Background

Education

• Purdue Univeristy, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, (2018 - Present)
• Tufts University, B.S. Chemical Engineering (2018)

Experience

• CISTAR, Purdue University, Graduate Student Researcher – Thrust 2 (2018 – present)
• Deshlahra Research Group, Tufts University, Undergraduate Research Assistant (2016 – 2018)

Awards

• Donald A. Cowdery Memorial Scholarship Award – Tufts (2018)
• Oliver Chapman Leadership Award – Tufts (2018)
• Gemma Cifarelli Memorial Scholarship Award – Tufts (2017)
• Undergraduate Summer Research Scholarship Award – Tufts ChBE (2016)
• NSBE Board of Corporate Affiliates Scholarship Award (2015)

Project Description

My research deals with the study of olefin oligomerization on Brønsted acid zeolite catalysts. This research incorporates the synthesis, characterization and kinetics study of relevant zeolites and molecular sieve-based catalysts that have the potential to advance the current landscape of liquid fuel and chemical production from abundant shale gas. Primarily, my project is focused on using synthesis and characterization techniques to understand the influence of structural properties of these catalysts on measured olefin oligomerization rates and observed product selectivity. This is one of the many projects in the Thrust 2 of CISTAR, NSF Engineering Research Center.

Recent Publications

• L. Annamalai, Y. Liu, S. Ezenwa, Y. Dang, S. L. Suib, P. Deshlahra, Influence of Tight Confinement on Selective Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane on MoVTeNb Mixed Oxides, ACS Catalysis 8 (2018) 7051-7067