{"id":35157,"date":"2016-06-29T11:25:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T16:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=35157"},"modified":"2016-07-01T15:52:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T20:52:53","slug":"uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on a new material that could dramatically reduce both soot formation and associated costs.<\/p>\n

\"UWM
UWM engineering professor Benjamin Church has received a $239,111 U.S. Department of Energy grant. (UWM Photo\/Carolyn Bucior)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In April, Benjamin Church, associate professor in materials science and engineering, received a three-year U.S. Department of Energy grant for $239,111 to test a newly patented alumina-forming alloy that could be used to save millions of dollars in the manufacturing of hydrocarbons, namely ethylene.<\/p>\n

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ethylene \u2014 the building block of plastic \u2014 is the most widely produced organic compound in the world. It is manufactured by refining crude oil.<\/p>\n

In the ethylene manufacturing process, carbon builds up inside reactor tubes, which degrades efficiency, Church said. To clean the tubes, furnaces must be shut down periodically. The downtime costs a plant upwards of $1 million a day in lost productivity.<\/p>\n

Working with MetalTek International in Waukesha, Church will test the new alloy\u2019s ability to dramatically resist carbon buildup, referred to as “coking,” during the ethylene manufacturing process. MetalTek is a leading manufacturer of centrifugally cast heat resistant tubes used in a variety of petrochemical processing applications including ethylene production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to improve a manufacturing process for core materials that our industrial world relies on,\u201d Church said.\u00a0 \u201cOur specific goal is to dramatically slow carbon buildup, perhaps by 90 percent. Our hope is that this new alloy will prove to be more energy efficient and most cost effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, led by Govindarajan Muralidharan, has patented the alloy and received a $3.9 million grant from U.S. Department of Energy to commercialize it, Church said. The team turned to industrial and academic partners \u2014 UWM and MetalTek in Wisconsin, Duraloy Technologies in Scottsdale, Penn., and ArcelorMittal, in East Chicago, Ind. \u2014 to test and manufacture the material.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on a new material that could dramatically reduce both soot formation and associated costs. In April, Benjamin Church, associate professor in materials science and engineering, received a three-year U.S. Department of Energy grant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,200,175],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[151,149],"class_list":["post-35157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-news-in-brief","category-research","uwmnews-feed-applied-science","uwmnews-feed-engineering-applied-science"],"yoast_head":"\nUWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Schumacher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Schumacher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Schumacher\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3\"},\"headline\":\"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\"},\"wordCount\":348,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"News in Brief\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\",\"name\":\"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"UWM engineering professor Benjamin Church has received a $239,111 U.S. Department of Energy grant to test a new alloy that could save manufacturers millions.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"UWM REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/UWMNews\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3\",\"name\":\"John Schumacher\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/schuma63uwm-edu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions","description":"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions","og_description":"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/","og_site_name":"UWM REPORT","article_published_time":"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"John Schumacher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UWMNews","twitter_site":"@UWMNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Schumacher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/"},"author":{"name":"John Schumacher","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3"},"headline":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions","datePublished":"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/"},"wordCount":348,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg","articleSection":["News","News in Brief","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/","name":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-29T16:25:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-01T20:52:53+00:00","description":"Production of raw plastics creates a sooty residue that\u2019s costly to clean. Now, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is involved in promising research on","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/06\/ben-church-crop.jpg","width":300,"height":200,"caption":"UWM engineering professor Benjamin Church has received a $239,111 U.S. Department of Energy grant to test a new alloy that could save manufacturers millions."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-tests-alloy-save-hydrocarbon-makers-millions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UWM tests alloy that could save hydrocarbon makers millions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"UWM REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/UWMNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3","name":"John Schumacher","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/schuma63uwm-edu\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 15:53:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35157"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35255,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35157\/revisions\/35255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=35157"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=35157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}