Dr. Roy A. Periana Joins SRI International's Catalysis Group to Build Oxidation Catalysis Program

Leading Chemist Will Pursue R&D in Direct Hydrocarbon Conversion Technologies
 
Menlo Park, Calif. (August 30, 1999) -- Silicon Valley-based technology innovator SRI International today announced that Dr. Roy A. Periana has joined the institute's Catalysis and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory as a program manager.
 
"We are very pleased to have Roy Periana join SRI," said Robert B. Wilson, Jr., director of SRI's Catalysis and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. "Roy is a leader in catalytic oxidation research and, using his extensive background in reaction chemistry, will build a program in several related fields at SRI. His efforts will augment SRI's other catalyst R&D activities, allowing SRI to provide clients with a broader range of development services.
 
A key objective for Dr. Periana will be to develop direct hydrocarbon conversion (DHC) technology to provide an alternative to the current multi-step, energy- and capital-intensive processes used to convert hydrocarbons to useful products. The development of new generations of oxidation catalysts is key to discovering direct conversion technologies that will allow raw hydrocarbons to be processed directly into chemicals and fuels at lower temperatures and with minimal by-products
 
Dr. Periana's breakthrough work in the conversion of methane to methanol represents a milestone toward achieving next-generation commercial processes and could open the door to the development of generic DHC catalysts that will lead to new, highly efficient direct conversion processes for petroleum and natural gas
 
Before joining SRI International, Dr. Periana served as director of research for Catalytica Advanced Technologies, Inc. At Catalytica, he was also a senior research fellow and led the company's multimillion-dollar program aimed at developing novel technology to produce methanol and ethylene glycol directly from parent alkanes. He has co-authored 15 patents and is the inventor of molecular catalyst systems that exhibit the highest one-pass yield thus far reported for the oxidative conversion of methane to methanol.
 
Dr. Periana has also been a research chemist for the Dow Chemical Company and a research specialist for the Monsanto Company. He has been an invited speaker at numerous conferences, including the Bloomberg Conference on Energy and Gordon Organometallic Chemistry Conferences
 
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's largest independent research, technology development and consulting organizations. Founded in 1946 as the Stanford Research Institute, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of global markets for more than 50 years. As part of its strategy to bring its technologies to the marketplace, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.