Stafford Sheehan

Stafford W. Sheehan
Education	Boston College, 2011 Yale University, Ph.D., 2016
Years active	2009–present
Organization	Project Omega
Title	Co-founder and CEO

Stafford W. Sheehan is an American scientist and entrepreneur, and is the founder and CEO of Project Omega, a company developing technology to recycle uranium and other materials from spent nuclear fuel. ^{[1] [2]} Prior to founding Project Omega, Sheehan was a co-founder and chief technology officer of Air Company, where he invented a heterogeneous catalysis process that converts carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons and alcohols to produce vodka and other consumer products, as well as jet fuel. ^[3]

Early life and education

Sheehan became interested in computer programming as a teenager. ^[4] He originally intended to major in computer science with a minor in Arabic at Boston College but changed his concentration after taking a chemistry class his freshman year. ^[5] As an undergraduate researcher in 2009, he was part of a team that developed a titanium nanostructure that provides greater conductivity and could be used to create more efficient solar panels. ^{[6] [7]}

Sheehan graduated with a degree in Chemistry from Boston College in 2011. ^{[5] [8]} He was subsequently a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow at Yale University where he worked on the development of gold-coated nanoparticles for solar cells and catalysts for artificial photosynthesis. ^[4] He earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale in 2016. ^[9] His thesis titled "Photon Management and Water Oxidation Catalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis" was awarded Yale's Richard Wolfgang Prize which is given each year to the best doctoral theses by graduating chemistry students. ^[10]

Career

Sheehan founded Catalytic Innovations in 2015. ^[5] The company was spun out from his research at Yale. Early in his research into artificial photosynthesis, he had discovered an Iridium-based catalyst which can also be used as an anti-corrosion coating for oil pipelines or to prevent lead from getting into wastewater during the metal refinery process. ^{[5] [11]}

U.S. Air Force jet testing fuel produced using Sheehan's technology on July 27, 2022.

In 2017, Sheehan co-founded Air Company ^{[12] [13]} where he served as president and chief technology officer. ^[14] Air Company produces ethanol-based products using heterogeneous catalysis to hydrogenate carbon dioxide ( CO₂ ) to produce ethanol (C₂H₅ OH ). Unlike other catalysts used in hydrogenation, this catalyst contains no precious metals and produces ethanol sufficiently pure enough for use in beverages, foods, cosmetics, cleaning products, and fragrances with oxygen and water as the only byproducts. ^[15] The company released its first product, Air Vodka, in November 2019 in the New York City area. ^[15]

During his tenure at Air company, Sheehan led the company's participation in the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU) Project SynCE, an initiative focused on producing synthetic jet fuel from carbon dioxide to solve critical problems in contested logistics, and proved the efficacy of the fuel by powering a U.S. Air Force unmanned drone fighter jet for the first time on July 27, 2022, at the Hsu STEM Range in Laurel Hill, Florida. ^{[16] [17] [18] [19]}

Air Company has entered into deals with companies such as JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic, and Boom Supersonic to supply them with jet fuel for future commercial flights. ^[17] Sheehan left Air Company in December, 2024. ^{[2] [18] [19]}

Publications

• Sheehan, Stafford W.; Lin, Yongjing; et al. (March 2, 2011). "Nanonet-Based Hematite Heteronanostructures for Efficient Solar Water Splitting" . Journal of the American Chemical Society. 133 (8): 2398–2401. Bibcode:2011JAChS.133.2398L. doi:10.1021/ja110741z. ISSN   0002-7863. PMID   21306153.
• —; Lin, Yongjing; et al. (2011). "Hematite-based solar water splitting: challenges and opportunities" . Energy & Environmental Science. 4 (12): 4862. Bibcode:2011EnEnS...4.4862L. doi:10.1039/c1ee01850g. ISSN   1754-5692.
• —; Liu, Rui; et al. (January 10, 2011). "Water Splitting by Tungsten Oxide Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition and Decorated with an Oxygen-Evolving Catalyst" . Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50 (2): 499–502. Bibcode:2011ACIE...50..499L. doi:10.1002/anie.201004801. PMID   21154542.
• —; Chen, Chi; et al. (November 2018). "Progress toward Commercial Application of Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction". Chem. 4 (11): 2571–2586. Bibcode:2018Chem....4.2571C. doi: 10.1016/j.chempr.2018.08.019 . S2CID   187151824.
• —; Lin, Yongjing; et al. (May 2011). "Semiconductor nanostructure-based photoelectrochemical water splitting: A brief review" . Chemical Physics Letters. 507 (4–6): 209–215. Bibcode:2011CPL...507..209L. doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2011.03.074.
• —; Ardo, Shane; et al. (2018). "Pathways to electrochemical solar-hydrogen technologies". Energy & Environmental Science. 11 (10): 2768–2783. Bibcode:2018EnEnS..11.2768A. doi:10.1039/C7EE03639F. hdl: 1887/69523 . ISSN   1754-5692. S2CID   103860248.
• —; Lin, Yongjing; et al. (March 4, 2009). "TiO 2 /TiSi 2 Heterostructures for High-Efficiency Photoelectrochemical H 2 O Splitting" . Journal of the American Chemical Society. 131 (8): 2772–2773. Bibcode:2009JAChS.131.2772L. doi:10.1021/ja808426h. ISSN   0002-7863. PMID   19209858.
• —; Thomsen, Julianne M.; et al. (May 2015). "A molecular catalyst for water oxidation that binds to metal oxide surfaces". Nature Communications. 6 (1): 6469. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.6469S. doi:10.1038/ncomms7469. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   4382695 . PMID   25757425.

References

1. "Project Omega Emerges From Stealth to Recycle America's Spent Nuclear Fuel". Morningstar, Inc. February 14, 2026. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
2. Demarest, Colin (February 14, 2026). "Exclusive: Nuclear fuel recycling startup Project Omega raises $12M". Axios. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
3. "This Startup Wants To Turn America's Nuclear Waste Into Power". Forbes.
4. Bomgardner, Melody (August 21, 2017). "Staff Sheehan". C&EN Global Enterprise. 95 (33): 55. doi: 10.1021/cen-09533-cover11 . ISSN   2474-7408.
5. Gibson, Lydialyle (February 12, 2018). "Powerdriver". Boston College. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
6. "Nanostructure boosts efficiency in energy transport". ChemEurope.com. March 4, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
7. "Better solar panel efficiency achieved". UPI. March 4, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
8. "School Notes: Chemistry Alumnus One of Talented 12". Boston College. October 26, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
9. "Stafford W. Sheehan '13 M.S. '16 Ph.D." Yale Ventures. Yale University. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
10. "Graduate School Student Prizes" (PDF). Graduate School Convocation Program. Yale University. May 22, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
11. Wilson, Alexandra (November 7, 2019). "This Startup Is Fighting Climate Change By Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Vodka". Forbes. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
12. "This $65 bottle of eco-vodka removes carbon dioxide from the air". CNBC. November 7, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
13. Helman, Christopher; Tilley, Aaron (eds.). "30 Under 30 2016: Energy". Forbes. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
14. Peters, Adele (May 4, 2021). "This carbon-negative vodka comes from captured CO2". Fast Company. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
15. Peters, Adele (November 7, 2019). "This carbon-negative vodka is made from captured CO2". Fast Company. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
16. Pearl, Nicole; Wrzesinski, Paul; Mitchell, Kaleb (November 8, 2022). "Project FIERCE fuels the future of synthetic jet fuel generation". Air Force Research Laboratory. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
17. Duffy, Clare (November 10, 2022). "This company wants to make air travel sustainable". CNN. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
18. "Inside the Brooklyn start-up making clean jet fuel with captured CO2". New Scientist. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
19. "US military seeks to brew jet fuel from the air". The Hill .

External links

• Stafford Sheehan publications indexed by Google Scholar