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Energy Conversion System Design Lab
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A lab that uses the power of chemistry to solve problems of resources, energy, and the environment.
AboutAbout the lab
Resources, energy, and the environment, through chemistry
The Energy Conversion System Design Lab aims to solve problems of resources, energy, and the environment using the power of chemistry.
The lab develops processes that turn carbon resources not currently in use, such as biomass and low-grade coal, into clean energy and high-value chemical feedstocks.
It also works on mechanisms that make low-quality iron ore usable for ironmaking, and on carbon recycling technologies that reuse CO2 that has already been emitted.
From the viewpoint of food loss, the lab studies freshness management of marine biological resources such as fish and shellfish from a chemical engineering perspective.
Key terms
- Gasification
- Reacting coal or biomass at high temperature to convert it into combustible gases (hydrogen and carbon monoxide)
- Catalyst
- A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being changed itself
- Carbon recycling
- Treating CO2 that has already been emitted as a resource, capturing it, and converting it into other substances for reuse
ResearchResearch themes
Aiming to solve problems of resources, energy, and the environment using the power of chemistry, the lab develops methods to make advanced use of low-quality chemical resources that are not yet being used. Its targets range from coal, biomass, iron ore, and CO2 to marine biological resources.
*Illustrative imageClean coal technology
The lab develops highly active catalysts for power generation that combines coal gasification with fuel cells. It also studies the behavior of trace impurities such as hydrogen chloride and ammonia in the resulting fuel gas, and works on mechanisms to remove them while the gas is still at high temperature.
*Illustrative imageEnvironmentally friendly ironmaking processes
Iron ore depends on imports, and impurities are expected to increase while iron content decreases. The lab is developing a method that makes low-quality iron ore usable through alkali treatment, the production of carbon-containing ore by chemical vapor infiltration, and a technology to recover phosphorus from steelmaking slag.
*Illustrative imageCarbon recycling
The lab aims to build carbon-cycle power generation systems that use unused carbon resources such as biomass as raw materials, and that treat CO2 as a resource to be separated, captured, and used again. It is also designing conversion catalysts specifically targeting CO2 emitted from thermal power plants and steelworks.
*Illustrative imageMaking the freshness of seafood visible
In seafood trading, freshness determines value, but its indicators cannot be obtained without analyzing the chemical components, so they cannot be measured on the spot at distribution sites. The lab is building a mechanism that predicts freshness from the size of the fish, the time since death, and the storage temperature, and is developing a device that shows when seafood is best to eat, in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and Tokyo Denki University.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Energy Conversion System Design Lab consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, administrative assistants, technical assistants, research support staff, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.
- Associate ProfessorNaoto Tsubochi
- Project Assistant ProfessorHaruo Kumagai
- Project Assistant ProfessorYuki Mochizuki
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Lumps of coal” Duncan Harris / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Clean coal technology: “Polesine Camerini thermal power station” Vipera / Public domain (cropped)
- Environmentally friendly ironmaking processes: “Hematite-rich iron ore (Precambrian; Pioneer Mine, Ely, Minnesota, USA) 1” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Carbon recycling: “Red Trail Energy ethanol CO2 capture plant Richardton ND1” Acroterion / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Making the freshness of seafood visible: “Fish on ice. ( )” Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Solid-State Reaction Chemistry Lab): “Crystals growing from melted sulfur” AlexmarPhoto / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Materials Chemical Engineering Lab): “Activated-charcoal-i” Mubychemcom / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nanobio Engineering Lab): “Graphene-epitaxial” Nathan Guisinger, EMMD Group, Argonne National Laboratory / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Polymer Chemistry Lab): “Polyethylene balls5” Lluis tgn / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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