Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Thornburg is an Adjunct and Affiliate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and works full-time as Senior Reaction Engineer at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) in Golden, CO. Dr. Thornburg investigates multiphase chemical reaction engineering and heterogeneous catalysis for the synthesis, storage and conversion of small-molecule chemicals and energy carriers—straddling research & development and scale-up activities across six NLR research centers. He serves as a national subject matter expert in the reaction engineering discipline and regularly teaches the original course CBEN 428/528 – Advanced Reactor Design offered in Spring semesters for seniors, masters and Ph.D. students in CBE and across other Departments and interdisciplinary programs.

 

At NLR, Dr. Thornburg leads research and development projects in the following areas: Ammonia synthesis, separation and utilization as an energy vector; electrochemical COx conversion, scale-up and energy systems integration; continuous photocatalytic conversion of liquid organic hydrogen carriers; plasma catalysis and reaction engineering for small-molecule syntheses; contaminant removal for direct recycling of lithium ion batteries; and (sub)surface reactive extraction and electrochemical separation of critical minerals. Before joining NLR, 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 innovation, entrepreneurship, student development and pedagogy.