Events

Research generates multiple ideas and pathways for addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. Yet not all solutions prove practical, scalable, or even desirable. The relative value can shift over time depending on region, infrastructure, and broader political and economic conditions. This seminar explores the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework as a way of thinking about how ideas are shaped, tested, strengthened, and ultimately translated into meaningful impact. Through selected case studies drawn from my own experience, I will reflect on the journey from fundamental understanding to deployment, and on the technical, organizational, and strategic decisions that determine whether a concept remains promising or becomes real. The cases span non-oxidative coupling of methane, selected industrial separations challenges, and onboard carbon capture and storage, illustrating how technologies evolve from conceptual process design to first-of-a-kind deployment. Together, they show that progress is rarely linear and that successful translation requires not only scientific depth, but also persistence, adaptability, and a willingness to engage the realities of scale-up and implementation.

Jorge M. Plaza, PhD, MBA, is a chemical engineer whose work focuses on separation technologies, process intensification, and carbon capture. His work spans fundamental modeling, pilot-plant experimentation, and first-of-a-kind deployment, with a consistent focus on translating separations research into operable industrial systems. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Technology at Carbon Ridge, where he led the development, scale-up, and onboard deployment of a first-of-a-kind carbon-capture system for shipping and served as PI on DOE and DOT MARAD-funded projects. Previously, he held technical and leadership roles at SABIC, LyondellBasell, Phillips 66/ConocoPhillips, and Trinity Consultants, working on distillation, extraction, process design, and decarbonization-related technologies. A Longhorn alumnus, Dr. Plaza earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, his MBA from Duke University, his MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, and his BS in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. His research aims to advance separations from first principles to operable, scalable, real-world systems.