Jason Hallett

Dr Jason Hallett, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London

Research: The overall vision is for my research to develop sustainable, solvent-based chemical processes through a mixture of biorenewable chemical feedstock and material synthesis and catalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

My recent efforts have been concentrated on the development of ionic liquid-based catalytic systems for synthesis of fuels and chemicals from biomass and understanding the mechanisms of solvation and how they affect bioprocessing.

The main platform of my research is solvent-based separations of complex materials. This platform has three broad areas of development:

1) Lignocellulosic biorefining using ionic liquids. This is the separation of (usually waste) lignocellulosic biomass into sugars (refining) and platform chemicals.

2) Protein stabilization in unnatural environments. This involves post-translational surface modification of proteins to impart high thermal and (as a focus area) solvent-based stability. A large portion of this is dedicated to biocatalysis of biorenewables in ionic liquids, creating overlap with (1).

3) Complex solvent-based separations in energy. This involves the use of ionic liquids to target separations of metals from hydrocarbon or waste streams and also for use in solvent-based carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Website: http://imperial.ac.uk/people/j.hallett

Jason Hallett completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002, under the direction of Professors Charles Eckert and Charles Liotta. He took up a Marshall-Sherfield Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Chemistry in 2006 in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College. He is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College.

His current research interests involve the solvation behaviour of ionic liquids and the use of ionic liquids in biorefining, specifically the production of sustainable chemical feedstocks and lignocellulosic biofuels. He also works on multidisciplinary research projects across several production scales, from laboratory to pilot scale, involving bioprocessing.

Ten selected publications

1) Brandt, A., Chen, L., van Dongen, B.E., Welton, T., Hallett, J.P.*, “Structural changes in lignins isolated using an acidic ionic liquid water mixture.” Green Chem. 17, (2015), 5019-5034.

2) George, A.; Brandt, A.; Tran, K.; Zahari, S.M.S.N.S.; Klein-Marcuschamer, D.; Sun, N.; Sathitsuksanoh, N.; Shia, J.; Stavila, V.; Parthasarathi, R.; Singh, S.; Holmes, B.M.; Welton, T.; Simmons, B.A.; Hallett, J.P. “Design of low-cost ionic liquids for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment.” Green Chem. 2015, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C4GC01208A

3) Chen, L.; Sharifzadeh, M.; Mac Dowell, N.; Welton, T.; Shah, N.; Hallett, J.P. “Inexpensive ionic liquids: [HSO4]--based solvent production at bulk scale.” Green Chem. 2014, 16, 3098-3106.

4) Eminov, S.; Wilton-Ely, J.D.E.T.; Hallett, J.P.* “Selective conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using mildly acidic ionic liquids.” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2014, 2, 978-981. Cover article

5) Verdía, P.; Brandt, A.; Hallett, J.P.; M.J. Ray; Welton, T. “Fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass with the ionic liquid 1-butylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate.” Green Chem. 2014, 16, 1617-1627.

6) Brandt, A.; Grasvik, J.; Hallett, J.P.; Welton, T. “Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids.” Green Chem. 2013,15, 550-583. Cover article

7) Lui, M.Y.; Crowhurst, L.C.; Hallett, J.P.; Hunt, P.A.; Niedermeyer, H.; Welton, T. “Salts Dissolved in Salts.” Chem. Sci. 2011, 2, 1491-1496. RSC Hot article

8) Hallett, J.P.; Welton, T. “Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Solvents for Synthesis and Catalysis II.” Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 3508-3576. Cover article

9) Brandt, A.; Hallett, J.P.; Leak, D.J.; Murphy, R.J.; Welton, T. “The Effect of the Ionic Liquid Anion in the Pretreatment of Pine Wood Chips.” Green Chem., 2010, 12, 672-679.

10) Ragauskas, A.J.; Williams, C.K.; Davison, B.H.; Britovsek, G.; Cairney, J.; Eckert, C.A.; Frederick, J.; Hallett, J.P.; Leak, D.; Liotta, C.L.; Mielenz, J.R.; Murphy, R.; Templer, R.; Tschaplinski, T. “Biofuels and Biomaterials Challenge: The Path Forward.” Science 2006, 311, 484-489.