Profile

I grew up in Sussex and went to Uni in Durham (2005-2009) and have stayed in Durham ever since. As long as I can remember I have enjoyed science, and particularly chemistry, so choosing my A-Levels and degree felt straightforward. I used to play a lot of football, but injuries (and lack of fitness!) mean I now only have kick-abouts with my son. I play in a local table tennis league, and really enjoy the social side of playing table tennis and hanging out with my team mates. My time that is not taken up with family life and church, I fill with reading looooong fantasy books! (Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson, George R R Martin, Robin Hobb, Raymond Feist, and many other authors).

Catalysts are chemicals that make reactions happen more easily (“lower the activation barrier”). This sounds like a boring chemistry thing, but catalysts are used to make all sorts of useful chemicals. They can be used in energy (oil and gas), chemicals (making ‘building blocks’ for more complex chemicals), transport (like the catalytic convertor in cars),  and lots of other industries.

I work in a Research and Development (‘R&D’) group, so I get sent new types of catalysts to analyse, materials that have been tested, and some that have been on chemical plants and may have failed. My specialist area is ‘elemental analysis’ which means I can tell my colleagues how much of certain elements are present in their samples. I mainly deal with ‘bad’ elements (carbon, sulphur, chlorine, mercury, nitrogen) – to either check they aren’t present, or if they are, how much is there.

Analysing samples means preparing the samples I receive to be analysed by an instrument. Most elemental instruments have auto-samplers, so I can prepare lots of samples, click ‘run’ and come back later for the results! I tend to focus on combustion instruments, which burn the sample in oxygen and then analyse the gases that come off.

Reporting results involves taking all the raw data from the instrument and turning it into something that makes sense for my colleagues. For routine analysis we report the element (carbon, sulphur, chlorine, mercury, nitrogen) and the amount (weight percent [wt-%] or parts-per-million [ppm]). Sometimes I have a larger project with lots of runs and results, so I will plot graphs, calculate statistics and write a report of what I have found.

Developing new methods is the really fun part of my job. A colleague will come to me with a problem or question, and I will try to help them answer it. This might mean testing a new type of material, or using the analytical instruments in a new way. This usually involves lots of conversations with my colleagues to understand their samples, and exactly what information they want, and then lots of time analysing the samples to understand if the new method is working properly and gives the information they want. This is really collaborative and enjoyable work.