Industrial chemical production is central to modern world economies; however, current chemical production processes produce high greenhouse gas emissions and waste in the environment. Thus, my project focuses on the first step of developing alternative production pathways for essential chemicals. Specifically, my project will aim to develop a comprehensive, directed graph network of reaction pathways to industrial chemicals. Using this graph network, I will help refine search algorithms to uncover more sustainable chemical production methods. Refinement of algorithm and graph structures will be conducted on representative reaction networks. Eventually, policy and feedstock constraints will be introduced to analyze their effects on optimal industry design.

“I am participating in this SuperUROP because taking energy classes and conducting internships showed me that research plays a key role in determining industry futures, including industry sustainability. Therefore, I want to have a course 10 research experience and understand current topics in the field. In addition, I hope to apply and further my knowledge of chemical manufacturing, data extraction, and coding through this project.”