Possible vs. Practical: Engineers Must Lead the Development of Practical Technologies

Chemical Engineering is need today more than ever. There is a strong societal desire for sources of energy and feedstocks that can sustainably support a high standard of living for all.  Thermodynamic, material and economic challenges stand in the way.  Most of the general public does not have the basic understanding of the energy flows, chemical transformations, and the scale of the systems that support our current way of life.  These concepts are fundamental to chemical engineering.   Chemical engineers should be on the vanguard of separating hype from truly practical options yet occationally we let society down.  This talk will present several examples where the fundamentals of chemical engineering can be used to access the practicality of proposed solutions to energy and water issues, as well as explain why the venture capital model struggles in the materials market.