Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Thornburg is an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering and works full-time as Senior Reaction Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO. He serves as a senior engineer in the Fuels and Combustion Science group in NREL’s Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences (CIMS). Dr. Thornburg joined CIMS in April 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher and advanced to his current role in April 2023. He originally joined NREL’s National Bioenergy Center (NBC) as a postdoctoral researcher in April 2017, where he studied particle-scale reaction engineering and multiphase chemical reactor design and optimization for biomass deconstruction. His current research interests lie in multiphase reaction engineering for renewable small-molecule chemical syntheses facilitated by multiple renewable energy reactor inputs (e.g., electrons, photons, heat, hydrogen) for deep decarbonization of the chemical industry and heavy transportation sectors.

At NREL, Dr. Thornburg leads research and development projects in the following areas: renewable ammonia synthesis, separation, and utilization; electrochemical CO_x conversion, scale-up, and energy systems integration for the synthesis of valuable commodity chemicals; onboard fuel and hydrogen carrier reforming; and catalyst deactivation in integrated chemical process environments. Before joining NREL, he gained industrial research and development experience at The Dow Chemical Company and 3M. His doctoral research focused on heterogeneous transition metal oxide catalysts in sustainable chemical manufacturing applications. Dr. Thornburg is passionate about industrial decarbonization, entrepreneurship, and student development and welcomes outreach by interested parties.