Accelerating climate technologies through the science of scale-up – Dr Thomas Moore

Chemical Engineering is, and has been since its inception, the Science of Scale-up. Turning lab-scale experiments into industrial-scale processes is our core competency, and now, as we prepare to decarbonise our economy, the need for accelerated, targeted and rational scale-up is more acute than ever. In this presentation, I will reflect upon the findings of the Science of Scale-up Strategic Initiative at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I will discuss emerging modelling techniques well suited to identifying physics that emerges at scale, including ML-enabled tools for scaled physics modelling, and dynamic scaling laws within adiabatic unit operations. I will also advocate for classical tools – Gibbs free energy, dimensional analysis, 0D and 1D models – well understood by chemical engineers, but often underappreciated by the wider engineering community.

About the presenter:

Dr Thomas Moore is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Before coming to QUT, Dr Moore was a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he led the modelling team within the $10M Science of Scale-up Strategic Initiative.

Dr Moore has an extensive publication record, with first-author publications in Nature Chemical Engineering, Joule, Energy & Environmental Science, and ACS Energy Letters, among others. His research focusses on carbon capture process design, CO₂ electrolysis, reactive mass transfer in non-aqueous solvents, and TEA and LCA analysis of emerging green technologies.

When not at work, you’ll find him chasing after his 1-year-old (who is learning to talk) and his 3-year-old (who is learning to talk back).

Tom Moore is the lead author of the paper, Accelerating climate technologies through the science of scale-up, published in Nature Chemical Engineering.

• Research profile: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/t34.moore
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_BN7IEEAAAAJ&hl=en

Enquiries

For more information about the seminar and link to the online presentation, please contact us via getco2@uq.edu.au