November 13
@
8:00 AM
–
5:00 PM
Time and location TBD
Electromagnetic Approaches for Sustainable Thermochemical Processes
Abstract:
Electrifying industrial chemical processes is a critical step toward sustainable manufacturing, enabling higher energy efficiency and improved yield through precise energy delivery, while addressing the urgent need for industrial decarbonization. This presentation introduces electromagnetic approaches that leverage interactions between electromagnetic fields and materials (i.e., catalysts and reactants) to achieve wireless, uniform, and highly efficient heating for chemical processes. Numerical and experimental demonstrations show how co-design of reactor geometry, material properties, and power electronics can achieve reduced thermal gradients, enhanced conversion, near-unity efficiency, and scalable performance. These demonstrations are adaptable to key industrial processes, including hydrogen production, gas reforming, carbon capture, steelmaking, and cement production. This talk will also discuss solutions for adaptive reactor operation when integrated with smart grid and control strategies.
Chenghao Wan
Bio:
Chenghao Wan joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF) as an assistant professor in August 2026 and is affiliated with the Resilient, Intelligent and Sustainable Energy Systems (RISES) research center at UCF. Before joining UCF, he was a postdoctoral scholar (2022–2026) in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received his M.S. (2015) and Ph.D. (2021) degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Wan’s research focuses on applied electromagnetics, thermal management, materials science, and multiphysics modeling. His research aims to leverage electromagnetic wave–matter interactions to improve the efficiency and functionality of next-generation energy, sensing, and manufacturing systems. He has authored over 45 peer-reviewed publications and delivered more than 20 presentations at major international conferences organized by AIChE, MRS, AVS, Optica, and SPIE.
Seminar is hosted by ECE Professor Mikhail Kats.