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Hu, John

A portrait of John Hu

304.293.5067

https://cigru.wvu.edu/

Statler Chair in Engineering for Natural Gas Utilization

Education

  • Bachelor’s in Chemistry, Tsinghua University - 1986
  • MBA – Washington State University – 2002
  • PhD - Tsinghua University, China – 1991

Research Interests

Microwave plasma catalysis for natural gas conversion and ammonia synthesis
Shale gas utilization
Catalytic materials
Coal gasification and syngas conversion
Biomass conversion to fuel and chemicals

John Hu's group

Teaching Interests

Catalysis
Reaction Engineering
Refining Processes

Professional Societies

ACS
AIChE
North American Catalysis Society
American Society for Engineering Education.

Special Interests

Shale gas conversion and separation via modular design
Catalyst and reactor integration
Process intensification and modularity
CO 2 conversion to value-added chemicals

Research

Collage of John Hu's students performing research

Recent Publications

  1. Amoolya D. Lalsare, Tuhin S. Khan, Brian Leonard, Roman Vukmanovich, Pedram Tavazohi, Lili Li, Jianli Hu*, Graphene Supported Fe / Ni, β-Mo2C Nanoparticles: Experimental and DFT Integrated Approach to Catalyst Development for Synergistic Hydrogen Production Through Lignin Rich Biomass Reforming & Reduced Shale Gas Flaring, accepted , ACS Catalysis, 11, 364−382 (2021) https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c04242?ref=pdf
  2. Mengze Xu; Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, Ph.D.; Libor Kovarik; Mark E Bowden; Stephen D Davidson; Robert S Weber; I-Wen Wang; Jianli Hu; Robert A Dagle, Structure sensitivity and its effect on methane turnover and carbon co-product selectivity in thermocatalytic decomposition of methane over supported Ni catalysts, Applied Catalysis A, 611(2021) 117967.
  3. Sarojini Tiwari, Tuhin S. Khan, Pedram Tavazohi, Jianli Hu, Activation of two highly stable molecules- Nitrogen and Methane to co-produce Ammonia and Ethylene, Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.127501, 2020
  4. Amoolya D. Lalsare, Brian Leonard, Brandon Robinson, Ali C. Sivri, Roman Vukmanovich, Cosmin Dumitrescu, William Rogers, Jianli Hu, Self-Regenerable Carbon Nanofiber Supported Fe - Mo2C Catalyst for CH4-CO2 Assisted Reforming of Biomass to Hydrogen Rich Syngas, Applied Catalysis B, 282, 119537- 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119537
  5. Christina Wildfire, Dushyant Shekhawat, Jianli Hu, Microwave-Assisted Ammonia synthesis over Ru/MgO catalysts at ambient pressure, Catalysis Today, 2020
  6. Bebei Yan, Guanyi Chen, Jianli Hu, Can Microwave Treat Biomass tar? A Comprehensive Study Based on Experimental and Net Energy Analysis, Applied Energy, 272, 115194, 2020
  7. Jianli Hu, Christina Wildfire, Albert E. Stiegman, Robert A. Dagle, Dushyant Shekhawat, Victor Abdelsayed, Xinwei Bai, Hanjing Tian, Mitchelle B. Bogle, Cera Hsu, Yan Luo, Stephen D. Davidson, Microwave-Driven Heterogeneous Catalysis for Activation of Dinitrogen to Ammonia under Atmospheric Pressure, Chemical Engineering Journal, 397，125388，2020
  8. Jian Li, Junyu Tao, Beibei Yan, Kexin Cheng, Guanyi Chen, Jianli Hu, Microwave Reforming with Char-Supported Nickel-Cerium Catalysts: A Potential Approach for thorough Conversion of Biomass Tar Model Compound, Applied Energy, 261, 114375, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.114375
  9. Qingyuan Li, Yuxin Wang and Jianli Hu, Synthesis of C4 Olefins from Acetylene over Supported Copper Catalysts, ChemCatChem, DOI:10.1002/cctc.202000396, 2020
  10. Yuxin Wang, Ashley Caiola, Brandon Robinson, Qingyuan Li, Jianli Hu, Hierarchical Galloaluminosilicate MFI Catalysts for Ethane Non-oxidative Dehydroaromatization, Energy & Fuel, 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b04457 2020.
  11. Brandon Robinson, Ashley Caiola, Xinwei Bai, Victor Abdel-Sayed, Dushyant Shekhawat Jianli Hu, Catalytic Direct Conversion of Ethane to Value-added Chemicals Under Microwave Irradiation, Catalysis Today, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2020.03.001
  12. Amoolya Lalsare, Ali Sivri, Ryan Egan, Roman J. Vukmanovich, Cosmin E. Dumitrescu, Jianli Hu, Biomass – flare gas synergistic co-processing in the presence of carbon dioxide for the controlled production of syngas (H2:CO ∼ 2 – 2.5), Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.123783
  13. Qingyuan Li, Yuxin Wang, George Skoptsov, Jianli Hu, Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene to Ethylene over Bimetallic Catalysts, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 58 (45), 20620-20629, 2019
  14. Sarojini Tiwari, Ashley Caiola, Xinwei Bai, Amoolya Lalsare, Jianli Hu, Microwave Plasma-Enhanced and Microwave Heated Chemical Reactions, Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, DOI 10.1007/s11090-019-10040-7 (2019)
  15. Amoolya Lalsare, Yuxin Wang, Qingyuan Li, Ali Sivri, Roman J. Vukmanovich, Cosmin E. Dumitrescu, Jianli Hu, Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Production through Synergistic Methane-Activated Catalytic Biomass Gasification, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 7, 16060-16071, 2019
  16. Bingying Gao, I-Wen Wang, Lili Ren, Jianli Hu, Catalytic Methane Decomposition over Bimetallic Transition Metals Supported on Composite Aerogel, Energy & Fuels, 33, 9099-9106, 2019
  17. Jiahui Ye, Lei Bai, Baoyu Liu, Hanjing Tian, Jianli Hu, Felipe Polo-Garzon, Richard T. Mayes, Zili Wu, Fabrication of a Pillared ZSM-5 Framework for Shape Selectivity of Ethane Dehydroaromatization, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 581,77094-7106, 2019
  18. Xinwei Bai, Brandon Robinson, Casey Killmer, Yuxin Wang, Li Lili, Jianli Hu, Microwave Catalytic Reactor for Upgrading Stranded Shale Gas to Aromatics, Fuel, 243, 485-492, 2019
  19. Bingying Gao, I-Wen Wang, Lili Ren, Thomas Haines, Jianli Hu, Catalytic Performance and Reproducibility of Ni/Al2O3 and Co/Al2O3 Mesoporous Aerogel Catalysts for Methane Decomposition, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 58 (2), 798–807, 2019
  20. I-Wen Wang, Deepa Ayillath Kutteri, Bingying Gao, Hanjing Tian, Jianli Hu, Methane Pyrolysis for Carbon Nanotubes and COx‑Free H2 over Transition-Metal Catalysts, Energy & Fuels, 33 (1), 197–205, 2019
  21. Xinwei Bai, Sarojini Tiwari, Brandon Robinson, Casey Killmer, Li Lili, Jianli Hu Microwave catalytic synthesis of ammonia from methane and nitrogen, Catalysis Science & Technology, 8, 6302-6305,2018
  22. Brandon Robinson, Xinwei Bai, Anupam Samanta, Victor Abdel-Sayed,Dushyant, Shekhawat, Jianli Hu, Stability of Fe and Zn Promoted Mo/ZSM-5 Catalysts for Ethane Dehydroaromatization in Cyclic Operation Mode, Energy & Fuels, 32(7), 7810-7819,2018
  23. Yunlin Li, Lili Li, Jianli Hu, Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater using titania nanopore arrays: A proof-of-concept study, Desalination and Water Treatment, 2018
  24. Yadong Bi, Xiaojuan Lai, Guihua Xu, Hui Chen, Jianli Hu, Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Kraft Lignin over Hierarchical HZSM-5 and Hb Zeolite, Catalysts, 2018
  25. Xinwei Bai, Anupam Samanta, Brandon Robinson, Lili Li, Jianli Hu, Deactivation Mechanism and Regeneration Study of Ga-Pt/HZSM-5 Catalyst in Ethane Dehydroaromatization, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 57, 4505-4513 (2018)
  26. Deepa Ayillath Kutteri, I-Wen Wang, Anupam Samanta, Lili Li, Jianli Hu, Methane Decomposition to Tip and Base Grown Carbon Nanotubes and COx free H2 over Mono and Bimetallic 3d Transition Metal Catalysts, Catalysis Science & Technology, 8, 858-869, 2018
  27. Yunlin Li, Lili Li, Jianli Hu, Long Yan, A spray pyrolysis synthesis of MnFe2O4/SnO2 yolk/shell composites for magnetically recyclable photocatalyst, Materials Letter, 199, 135-138, 2017
  28. Nana Li, Yandong Bi, Xiaoqiang Xia, Hui Chen, Jianli Hu, Hydrodeoxygenation of Methyl Laurate over Ni Catalysts Supported on Hierarchical HZSM-5 Zeolite, Catalysts, 7, 383, 2017.
  29. Hui Chen, Lili Li, Jianli Hu, Upgrading of Stranded Gas via Non-oxidative Conversion Processes, Catalysis Today, 310, 15, 94-97 (2018)
  30. Anupam Samanta, Xinwei Bai, Brandon Robinson, Hui Chen, Jianli Hu, Conversion of Light Alkanes to Value-Added Chemicals Over ZSM-5/Metal Promoted Catalysts, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 56 (39), 11006-11012, 2017.
  31. Xinli Tong, Song Xue, Jianli Hu, The Production of Platform Chemicals from Sustainable Resources, “The Catalytic Production of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural from Biomass and Biomass-Derived Sugars”, Book Chapter 3, Springer, 2017
  32. Xinli Tong, Zobghui Liu, Jianli Hu, Shenyun Liao, “Au-Catalyzed Oxidative Condensation of Renewable Furfural and Ethanol to Produce Furan-2-Acrolein in the Presence of Molecular Oxygen”, Applied Catalysis, 510, 196-203, 2016.