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Tyler Westover, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist/Engineer

Research Areas:
Feedstock Particle Mechanics; Bioenergy Technologies

Biography:

Dr. Tyler Westover is a Group Lead for the Idaho National Laboratory’s Hydrogen and Thermal Systems Group in the Hydrogen and Electrochemistry Department. Dr. Westover currently leads efforts at INL to demonstrate high temperature electrolysis systems at 30 to 250 kW scale. He also leads efforts within the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program to develop and evaluate designs to dispatch electrical and thermal power from commercial nuclear power plants to produce hydrogen and other non-electric co-products. Previously, Dr. Westover led the Feedstock / Thermochemical Conversion Pathways Integration project at INL that studied ‘field-to-fleet’ implications of using different biomass feedstocks in  thermochemical conversion processes, including fast pyrolysis, catalytic fast pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, hydrodeoxygenation, and gasification. Dr. Westover also previously led an effort at INL to model and improve biomass bulk solids feeding and handling performance. Before starting at INL, Dr. Westover performed post-doctoral research at Sandia National Laboratories studying thermal transport and breakdown of gallium nitride nanowires and carbon nanotubes. Dr. Westover holds a Ph.D from Purdue University and a B.S. degree from Brigham Young University, both in mechanical engineering. 

Education:

​Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering - Purdue University

B.S., Mechanical Engineering - Brigham Young University

Affiliations:

​​American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

American Vacuum Sociey

Publications:
​Refereed Journal Articles       
                     

Experimental

Cheah S, Jablonski W, Olstad J, Carpenter D, Barthelemy K, Black S, Oddo M, Robichaud DM, Westover TL, "Effects of thermal pretreatment and catalyst on gasification efficiency and syngas composition," Green Chemistry, 2016, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/C6GC01661H

 

Aston J, Thompson D, Westover TL, Performance Assessment of Dilute-Acid Leaching to Improve Corn Stover Quality for Thermochemical Conversion, Fuel 2016 168: 311-319.

 

Lacey JA, Emerson RM, Westover TL, Thompson D. Ash Reduction Strategies in Corn Stover Facilitated by Anatomical and Size Fractionation. Biomass and Bioenergy 2016 90: 173-180.

 

Westover TL, Emerson RM. Rapid Analysis of Inorganic Species in Herbaceous Materials Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Indust. Biotechnol. 2015 11(6): 322-330.

 

Klinger J, Bar-Ziv E, Shonnard D, Westover TL, Emerson RM. Predicting Properties of Gas and Solid Streams by Intrinsic Kinetics of Fast Pyrolysis of Wood, Energy&Fuels 2015 30(1): 318-325.

 

Westover TL, Phanphanich M, Ryan, JC. Comprehensive rheological characterization of chopped and ground switchgrass, Biofuels 2015 6(5-6): 249-260.

 

Howe D, Westover TL, Carpenter D, Santosa D, Emerson R, Deutch S, Starace A, Kutnyakov I, Lukins C. Field-to-Fuel Performance Testing of Lignocellulosic Feedstocks: An Integrated Study of the Fast Pyrolysis/Hydrotreating Pathway, Energy&Fuels 2015; 29: 3188-3197.

 

Lacey JA, Aston JE, Westover TL, Cherry RS, Thompson DN. Removal of introduced inorganic content from chipped forest residues via air classification, Fuel 2015;16: 265-273.

 

Westover TL, Phanphanich M, Clark ML, Rowe SR, Egan SE, Zacher AH, Santosa D. Impact of scale on thermochemical pretreatment of southern pine for pyrolysis conversion. Biofuels 2013; 4(1): 45-61.

 

Kenney KL, Smith WA, Gresham GL, Westover TL. Understanding biomass feedstock variability, Biofuels 2013; 4(1): 111-127.

 

Yancey N, Wright CT, Westover TL. Optimizing hammer mill performance through screen size selection and hammer design. Biofuels 2013; 4(1): 85-94.

 

Uppireddi K, Westover TL, Fisher TS, Weiner BR, Morrell G. Thermionic emission energy distribution from nanocrystalline diamond films for direct thermal-electrical energy conversion applications, J Appl Phys 2009; 106: 043716.

 

Michel JA, Robinson VS, Yang SL, Sambandam S, Lu W, Westover TL, Fisher TS, Lukehart CM. Synthesis and Characterization of potassium metal/graphitic carbon nanofiber intercalates, J Nanoscience and Nanotechnol 2008; 8(4): 1942.

 

Westover TL, Fisher TS. Experimental study of energy exchange attending electron emission from carbon nanotubes, Heat Transfer Engineering 2008; 9(4): 395.

Deb P, Westover TL, Kim H, Fisher TS, Sands TD. Field emission from GaN and (Al,Ga)N/GaN nanorod heterostructures, J Vac Sci and Technol ̶ B 2007; 25: L15.

 

Westover TL, Fisher TS, Pfefferkorn FE. Experimental characterization of anode heating by electron emission from a multi-walled carbon nanotube, International J Heat Mass Transfer 2007; 50(3-4): 595.

 

Technoeconomic and Life Cycle Analyses

Hu H, Westover TL, Aston JE, Lacey JA, Thompson DN. Process Simulation and Cost Analysis for Removing Inorganics from Wood Chips using Combined Mechanical and Chemical Preprocessing, BioEnergy Research 2016 in press, DOI 10.1007/s12155-016-9794-3.

 

Reviews

Williams CL, Westover TL, Emerson RM, Tumuluru JS, Chenlin L. Sources of Biomass Feedstock Variability and the Potential Impact on Biofuels Production. BioEnergy Research 2016 9: 1-14.

 

Carpenter D, Westover TL, Czernic S, Jablonski W. Biomass feedstocks for renewable fuel production: A review of the impacts of feedstock and pretreatments on the yield and product distribution of fast pyrolysis bio-oils and vapors, Green Chem 2014; 16: 384-406.

 

Tumuluru JS, Hess JR, Boardman RD, Wright CT, Westover TL. Formulation, pretreatment, and densification options to improve biomass specifications for co-firing high percentages with coal, Indust. Biotechnol. 2012; 8(3):113.

 

Numerical Simulation

Westover TL, A. D. Franklin AD, Cola BA, Fisher TS, Reifenberger RG. Photo- and thermionic emission from potassium-intercalated carbon nanotube arrays, J Vac Sci and Technol B 2010; 28: 423.

 

Westover TL, Jones R, Huang JY, Wang G, Lai E, Talin AA. Photoluminescence, thermal transport, and breakdown in Joule-heated GaN nanowires, Nano Letters 2009; 9(1): 257.

 

Westover TL, Fisher TS. Simulation of refrigeration by electron emission across nanometer-scale gaps, Phys Rev  B 2008; 77: 115426.

Presentations:

​Invited Presentations

Westover TL. Feedstock Considerations for Thermochemical Biofuels Production Including a Case Study of Fast Pyrolysis and Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation, Chemical and Biological Engineering Seminar Series, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD Oct. 11, 2016.

 

Westover TL. Selected emerging market opportunities for torrefied biomass, presented by The World Bioenergy Association and the International Biomass Torrefaction Council in a webinar: Torrefied Biomass: New Markets, New Directions, New World. June 22, 2016.

 

Westover TL, Carpenter D, Howe D. Field-to-Fleet Webinar: How does Feedstock type affect biofuels conversion? Bioenergy Technologies Office Webinar, April 20, 2016.

 

Westover TL. Ash composition analysis of herbaceous and woody biomass using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), Scientific Exchange 2012, presented by Federation of Analytical and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS), Kansas City, MO Sept. 30-Oct. 5, 2012.

Version: 14.0
Created at 8/10/2015 2:03 PM by Diana J. Thompson
Last modified at 1/12/2022 3:59 PM by rachel.foist@inl.gov