Richard Mackay Email & Phone Number

Boulder, Co

Longmont, Co

• Tested EBC/TBC (Environmental and Thermal Barrier Coatings) coatings on SiC and refractory metals for high temperature applications. • Designed, constructed, and tested catalytic tar reforming reactor for biomass conversion process

Boulder, Co

I worked on Precombustion CO2 capture for Department of Energy IGCC-CCS (Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle–Carbon Capture and Sequestration) project.>Technical team leader for membrane manufacturing and fabrication team.>Technical team leader for membrane testing and analysis team.•Supervised team of 6 Ph.D. and 4 B.S. scientists/engineers to coordinate fabrication and testing of hydrogen transport membranes, pre- and post-test analysis and characterization of… Show more I worked on Precombustion CO2 capture for Department of Energy IGCC-CCS (Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle–Carbon Capture and Sequestration) project.>Technical team leader for membrane manufacturing and fabrication team.>Technical team leader for membrane testing and analysis team.•Supervised team of 6 Ph.D. and 4 B.S. scientists/engineers to coordinate fabrication and testing of hydrogen transport membranes, pre- and post-test analysis and characterization of membranes and reporting of results. Membranes are tubular, self supporting thin wall metal membranes based on Group V alloys.•Designated specifications for membrane manufacturing, including dimensional specs (thickness, roundness), mechanical properties, annealing conditions and microstructure.•Directed development of test protocol for Eltron’s proprietary hydrogen transport membranes. Lab testing done under high pressure (up to 1000 psig), high pressure differential (dP= 600 psi), high temperature (up to 500ºC) conditions with simulated synthesis gas. Over 10+ years accident free operation of reactors•Led effort that improved coating procedure from 10% parts in spec to 80% parts in spec.•Coordinated with engineering team to scale up test module (by 300x) and conducted subscale field testing at three separate facilities (Eastman Chemicals, UND-EERC, and NCCC) with real gasified coal feedstreams•Experimentally tested modelling results of mass transfer limitation in reactor•Verified weld integrity with pressure/temperature/H2 atmosphere cycling tests. Reduced cycle time from 60h to 24h•One patent issued, three patent applications and ten invention disclosures filed relating to reactor startup conditions, process conditions, improved materials and alloys, impurity tolerant alloy catalysts, and catalyst deposition techniques•Radiation Safety Officer. Trained the 16 operators, conducted annual safety reviews, maintained the XRD and XRF instruments, liaison with state licensing and certification Show less

Boulder, Co

Coordinated company-wide use and maintenance of all ceramic processing equipment: ball mills, vibratory mills, attrition mills, sieves, tape casters, uniaxial presses, cold isostatic presses, calcining, sintering and reducing furnaces, in addition to being PI on various research projects. Oversaw operation of thermal analysis equipment- TGA, TMA, DSC, DTA, as well as other analytical laboratory equipment: XRD, XRF, particle size analysis, rheometers, FTIR infrared and UV spectrometers, GC, AA,… Show more Coordinated company-wide use and maintenance of all ceramic processing equipment: ball mills, vibratory mills, attrition mills, sieves, tape casters, uniaxial presses, cold isostatic presses, calcining, sintering and reducing furnaces, in addition to being PI on various research projects. Oversaw operation of thermal analysis equipment- TGA, TMA, DSC, DTA, as well as other analytical laboratory equipment: XRD, XRF, particle size analysis, rheometers, FTIR infrared and UV spectrometers, GC, AA, SEM/EDX. Provided assistance company wide to all ceramic related work.•Team member on multiple research projects to improve processing of ceramics: synthesis of Li-ion battery electrode materials (1 patent awarded), supported ceramics for chemical looping, high surface area catalyst fabrication and testing, ceramic sulfide-ion conducting materials for sulfur separation or sensor application, polymer matrix composites.•Technical lead on joint development of ceramic-metal (cermet) hydrogen transport membranes with CoorsTek. Responsible for characterization, analysis and reactor testing of membranes. Show less

Boulder, Co

PI and technical team leader on several joint development projects (w/ Department of Energy, Air Products & Chemicals Inc and COPD Inc.) related to Eltron’s proprietary oxygen transport membranes based on mixed ionic - electronic conducting (MIEC) ceramics.•Authored 6 patents on technology related to MIECs.•Developed novel processing techniques for fabricating MIEC ceramics with reduced grain size (95% reduction) and reduced sintering temperatures (by 300ºC), including polymer derived… Show more PI and technical team leader on several joint development projects (w/ Department of Energy, Air Products & Chemicals Inc and COPD Inc.) related to Eltron’s proprietary oxygen transport membranes based on mixed ionic - electronic conducting (MIEC) ceramics.•Authored 6 patents on technology related to MIECs.•Developed novel processing techniques for fabricating MIEC ceramics with reduced grain size (95% reduction) and reduced sintering temperatures (by 300ºC), including polymer derived mixed metal oxide ceramics, sol-gels and Pecchini-type synthesis. •Reduced monolithic membrane thickness by 90% by fabrication of supported ceramic thin films in tubular and planar format.•Developed compositions with reduced chemical expansion that exhibited no loss in ionic transport. Compositions tested with long term stability in operating conditons for oxygen separation and gas-to-liquids (methane to synthesis gas) applications. Show less

Clemson, Sc

Development of electrochemical synthesis techniques for low-dimensional inorganic solids in non-aqueous solvents.Structural characterization of high and low temperature phase transitions in low-dimensional inorganic solids by single crystal and powder X-ray diffractionSeven publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Inorganic Chemistry

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Chemistry