Benjamin Roberts
Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory
1529 West Sequim Bay Road
Sequim, WA 98382
(509) 372-4446
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Biography
Ben Roberts started with PNNL’s Hydrocarbon Processing Group in 2002. He has been involved in all aspects of research including component design and fabrication, system integration and construction, as well as operations management. His primary focus has been in the design and development of data acquisition and control systems to safely monitor and automate a wide variety of chemical and industrial processes. In 2007 Ben helped launch the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute in Corvallis, Oregon and in 2014 he designed and facilitated construction of a small pilot plant system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania built to demonstrate technologies that were developed and patented at PNNL.
Research Interests
- Waste Heat Recovery Systems
- Alternative Fuels Synthesis
- Fuel Cells and Power Generation
- Process Intensification
- Systems Automation and Controls
- LabVIEW programming and data acquisition
- SolidWorks Design
PNNL Patents
- U.S. Patent No. 11,268,036, March 8, 2022, "Heavy Fossil Hydrocarbon Conversion and Upgrading Using Radio-Frequency or Microwave Energy".
- U.S. Patent No. 11,021,661, June 1, 2021, "Heavy Fossil Hydrocarbon and Upgrading Using Radio-Frequency or Microwave Energy".
- U.S. Patent No. 10,059,890, August 28, 2018, "Methods and Systems for Acoustically-Assisted Hydroprocessing at Low Pressure ".
- U.S. Patent No. 9,862,892, January 9, 2018, "Heavy Fossil Hydrocarbon Conversion and Upgrading Using Radio-Frequency or Microwave Energy".
PNNL Publications
2024
- Branch R.A., R.J. Cavagnaro, B.Q. Roberts, J.R. McVey, A.L. Barker, and A.M. Turpin. 2024. Characterizing Interference in a Wave-Powered Buoy. PNNL-35370. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Characterizing Interference in a Wave-Powered Buoy
2023
- Weicht L.E., A.M. Turpin, and B.Q. Roberts. 2023. "Hardware-in-the-Loop Efficiency Analysis of Tidal Power Systems." In OCEANS 2023 - MTS/IEEE U.S. Gulf Coast, September 25-28, 2023, Biloxi, MS, 1-6. Piscataway, New Jersey:IEEE. PNNL-SA-188008. doi:10.23919/OCEANS52994.2023.10337189
2022
- Strickland C.E., J.M. Knox, D.E. Nelson, D. Sirota, B.Q. Roberts, D.P. Sprinkle, and H.A. Knox, et al. 2022. Real-Time Seismic System for Monitoring, Imaging, and Characterization (RT-SEISMIC). PNNL-33581. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Real-Time Seismic System for Monitoring, Imaging, and Characterization (RT-SEISMIC)
2021
- Fu P., M. Schoenball, J. Ajo-Franklin, C. Chai, M. Maceira, J. Morris, and H. Wu, et al. 2021. "Close Observation of Hydraulic Fracturing at EGS Collab Experiment 1: Fracture Trajectory, Microseismic Interpretations, and the Role of Natural Fractures." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126, no. 7:Article No. e2020JB020840. PNNL-SA-163986. doi:10.1029/2020JB020840
- Wu H., P. Fu, Z.S. Frone, M.D. White, J. Ajo-Franklin, J. Morris, and H.A. Knox, et al. 2021. "Modeling heat transport processes in enhanced geothermal systems: Validation study from EGS Collab Experiment 1." Geothermics 97. PNNL-SA-162770. doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102254
2020
- Santosa D.M., C. Zhu, F. Agblevor, B. Maddi, B.Q. Roberts, I.V. Kutnyakov, and S. Lee, et al. 2020. "In Situ Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis using Red Mud Catalyst: Impact of catalytic fast pyrolysis temperature and biomass feedstocks." ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 8, no. 13:5156-5164. PNNL-SA-150428. doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b07439
2012
- Karim A.M., C.J. Howard, B.Q. Roberts, L. Kovarik, L. Zhang, D.L. King, and Y. Wang. 2012. "In Situ X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Studies on the Effect of pH on Pt Electronic Density during Aqueous Phase Reforming of Glycerol." ACS Catalysis 2, no. 11:2387-2394. PNNL-SA-89904. doi:10.1021/cs3005049
2008
- Hu J., R.A. Dagle, B.R. Johnson, H.W. Kreuzer, D.J. Gaspar, B.Q. Roberts, and M.L. Alexander. 2008. "Development of a Micropyrolyzer for Enhanced Isotope Ratio Measurement." Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 47, no. 22:8625-8630. PNNL-SA-60695. doi:10.1021/ie8009236
- Huang X., D.A. King, F. Zheng, V.S. Stenkamp, W.E. TeGrotenhuis, B.Q. Roberts, and D.L. King. 2008. "Hydrodesulfurization of JP-8 Fuel and its Microchannel Distillate Using Steam Reformate." Catalysis Today 136, no. 3-4:291-300. PNWD-SA-8059. doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2008.01.011