Dante Simonetti

Dante Simonetti

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR / VICE CHAIR UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING

5532-G Boelter Hall

Email: dasimonetti@ucla.edu
Phone: (310) 267-0169

Websites

RESEARCH AND INTERESTS
  • Heterogeneous catalysis and catalytic reaction synthesis
  • Alternative energy and chemicals
  • Conversion of biomass, natural gas, heavy oil, and coal to fuel and chemical precursors
  • Reactive materials for hydrocarbon purification
  • Adsorptive separation processes
NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS
  • Hazari, N.; Iglesia, E.; Labinger, J. A.; Simonetti, D. A. Selective homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic conversion of methanol/dimethyl ether to triptane. Accounts in Chemical Research (2012), 45, 653-662.
  • Simonetti, D. A.; Carr, R. T.; Iglesia, E. Acid strength and solvation effects on methylation, hydride transfer, and isomerization rates during catalytic homologation of C1 species. Journal of Catalysis (2012), 285, 19-30.
  • Simonetti, D. A.; Ahn, J. H.; Iglesia, E. Mechanistic details of acid-catalyzed reactions and their role in the selective synthesis of triptane and isobutane from dimethyl ether. Journal of Catalysis (2011), 277, 173-195.
  • Simonetti, D. A.; Ahn, J. H.; Iglesia, E. Catalytic co-homologation of alkanes and dimethyl ether and promotion by adamantane as a hydride transfer co-catalyst. ChemCatChem (2011), 3, 704-718.
  • Simonetti, D. A. and Dumesic, J. A. Catalytic production of liquid fuels from biomass-derived oxygenated hydrocarbons: catalytic coupling at multiple length scales. Catalysis Reviews: Science and Engineering (2009) 51(3), 441-484.
  • Kunkes, E. L.; Simonetti, D. A.; West, R. M.; Serrano-Ruiz, J. C.; Gartner, C. A.; Dumesic, J. A. Catalytic conversion of biomass to monofunctional hydrocarbons and targeted liquid-fuel classes. Science (2008), 322, 417-421.
  • Simonetti, D. A.; Kunkes, E. L.; Rass-Hansen, J.; Soares, R. R.; Dumesic, J. A. Coupling of glycerol processing with Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for production of liquid fuels. Green Chemistry (2007), 9(10), 1073-1083.
  • Soares, R. R.; Simonetti, D. A.; Dumesic, J. A. Glycerol as a source for fuels and chemicals by low-temperature catalytic processing. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition (2006), 45(24), 3982-3985.
  • Simonetti, D. A.; Kanazirev, V. I.; Traynor, T. J. Method of removing mercury from a fluid stream using high capacity copper adsorbents. US Patent 8876952
  • Dumesic, J. A; Simonetti, D. A.; Kunkes, E. L. Single Reactor Process for Producing Liquid Phase Organic Compounds from Biomass. U.S Patent 8075642 B2
IN THE NEWS
EDUCATION
  • B.S., University of Notre Dame, 2003
  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California-Berkeley, 2008-2010
COURSES
  • Chemical Engineering 200
  • Chemical Engineering 104B