Samir Castilla


Samir
  • Graduate Research Assistant
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant
  • School of Engineering, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Contact Info

Learned Engineering Expansion Phase 2, Room 2447
Lawrence
1536 W 15th St.
Lawrence, KS 66045

Biography

Samir is a chemical engineer with a master's degree in chemical engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with +5 years of experience in research in wastewater treatment by advanced oxidation processes and heterogeneous catalysis. He also has a wide experience in the direction of research works at the undergraduate level and with knowledge of analytical techniques such as FTIR, UV-VIS, HPLC, GC, and atomic absorption spectrometry. With skill in the writing of scientific articles, technical documents, and research projects in both Spanish and English (Upper-intermediate) and with a basic German proficiency (Beginner). With capacity for the timely application of the knowledge acquired in engineering and basic sciences to solve problems, relying on his ability with the management of engineering and office software to optimize the work to achieve goals and agreed objectives, creative, with the capacity to innovate and with excellent social skills with which it achieves a fast adaptation work environment. In addition to his current pursuits, his research interests include Catalysis, Semiconductors Synthesis and Photochemistry, Green chemistry, Advanced oxidation processes for water treatment, Degradation mechanisms in wastewater treatment, Production, and the use of different radicals for the elimination of contaminants. Process intensification for water treatment processes, Activation of peroxide species for the elimination of pollutants, Organometallic chemistry. Samir will continue his career as an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University. 

Education

B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Universidad del Atlántico, 2015, Barranquilla, Colombia
M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Kansas, 2026, Lawrence, Kansas

Selected Publications

  • Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Auer, B., Laudiano-Salvador, F. E., Livi, K. J. T., Alvear, M., Hermans, I., Styers, J. P., Amaya-Roncancio, S., & Allgeier, A. M. (2026). Evolution of active sites on Pt-MoOx catalysts and their role in the formation of adipic acid from tetrahydrofuran 2,5-dicarboxylic acid. Journal of Catalysis, 462, 117101. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2026.117101 
  • Chen, Y., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Auer, B., Allgeier, A. M., & Ierapetritou, M. G. (2026). From Biomass to Adipic Acid: Techno-Economic and Life-Cycle Assessments of 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid Conversion by Hydrogenation and Ring-Opening Hydrogenolysis. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 14(19), 9116–9127. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c14037 
  • Amaya-Roncancio, S., Rodríguez Quintero, C., Páez-González, C. J., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Torres-Ceron, D. A., & Gimenez, M. C. (2026). Impact of spatial confinement on the substitutional doping of Ca and P atoms in bulk, surface, and Cu cluster systems. Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 34(3), 035014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-651X/ae57c7
  • Gorschak, N., Gurrala, L., Tran, A., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Trevisan Melfi, D., Alzahrani, H. A., Nguyen, V. S., Scurto, A. M., Allgeier, A. M., Bravo-Suárez, J. J., & Morais, A. R. C. (2026). Compressed CO2‑Assisted Catalytic Hydrocracking of Polyethylene over Ru-Loaded Zeolites. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 14(14), 6634–6648. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c12661 
  • Lozano-Onrubia, G., Castillo-Pazos, D. J., Grieger, K., Wheeler, M., Grignon, E., Pazoki, F., Gallenstein, R., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Fan, F., Musa, E. N., Beena, N. C., Ahuja, H., Popoola, O., Battaglia, A. M., Kaur, G., Alahakoon, I., Chipangura, Y. E., Aransiola, E., Moumbogno Tchodimo, F. C., … Moores, A. (2025). Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c00741.
  • Samir F. Castilla-Acevedo, Alvaro Pallais-Leclair, Diego Trevisan Melfi, Pooja Bhalode, Berlyn Mellein, Aaron M. Scurto, Dionisios G. Vlachos, Alan M. Allgeier. Understanding the solubility behavior of 2,2′-bifuran-5,5′-dicarboxylic acid in different pure solvents. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 2025, 114355, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fluid.2025.114355.
  • Samir F. Castilla-Acevedo, Titus P. Szobody, Cameron M. Boydston, Jacob St. John, Sebastian Amaya-Roncancio, Alan M. Allgeier. Efficient hydrodeoxygenation of tetrahydrofuran 2,5-dicarboxylic acid to adipic acid over Pt-MOx catalysts: An experimental and computational study. Catalysis Today, 114722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2024.114722.
  • Jawer David Acuña Bedoya, Christian E. Alvarez Pugliese, Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo; Juan J. Bravo Suarez, Nilson de Jesús Marriaga Cabrales, Degradation of diclofenac aqueous solutions in a 3D electrolytic reactor using carbon-based materials as third electrodes in a fluidized bed, anodic and cathodic configurations. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 10 (2022). doi:10.1016/j.jece.2022.108075.
  • Vargas-Villanueva, S., Velásquez-Tamayo, J. P., Torres-Cerón, D. A., Mercado, D. F., Torres-Palma, R. A., Riassetto, D., Riva, J. S., Amaya-Roncancio, S., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Restrepo-Parra, E. (2023). Impact of the duty cycle on the morphology and photocatalytic properties of S-TiO2 obtained by plasma electrolytic oxidation to treat real electroplating wastewater contaminated with Cr6+. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 110246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2023.110246.
  • Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo, Luis Andrés Betancourt-Buitrago, Dionysios Demetriou Dionysiou, Fiderman Machuca-Martínez. Ultraviolet light-mediated activation of persulfate for the degradation of cobalt cyanocomplexes. Journal of hazardous materials 392, 122389
  • Sergio Andrés Joven-Quintero, Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo, Luis Andrés Betancourt-Buitrago, Raúl Acosta-Herazo, Fiderman Machuca-Martinez. Photocatalytic degradation of cobalt cyanocomplexes in a novel LED photoreactor using TiO2 supported on borosilicate sheets: A new perspective for mining wastewater treatment. Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 110, 104972
  • Nicolás González-Ipia, Kevin Camilo Bolaños-Chamorro, Jawer David Acuña-Bedoya, Fiderman Machuca-Martínez, Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo. Enhancement of the adsorption of hexacyanoferrate (III) ion on granular activated carbon by the addition of cations: A promissory application to mining wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 8 (5), 104336
  • Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo, Luis Andrés Betancourt-Buitrago, Dionysios Demetriou Dionysiou, Fiderman Machuca-Martínez. Dataset of the efficiency of the ultraviolet light activation of persulfate ion for the degradation of cobalt cyanocomplexes in synthetic mining wastewater. Data in brief 29, 105346
  • Valentina Satizabal-Gómez, Manuel Alejandro Collazos-Botero, Efraím A Serna-Galvis, Ricardo A Torres-Palma, Juan J Bravo-Suárez, Fiderman Machuca-Martínez, Samir Fernando Castilla-Acevedo. Effect of the presence of inorganic ions and operational parameters on free cyanide degradation by ultraviolet C activation of persulfate in synthetic mining wastewater. Minerals Engineering 170, 107031