Dr. Laurence Russell Weatherley
- Albert P. Learned Distinguished Professor
Contact Info
1530 W. 15th Street
Lawrence, KS 66045-7608
Biography —
Laurence Weatherley is the Albert P Learned Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Kansas. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England with 1st class honors. Weatherley received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in Chemical Engineering for research on ion exchange kinetics in macroporous resins. He has published over 250 research papers, articles, conference papers and other contributions. Dr Weatherley is a chartered professional engineer (UK), is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, United Kingdom, and is a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand. He is currently a member of the editorial advisory boards of Chemical Engineering and Processing, and the Chemical Engineering Journal. He was executive co-editor of the Chemical Engineering Journal for 10 years until 2010.
Education —
1st Class with Distinction
Research —
The main thrust of my research is in liquid-liquid systems. In particular I am interested in intensifying both mass transfer rates and reaction rates by the application of both high voltage and low voltage electrical fields. Two liquid-liquid reaction systems forming our current focus are (1) Transfer hydrogenation reactions using a homogenous catalyst (2) Enzymatically catalyzed reactions in liquid-liquid systems, for example natural oils undergoing hydrolysis or interesterification. A closely related thread of my research is the study of immobilization of enzymes on to novel polymeric supports to optimize reaction performance with emulsified substrates. We are also exploring the acceleration of reaction rate using immobilized enzymes in the presence of low voltage electric fields. Another technique we are exploring is the application of centrifugal fields to these and other multi-phase processes.
Selected Publications —
Wang, N., Allgeier, A.M. and Weatherley, L.R.* (2021). Electrospray-Based Flow Reaction System for Intensified Transfer Hydrogenation of Acetophenone. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. 60(33), 12244–12251. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.1c02025
Anand, A., Hattemer, J.M., Jaeschke, A.H., Allgeier, A.M., Albers, C.J.,Weatherley, L.R.*. (2021). The influence of oriented external electric field on lipase catalyzed triglyceride hydrolysis. Chemical Engineering & Processing: Process Intensification, 165, 108452.
L.R.Weatherley (2020) The Intensification of Liquid-Liquid Processes. Research Monograph. Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering, Cambridge University Press, June 2020. ISBN 978-1-42101-0, case bound, 369 pages.
Wang, N, Allgeier, A.M., and Weatherley, L.R. (2020). Controlling reaction rate of phase transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone by application of low external electric field. AIChE J. 7079, https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.17079.
Anand, A., Gnanasekaran, P., Allgeier, A.M., and Weatherley, L.R. (2020) Study and deployment of methacrylate-based polymer resins for immobilized lipase catalyzed triglyceride hydrolysis. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 123, 164–176.
Wang, N., Kaminski, K., Petera, J., Allgeier, A.M. and Weatherley, L.R. (2019). Electrostatically Enhanced Catalytic Phase Transfer Hydrogenation of Acetophenone under Low External Electric Field. Chemical Engineering Journal. Chemical Engineering Journal, 374, 1096–1101
Weatherley, L.R. and Anand, A. (2018) The Performance of Microbial Lipase Immobilized onto Polyolefin Supports for Hydrolysis of High Oleate Sunflower Oil. Process Biochemistry, 68, 100-107.
Weatherley, L.R., Gangu, A.S. Scurto, A.M. and Petera, J. (2018) Process Intensification of Enzymatic Biotransformation Processes – Green Chemistry Series 55, Intensification of Biobased Processes, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018, 268-288.
Weatherley, L.R., Petera, J. and Qiu, Z. (2017). Intensification of Mass Transfer and Reaction in Electrically Disturbed Liquid-Liquid Systems. Chemical Engineering Journal 322, 115–128.
Z.Qiu, J Petera, L.R.Weatherley (2012) “Biodiesel production using an intensified spinning disc reactor” Chemical Engineering Journal ,210,597–609.
J. Petera, L.R. Weatherley, D. Rooney, K. Kaminski (2009) A finite element model of enzymatically catalyzed hydrolysis in an electrostatic spray reactor, Computers and Chemical Engineering 33, 144– 161
Total publications to date>250
Service —
- Current: Distinguished Professor KU
- 1998-2004: Chaired Professor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
- 1992-1998: DuPont Chair, Queens University of Belfast, Ireland
- 1979-1992: - Faculty, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh