Graduate Student Research Assistant
West Lafayette, In
Advisor: Professor Fabio H. RibeiroProject 1: Effect of crystal size and Si/Al ratio on propylene oligomerization over MFI catalysts- Developed a reactor system to perform propylene oligomerization and modified GC valve and inlet system to prevent product condensation- Measured concentrations of hydrocarbon species ranging from C1 to C12 with GC-FID to calculate product selectivity- Identified the effect of acid density and crystal size on selectivity based on results from kinetics SEMProject2: Ethane dehydrogenation over SiO2 supported bimetallic PdIn, PtIn and PtZn catalysts- Synthesized SiO2 supported intermetallic nanoparticles selective to ethane dehydrogenation- Quantified reactants and products of ethane dehydrogenation with GC-TCD and characterized catalysts by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), synchrotron XRD, FTIR, and resonant inelastic X-ray spectroscopy (RIXS)- Collaborated with other graduate students to examine the geometric effect of isolated active atoms and electronic effect of valence orbitals in intermetallic alloy on product selectivity, turnover rates (TOR), and apparent activation energyProject 3: Understanding active sites of oxidative coupling of methane over Mn/Na2WO4/SiO2- Synthesized SiO2 supported mixed metal oxide catalysts by incipient wetness impregnation- Analyzed reactants and products of oxidative coupling of methane reaction with GC-TCD and characterized the catalysts with XRD, N2 physisorption using the BET formalism, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), SEM, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)- Identified the roles of Mn and W species in the formation of active sites with reaction kinetics