship Awards from Japan; and Distinguished Service Awards from the ACS Fuel Chemistry and Petroleum Chemistry Divisions, and from the Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference. Within the Pennsylvania State University, he has received the Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering, University Distinguished Professorship, the Wilson Award for Excellence in Research, the Faculty Mentoring Award, Inventor Incentive Awards and the Materials Science & Engineering Service Award.

The ACS Petroleum Chemistry Division will hold an Award Symposium in Honor of Chunshan Song at the Fall 2011 ACS National Meeting in Denver, CO with around 30 invited lectures by selected researchers worldwide.