8 Nov 2012
The SCI America International Group awarded the Gordon E Moore Medal to Dean Rende, Senior Manager, Honeywell UOP on 13 September 2012 at the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Innovation Day. The occasion brought together 150 leading researchers from industrial laboratories to discuss current trends in cutting edge research, and a luncheon was held in his honour.
Dean Rende received the medal for his outstanding record of discovery, scale-up, and commercialisation of novel new catalysts used in the production of biodegradable detergents and petrochemical monomers. He has commercialised two novel industrial catalysts for commercial oxidation and alkane dehydrogenation, where over three million tonnes are produced annually.
'Dean developed a new concept for catalyst design and then continued to shepherd every detail through the manufacturing scale-up phase to commercial production for two very important catalysts,' said Dr Rajeev Gautam, President and CEO, Honeywell UOP. 'He is an outstanding chemist and leader in UOP's Research and Development group. He is very creative in his approach, and meticulous about every detail. Dean worked closely with our manufacturing group to identify key procedures. He is an inspiring leader in our search for efficient, effective energy solutions.'
In addition to his innovations in catalysis, Rende led an effort that developed an adsorbent ion exchange material that is critical to the on-going cleanup effort at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor facility in Japan. According to a report on World Nuclear News, Honeywell ion exchange resins are an important part of removing cesium-137 from contaminated water.
About Dean Rende
Dean E Rende is Senior Manager, Adsorbents Development Research and Development, Honeywell - UOP Business Unit of Performance Materials and Technologies, where he leads a group of about 20 scientists and engineers.
His team is involved with increasing selectivity and capacity for some of UOP's existing adsorbents and also with developing adsorbents for new applications. A notable example of a new application involves the successful use of UOP IONSIV™ Ion Exchangers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for removing and reducing radioactive Cesium in the contaminated wastewater caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.
Rende is the author of nine peer-reviewed scientific articles, and 14 US patents. He has an additional 13 US patent applications pending. Prior to joining UOP, Dr Rende did post doctoral research at the University of Utah. Rende holds a BA degree (Chemistry) from Franklin and Marshall College and a Ph.D. (Chemistry) from the Ohio State University.
The SCI Gordon E Moore Medal recognises early-career success in innovation, as reflected both in market impact and improvement to quality of life.
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