Robert C. Brown, an Iowa State engineer who has 26 U.S. patents, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Robert C. Brown
Many of Brown's inventions involve the thermochemical conversion of biomass such as corn stalks or wood chips into a liquid bio-oil for energy and a biochar for fertilizer. One such invention changed how a technology called fast pyrolysis provides energy to the process of breaking down biomass.
The standard way transfers external heat energy into a reactor. Brown's new "autothermal" process adds air to the reactor to burn a small amount of the pyrolysis products. That turns out to be a more efficient way to heat and break down biomass. And, this partial combustion does little to affect the yield of bio-oil.
"I really enjoy brainstorming new ideas -- especially if they induce eye rolling among staff members, which was the case for autothermal pyrolysis," said Brown, the co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering.
The academy's selection committee said in a statement that Brown was elected because he had "demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society."
Brown reacted to his election by saying, "Of course I'm delighted. I've always thought of myself more as an inventor than as a faculty member or an engineer."
Brown said there are more inventions in his research group's pipeline, everything from using a pyrolysis/biochar system to compete for a $50 million grand prize from the XPRIZE Foundation for carbon removal to developing technology for the rapid carbonation of beer. (The latter was named "RCB" by his students, which happens to be his initials, said Brown, who teaches an experimental course, the "Science and Practice of Brewing.")
Brown and other members of this year's class of fellows will be formally inducted next June at the NAI's annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Good company at Iowa State
Other NAI fellows from Iowa State and their years of election are:
- Iver Anderson, 2015, an adjunct professor of materials science and engineering and a senior metallurgist for the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory
- Patrick Halbur, 2016, professor and chair of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine
- Surya Mallapragada, 2016, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Carol Vohs Johnson Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering, associate vice president for research and a scientist for the Ames National Laboratory
- Balaji Narasimhan, 2019, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair and director of the Nanovaccine Institute
- Guru Rao, 2019, professor emeritus of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology and a former associate vice president for research
- Max Rothschild, 2017, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Costas Soukoulis, 2018, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences Emeritus and a former senior scientist at the Ames National Laboratory
- Jonathan Wickert, 2014, senior vice president and provost, and professor of mechanical engineering
