Dr. Alan M. Allgeier

Dr. Alan Allgeier
  • Don W. Green Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  • Deputy Director of the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis

Contact Info

Office Phone:
785-864-9202
Department Phone:
785-864-4965
Learned Hall, Room 4148B
1530 W. 15th Street
Lawrence, KS 66045

Personal Links

Education —

Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 1992, Cleveland, OH
Inorganic Chemistry, Northwestern University, 1997, Evanston, IL

Research —

Research in sustainable catalysis and manufacturing seeks to reduce the impact of chemical manufacturing on environment and society, while delivering advanced technologies and products. Dr. Allgeier seeks to promote sustainable catalysis and manufacturing by understanding fundamental reactions of catalytic species and developing novel characterization methods of fluids in contact with porous media.

Four themes are under current investigation:

Characterization of porous materials and colloidal systems with a multi-technique approach including novel applications of NMR relaxometry

Continuous flow processing applied to pharmaceuticals, with emphasis on transient production of toxic or highly reactive reagents

Synthesis and characterization of heterogeneous catalysts with unique reactivity

Design of redox enzyme catalytic process for conversion of ethanol to platform chemicals

 

Teaching —

CPE 715: Characterization of Solid Materials
CPE 611: Unit Operations Design
CPE 626: Unit Operations Laboratory 
CPE 524 Chemical Kinetics and Reaction Engineering

Selected Publications —

  • 2025

    • Castilla-Acevedo, S.F.; Pallais-Leclair, A.; Melfi, D.T.; Bhalode, P.; Mellein, B.; Scurto, A.M.; Vlachos, D.G.; Allgeier, A.M. Fluid Phase Equil. 2025, 594, 114355. 10.1016/j.fluid.2025.114355

    • Fields, C.C. IV; Jain, P.; Subramaniam, B.; Allgeier, A.M.; Vlachos, D.G.; Lobo, R.F. Intensification of Renewable 4,4'-Dimethylbiphenyl Synthesis for Recyclable Diesters.ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2025, 13(4), 1754–1761. 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c09233

    • Suekuni, M.T.; D'Agostino, C.; Allgeier, A.M. Time-Domain NMR: Generating Unique Insights into the Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysis in Liquid Phase.ACS Catalysis 2025, 15(3), 2063–2081. 10.1021/acscatal.4c04789

  • 2024

    • Castilla-Acevedo, S.F.; Szobody, T.P.; Boydston, C.M.; St. John, J.; Amaya-Roncancio, S.; Allgeier, A.M. Efficient hydrodeoxygenation of tetrahydrofuran 2,5-dicarboxylic acid to adipic acid over Pt-MOx catalysts: An experimental and computational study.Catal. Today 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2024.114722

  • 2023

    • Suekuni, M., & Allgeier, A. M. Correlating Surface Chemistry to Surface Relaxivity via TD-NMR Studies of Polymer Particle Suspensions.JACS Au 2023, 310, 10.1021/JACSAU.3C00384

    • Sharma, V., Cosse, K., Binder, T., Mcfarlane, J., & Allgeier, A. M. Biocatalytic Furfuryl Alcohol Production with Ethanol as the Terminal Reductant Using a Single Enzyme.ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2023, 1129, 10.1021/ACSSUSCHEMENG.3C01588

    • Velasquez Morales, S., & Allgeier, A. M. Kinetics and Pathway Analysis Reveals the Mechanism of a Homogeneous PNP-Iron-Catalyzed Nitrile Hydrogenation.Inorganic Chemistry 2023, 621, 10.1021/ACS.INORGCHEM.2C03029

    • Sharma, V., Binder, T., & Allgeier, A. M. Covalent Immobilization of Yeast Alcohol Dehydrogenase on an Amine-Functionalized Polymeric Resin Enhances Stability for Furfural Hydrogenation to Furfuryl Alcohol Using Ethanol as the Terminal Reductant.Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2023, 6243, 10.1021/ACS.IECR.3C02526

  • 2022

    • M.T. Suekuni, N. D’Souza, A.M. Allgeier. NMR Relaxometry Studies on the Drying Kinetics of Cellulose Nanofibers.Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2022, 61(16), 5475–5483

  • 2020

    • Stephens, K., Allgeier, A., Bell, A., Carlson, T., Cheng, Y., Douglas, J., ... Ritter, J. C. A Mechanistic Study of Polyol Hydrodeoxygenation over a Bifunctional Pt-WOₓ/TiO₂ Catalyst.ACS Catalysis 2020, 10(21), 12996–13007. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c03475

Selected Presentations —

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Catalysis: A Tool for Sustainable Development. Johnson Matthey Research Center - Teesside

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Quantitative solid-state NMR for characterization of kerogen. ACS MWGL Regional Meeting.

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Sustainable monomers for a circular economy: ring-opening hydrogenolysis of furanic compounds. Plenary, University of Glasgow Symposium Honoring S. David Jackson. 

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Mechanism, Kinetics and Novel Reactors for Group (VIII) Homogeneous Hydrogenation Catalysts. University of South Dakota. 

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Catalysis: An Essential Tool in Developing Environmentally Beneficial Chemistry. Benedictine University Center for Integral Ecology. KS. 

(2023) Allgeier, A.M. Time-domain NMR as a Driving Force for Innovative Science on Particle Fillers and Porous Media. DuPont, Wilmington, DE 

(2022) Allgeier, A.M. Mechanism and Kinetics for an Earth‐Abundant Metal Catalyst for Nitrile Hydrogenation Relevant to Pharmaceuticals. Keynote Iowa State University. Great Plains Catalysis Society. 

(2022) Allgeier, A.M. Catalysis Club of Philadelphia Award Lecture: CatBioCat: Harnessing the Strengths of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Enzyme Catalysis in Biomass Valorization. Catalysis Club of Philadelphia. 

(2020) Hydrodeoxygenation with PtWOx Catalysts: Mechanistic insight from isotopic labeling. ACS Chemists Live Virtual Event. 

Awards & Honors —

Bellows Faculty Scholar

University of Kansas School of Engineering

2021    

 

Catalysis Club of Philadelphia Award

Catalysis Club of Philadelphia

2021    

 

Russell Malz Award for Service to Catalysis

Organic Reactions Catalysis Society

2014    

 

Amgen Green Chemistry Award for “A Novel, Green Process for AMG 423”

Amgen, Inc.

2011    

 

Sigma Xi Award for excellence in graduate research

Northwestern University

1994

Grants & Other Funded Activity —

RII Track-2 FEC - Advanced Manufacturing of Renewable and Recyclable Polymers. National Science Foundation $4,000,000 (2021 – 2025)

Re-envisioning Evaluation of Effective Teaching using Multidimensional Processes. American Association of Universities. $100,000 (2022-2025)

Flow synthesis of isocyanate-terminated prepolymers. Honeywell / US Department of Energy $216,846 (2023-2024)
 

Development of Process for Derivatization of Engineered Polysaccharide Esters. IFF Inc. no amount disclosed (2023-2024)

Unlocking the Potential of Chemical Derivatives in Ethanol Production. Kansas Corn Commission $125,000 (2019 – 2023)

Process Technology and New Products from Corn Oil. Kansas Corn Commission. $50,176 (2022-2023)

Relating Nuclear Magnetization Relaxation Rates to Surface Chemistry of Carbonaceous Materials to Advance the Characterization of Petroleum Deposits. American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund $110,000 (2020-2022)

Relating Nuclear Magnetization Relaxation Rates to Surface Chemistry of Carbonaceous Materials to Advance the Characterization of Petroleum Deposits.. 61103-ND10. American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund. $110000.00. Submitted 3/14/2019 (9/1/2020 - 8/31/2022). We seek to prepare model materials and develop advanced characterization methods for kerogen a substance found in shale oil deposits and key to unlocking the potential of this energy resource.. Status: Funded

Design Principles for Gas-Liquid Catalyzed Reactions for the Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals. KU Center for Research. $20000.00. Submitted 8/2/2019 (11/22/2019 - 11/22/2021). We seek to develop a proposal to the NSF for catalysts and reactors that will improve pharmaceutical manufacture particularly for the class of reactions that require gases reacting with materials in liquid phase.. Status: Funded
Gas Separation using Furan-based Polymer Membranes. RAPID Institute of the US Department of Energy. $384927.00. (11/1/2020). Federal. Status: Funded
Unlocking the Potential of Chemical Derivatives in Ethanol Production. 2013. Kansas Corn Commission. $40736.00. Submitted 11/1/2018 (7/1/2019). Status: Funded