Love of chemistry rooted in garden experiments - interview with Simon Beaumont
23 Dec 2011
Who or what inspired you to pursue
a career in science?
My family always encouraged me to do
my best as a student. My grandfather
was a scientist, which helped develop my
interest in science. When I was young he
made me plan out experiments to work
out the best way to do something when
I was helping him in the garden. Enthusiastic
secondary school teachers were
a big boost as I grew up too, especially
as I thought about going to university.
What is your research topic?
My research is about increasing our
understanding, and improving the
chemistry needed, to be able to convert
natural gas and biomass feeds into more
useful commodities, such as transport
fuels, by reactions of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen (cobalt catalysis).
What is innovative about your most
recent research project?
Catalytic chemists often look at what
happens before or after a reaction
occurs. I'm one of a number of scientists
making new in situ apparatus, which
uses x-ray spectroscopies to follow what
goes on during the reactions themselves,
and how the catalyst changes, or is
modified by, the reaction process. This is
especially challenging for reactions that
are usually done at high temperatures
and pressures.
Are there any potential applications
or any competitive advantages for
industry as a result of your research?
The chemistry I'm working on is very
much industrial already with large scale
plants in South Africa,
Malaysia and Qatar. As
crude oil becomes more expensive,
generating transport fuels from other
sources, such as natural gas or
biomass, is increasingly appealing.
Understanding the underlying
chemistry should allow better control
of the product stream and savings on
subsequent processing or unwanted by-product
waste.
Has this work led your group to any
other promising research?
I've looked at how platinum and similar
metals, used to promote catalytic reactions
of this type, help the process. This
highlighted a lot of things about the
interaction and diffusion of hydrogen
on oxides (on which metal catalysts
are usually supported) that remain
unknown and we are now beginning
more fundamental work in this area.
What have been your proudest
achievements so far?
Near the end of my PhD, a series of things all came together
to allow me to propose and carry out an
experiment I wouldn't otherwise have
attempted. This was to answer a
key question about the oxidation state
of gold in a particular reaction - and amazingly, it worked.
Encouraging
children to be interested in science is
also really important to me, and so being
interviewed for Radio 5 about liquid
nitrogen ice cream during one of the
Cambridge Science Festivals was also an
exciting experience.
What is the next milestone in your
career?
To discover something amazing,
obviously! I don't know about
milestones, but my next move, I hope,
will be to find a job back in the UK using
the skills I've developed doing this sort
of chemistry. I'm currently in California
completing a post-doc and missing cold
English winters!
Related Links