PNNL

Charles Freeman joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2009. He is currently the group leader of Advanced Energy Systems. This 55-person organization represents the lab’s capabilities in process intensification, applied catalysis, gas separations, and techno-economic analyses. In his PNNL role, he leads operational planning, engineering design, and research and development testing activities, all of which involve significant engagement with the Department of Energy and industrial partners. Since 2015, Freeman’s technical focus has been primarily on the development and testing of carbon capture technology.  

Prior to PNNL, Freeman was the process technology manager for Johns Manville, a global building products company. There, he had technical responsibility for process development at over 30 manufacturing facilities worldwide, overseeing capital equipment investments of more than $50 million per year to enhance efficiency and productivity.

• Chemical Engineering
• Carbon Capture
• Catalytic Reactor Design
• Process Intensification
• Separations
• Systems Analysis

• MS in chemical engineering, Washington State University
• BS in chemical engineering, Washington State University

• U.S. Patent No. 9,707,508, July 18, 2017, "System and Process for Polarity Swing Assisted Regeneration of Gas-Selective Capture Liquids".

Below are selected publications. For a complete list, view Freeman's OrcID.

2025

• Xu S., Y. Jiang*, C.J. Freeman and D.J. Heldebrant. 2025. "Conceptual Techno-economic Analysis of Water-Lean Solvent Carbon Capture Systems Enabling Low- and Negative-Emissions Natural Gas Combined Cycle Power Plants." Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 64, 30 DOI:10.1021/acs.iecr.5c01263.

2024

• Saavedra Lopez J., S.D. Davidson, P.H. Humble, D.R. Bottenus, V. Dagle, Y. Jiang, C.J. Freeman, W.E. TeGrotenhuis, and R. Dagle*. 2024. "Microchannel Reactive Distillation for the Conversion of Aqueous Ethanol to Ethylene." Journal of Energy Chemistry 98. Advanced online publication. DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2024.07.005.

2023

• Jiang Y., P.M. Mathias, R.F. Zheng, C.J. Freeman, D. Barpaga, D. Malhotra, and P.K. Koech, et al. 2023. "Energy-effective and low-cost carbon capture from point-sources enabled by water-lean solvents." Journal of Cleaner Production 388. DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135696.

2021

• Choi H., N.E. Soland, M.R. Moss, J. Liu, R.R. Prestangen, K. Rui, S.J. Lee, M.R. Thorson, C.J. Freeman and E.M. Karp. 2021. “The cell utilized partitioning model as a predictive tool for optimizing counter-current chromatography processes.” Separation and Purification Technology, 285:15. DOI:10.1016/j.seppur.2021.120330.
• Jiang Y., P.M. Mathias, C.J. Freeman, R.F. Zheng, G.A. Whyatt, D.J. Heldebrant, and J. Swisher. 2021. "Techno-Economic Comparison of Various Process Configurations for Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Using a Single-Component Water-Lean Solvent." International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 106. DOI:10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103279.

2016

• Cantu D., et al. 2016. "Structure-Property Reduced Order Model for Viscosity Prediction in Single-Component CO2- Binding Organic Liquids." Green Chemistry 18, no. 22. doi:10.1039/c6gc02203k.

2013

• Freeman C.J., et al. 2013. Initial Assessment of U.S. Refineries for Purposes of Potential Bio-Based Oil Insertions. PNNL-22432. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.