Rodney John Allam, MBE (born 1940 in St Helens, Lancashire) is an English chemical engineer and fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers who is credited with inventions related to power generation, notably the

Allam power cycle The Allam Cycle or Allam-Fetvedt Cycle is a process for converting carbonaceous fuels into thermal energy, while capturing the generated carbon dioxide and water. This zero emissions cycle was validated at a 50 MWt ...

, which is a generation process for fossil fuels, with integrated

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

capture.

Career

Allam was employed by

Air Products & Chemicals Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pen ...

for 44 years, most recently as Director of Technology Development. In 2004, he was appointed member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to the environment. He has also been a visiting professor at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and a lead author of the

IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ...

special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage, released in 2005. In 2007, the IPCC, along with

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

, was awarded with the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

. His work has included new processes and equipment for production of gases and cryogenic liquids, such as

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as ...

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

and

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

. Several of these gases are generally produced through air separation, which is also a necessary step in the practical application of the Allam cycle, in which

gaseous Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), ...

fossil fuels, for example natural gas or gasified coal, are combusted with pure oxygen. A 50 MW demonstration plant being built in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

is expected to start operating in 2017. In 2012, Allam was awarded the

Global Energy Prize The Global Energy Prize is an international award in the field of energy industry which is given for ''"outstanding scientific research and scientific-technical developments in the field of energy which promote greater efficiency and environmental ...

, for his work on processes and power generation, along with Russian scientists Valery Kostuk and Boris Katorgin. , he is chairman of the international award committee for the prize. , Allam works for ''8 Rivers Capital'', with among other things the commercialisation of the Allam cycle.

References

External links

Description of the Allam power cycle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allam, Rodney 1940 births Living people British chemical engineers English engineers 20th-century British inventors Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Members of the Order of the British Empire Environmental engineers People from St Helens, Merseyside

Career

See also

References

External links