Professor Geoffrey Ozin and Ph.D candidate Jessica Ye of the Department of Chemistry have recently published a book... on a single molecule.
The Story of Methane: Five Atoms that Changed the World is a Royal Society of Chemistry 2024 publication which, according to their site, explores the contradictory nature of methane, a greenhouse gas with the potential to play an important role in the energy transition towards a sustainable global economy.
"Writing this book has has let me look at my work from a different angle and made me realize that we scientists really only like to publish into the bubbles made up by scientific journals," said Ye. "The target audience of this book is the general populace who are interested in the science of methane."
She notes that despite only coming into heavy use in the last century, methane has become one of the backbones of the chemicals industry. "Because it is a fossil fuel, I believe we must think deeply about how we use it and the dangers it poses.”
Ye grew up in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and completed her HBSc at the University of Toronto, specializing in general chemistry. She is in the third year of her Ph.D. in the Polymers and Materials chemistry stream, currently working on nanomaterial catalysts for green energy and hydrogen production in the Ozin group. Her projects aim to discover new nanomaterials and processes for hydrogen extraction and facilitate the development of cheap and efficient hydrogen carriers.
This book was written as the second in a series on seemingly simple yet highly impactful molecules that have shaped the history of humanity. It was preceded by Ozin and Mireille Ghoussoub’s The Story of CO2, 2020, from University of Toronto Press.
“Geoff and I wrote the book with the idea of telling the past, present, and hopeful future of methane. We aim to deliver the science behind why methane can be both incredibly dangerous and incredibly useful. How can we control it to do beneficial things in a manner that is understandable by the general public, and not just us scientists in white lab coats?”
“We made the effort to start off with the basics of how chemical reactions work, including the nitty-gritty of catalysis. It is our hope that demystifying these reactions can help people and policymakers make informed decisions about climate change initiatives and what goes on at the cutting-edge of science.”
The book release will not be a direct stepping stone to graduation, Ye said—for that, naturally, students need publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. However, she considered the effort important.
“I asked: What are the impacts of my research? How can I make the world a better place using my knowledge of science?”
Answering those questions led to working with Ozin on The Story of Methane. “Though writing the book won't directly help me in my career as a graduate student, it can hopefully help direct attention and much needed funding to the science of methane, the climate crisis, and the work of my current and future colleagues.”
Prof. Ozin said collaborating with Ye on The Story of Methane was a pleasure, citing both her exceptional writing and organization skills, and broad and deep understanding of methane's dual nature. “Jessica’s expertise helped shape this second monograph in a trilogy on vital earth-abundant molecules, following carbon dioxide and leading to hydrogen.”
“Methane is both a potent greenhouse gas and a valuable hydrogen carrier and feedstock for essential chemicals and fuels. Understanding its environmental risks and economic benefits enables informed decisions, fostering responsible use and innovation to minimize its climate impact,” he concluded.
Still, Ye acknowledged work is needed to turn humans’ use of methane into a net positive for the environment.
"Whether or not a discovery becomes a marketable product is largely dependent on where the discovery was made, funding contracts, and the motivation of the scientists to take the discovery to market,” she said. “It can be longer and more arduous than making the initial discovery itself.”
“I like to liken the scientific process to mining for gems. Most things you dig up out of the dirt—the discoveries made in labs—are going to go nowhere. But some ideas require work to become usable technologies, gems much like the rocks that are dug out of the earth to be meticulously cut and polished.”
She hopes the gems to be found within methane and other materials research can be refined into beneficial processes for transforming methane—as the RSC site puts it—into a clean fuel, feedstock or hydrogen carrier for the green economy.
"Most science is not scaled to become useable technology. And it is only technology that causes change in the world.”