Enrique Iglesia

Michel Boudart Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering

FRNY 2164
Purdue University
Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering
480 Stadium Mall Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100
(925) 323-5559 (office)
(765) 494-0805 (fax)
Joined Purdue in October 2023

Education

1979-1982, PhD Stanford University Chemical Engineering
1977-1979, M.S. Stanford University Chemical Engineering
1973-1977, B.S. (Summa cum Laude) Princeton University Chemical Engineering

LSAC Research Group

Research Interests

Our research group addresses the design, synthesis, and structural/mechanistic characterization of inorganic solids useful as catalysts for chemical reactions relevant to producing, converting, and using energy carriers, to sustainable petrochemical syntheses, and to the protection of the environment. Our approach exploits novel synthetic protocols to assemble active nanostructures and single-site catalysts within porous structures and spectroscopic and titration methods to probe their atomic connectivity and electronic properties. We assess their mechanism of function through kinetic and isotopic methods of analysis, in situ spectroscopy, and density functional theory to determine the identity and kinetic relevance of elementary steps at conditions of catalysis practice. The relevance of these fundamental inquiries is evident from many patents, some of which provide enabling features in the practice of alkane CO2 valorization, zeolite-mediated organic reactions, and syntheses of chemicals with smaller environmental footprints, as well as in efficient transformations of biogenic sources of carbon into chemicals and energy carriers.

Research Group

Visiting Scholars and Postdoctoral Associates

Graduate Students

  • Bonn Cao
  • Nishant Kahane
  • Caleb Lavalle
  • Ryoh-Suke Sekiya
  • Diego Garza Venegas
  • Orlando Carrillo-Cejas
  • Chase McGee

Research Scientists

  • Andrew Hwang, LSAC-Purdue Lab Manager and Staff Engineer

Undergraduate Researchers

  • Valeria Borja Dorado

Former Lab Members

Awards and Honors

2023 Faraday Lectureship Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry

2022 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry

2021 Member, Real Academia de Ciencias (Spain)

2021 NACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Catalysis

2020 E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, American Chemical Society

2019 Michel Boudart Award, North American Catalysis Society/European Federation of Catalysis Societies

2018 Neil Armstrong Visiting Fellow, Purdue University (2018-2021)

2018 William H. Walker Institute Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

2018 Doctor Honoris Causa, Technische Universität München

2017 President, North American Catalysis Society (2009-2017)

2016 National Academy of Inventors

2016 Vice President, President, International Association of Catalysis Societies (2016-2024)

2015 American Academy of Arts and Sciences

2014 Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

2013 Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

2013 Honorary Fellow, Chinese Chemical Society

2012 ENI Prize, New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons

2012 Gabor Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis, American Chemical Society

2011 Francois Gault Lectureship Award, European Federation of Catalysis Societies

2011 Alpha Chi Sigma Institute Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

2011 Cross Canada Lecturer, Chemical Institute of Canada

2010 Fellow, American Chemical Society

2010 Best Teacher Award, Department of Chemical Engineering

2010 Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Catalysis (1997-2010)

2009 Tanabe Prize in Acid-Base Catalysis

2008 National Academy of Engineering

2007 Humboldt Senior Scientist Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

2007 Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia

2006 Robert Burwell Award, North American Catalysis Society

2005 Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of California

2005 George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon Chemistry, American Chemical Society

2005 Honorary Professor, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina

2004 V.N. Ipatieff Professor, Northwestern University (2004-2005)

2004 Wilhelm Manchot Chemistry Professorship, Technische Universität München

2004 Award for Excellence in Natural Gas Conversion

2003 Richard H. Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

1998 Best Teacher Award, Berkeley AIChE Chapter

1997 Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, North American Catalysis Society

1996 Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Selected Publications

Jaegers, N.R., Artsiusheuski, M., Danghyan, V., Shangguan, J., Lizandara Pueyo, C., and Iglesia, E., ACS Catalysis 15 (2025) 12610 (“Catalytic Hydrogenation Reactions on Lewis Acid-Base Pairs and Mechanistic and Thermodynamic Links to Dehdydrogenation Recations;). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5c03523.

Hu, W., Tate, G., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 147 (2025) 19185 (“Selectivity Control in CO2-H2 Reactions on Ru, Co, and Ni Nanoparticles through Tailoring of CO Concentration Gradients at Bed and Aggregate Scales”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c04698.

Zhang, Z., Chen, S., Otto, T., and Iglesia, E. ACS Catalysis 15 (2024) 676 (“Elementary Steps, Site Requirements, and Support Effects in Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation Reactions on Dispersed Pd Nanoparticles”). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.4c07240.

Liu, Y., Luo, C., Iglesia, E., and Liu, H. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 35185 (“Acid Catalysis Mediated by Aqueous Hydronium Ions Formed by Contacting Zeolite Crystals with Liquid Water”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c11705.

Hwang, A., Getsoian, A., and Iglesia, E. ACS Catalysis 14 (2024) 16184 (“Kinetics, Mechanism, and Thermodynamics of Ceria-Zirconia Reduction”). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.4c04771.

Hu, W., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 22064 (“Dynamics of Elementary Steps on Metal Surfaces at High Coverages:The Prevalence and Kinetic Competence of Contiguous Bare-Atom Ensembles”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c07788.

Jaegers, N., Danghyan, V., Shangguan, J., Lizandara-Pueyo, C., Deshlahra, P., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 25710 (“Heterolytic C-H Activation Routes in Catalytic Dehydrogenation of Light Alkanes on Lewis Acid-Base Pairs at ZrO2 Surfaces”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c07766.

Hwang, A., Klaucke, J., Lizandara-Pueyo, C., Karpov, A., and Iglesia, E., ChemCatChem (Invited Article) 16 (2024) e202301369 (“Roles of Re and Cs promoters and organochlorine moderators in the synthesis of ethylene oxide processes on Ag-based catalysts”). DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202301369.

Recent Publications