Donald Gene Taylor (Gene Taylor)
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Principal Investigator, Taylor Energy
B.S. Chemistry, Occidental College
Donald Gene Taylor (also known as Gene Taylor) is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Taylor Energy and Principal Investigator on the company’s grant-funded research. He is a chemist and process engineer with more than four decades of hands-on work in gasification, waste-to-energy, and synthesis-gas systems.
His career has been built around designing, building, operating, and troubleshooting real conversion plants — from bench and process-development units through multi-ton-per-day pilots and industrial-scale systems. That work has included municipal solid waste, forest biomass, petcoke, landfill gas, and other carbonaceous feeds, for clients and agencies that include the California Energy Commission, U.S. EPA, DOE, Air Products, and industrial operators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Venezuela, and Hawaii.
As PI on Taylor Energy’s funded programs, he has led design, construction, and operation of multiple gasification systems and is inventor on issued U.S. patents covering gasification, pulse-detonation shockwave energy conversion, and carbonaceous feedstock reforming.
Role at Taylor Energy
– Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
– Principal Investigator on California Energy Commission and related research awards
– Technical lead for process design, pilot construction, start-up, and troubleshooting of Taylor Energy gasification and syngas systems
Grant awards led as PI / CTO (Taylor Energy)
| Agency / Award | Project | Years | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Energy Commission GFO-18-501 (PIR-18-004) |
Renewable Syngas Methanation — pilot-scale testing of a gasification process to convert forest biomass to clean renewable gas | 2019–2023 | $2,223,734 |
| California Energy Commission GFO-15-325 (EPC-17-012) |
Biomass-to-Electricity: pilot-scale testing of baseload compared to flexible power, using a novel gasifier to evaluate three pathways for converting biomass to electricity | 2017–2021 | $1,499,000 |
| California Energy Commission PON-14-303 (EPC-14-045) |
Advanced Recycling to 1-MW Municipal Solid Waste Electricity Generation — converting municipal solid waste into energy | 2015–2019 | $1,546,097 |
| California Energy Commission PIER Energy Innovations Small Grant EISG-14-17G |
Syngas Process Development for Renewable-Methane Production | 2015–2017 | $150,000 |
| Total CEC awards listed | $5,418,831 | ||
Completed Gasification Systems
| Patent / application | Year | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Pulse Detonation Shock-wave Gasifier | 2023 | 11,739,275 |
| Rotary Detonation Rocket Engine Generator | 2023 | 11,661,909 |
| Method and Apparatus for Reforming Carbonaceous Feedstocks | 2007 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Conversion of Carbonaceous Feedstocks into Methane | 2002 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Comminuting and Pneumatic Separation of Solids | 2001 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Gasifying Organic Materials and Vitrifying Residual Ash | 1996 | 5,584,255 |
| Spouted Bed Gasification of Wastes | 1991 | — |
| Oxygen Enhanced Pyrolysis of Organic Wastes | 1984 | — |
| Method of Manufacturing Starch/Acrylonitrile Graft Copolymer | 1977 | — |
Issued and applied patents
| Patent / application | Year | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Pulse Detonation Shock-wave Gasifier | 2023 | 11,739,275 |
| Rotary Detonation Rocket Engine Generator | 2023 | 11,661,909 |
| Method and Apparatus for Reforming Carbonaceous Feedstocks | 2007 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Conversion of Carbonaceous Feedstocks into Methane | 2002 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Comminuting and Pneumatic Separation of Solids | 2001 | — |
| Method and Apparatus for Gasifying Organic Materials and Vitrifying Residual Ash | 1996 | 5,584,255 |
| Spouted Bed Gasification of Wastes | 1991 | — |
| Oxygen Enhanced Pyrolysis of Organic Wastes | 1984 | — |
| Method of Manufacturing Starch/Acrylonitrile Graft Copolymer | 1977 | — |
Patent listing: patents.justia.com/inventor/donald-gene-taylor