My research focuses
on catalysis and reaction engineering. My main
interest is in gaining a fundamental
understanding of the synthesis processes for
catalytic materials. In particular, my aim is to
understand the interplay between flow, heat and
mass transport, and chemical reaction, and how
we can control these phenomena in order to
obtain optimal catalysts. I am a member of the
Process Intensification Group and I work on
applications of catalysis to chemical and
thermochemical upgrade of biomass into
biorenewable chemicals and fuels, and on the
integrated design of catalysis and reactors for
these applications.
Previously, I did build up an
extensive background in industrial catalysis. I
have worked at Johnson Matthey as a Process
Development Engineer. During that time I have
investigated catalyst manufacturing processes
and I helped to develop a new generation of
manufacturing methods. I also worked as a
Research Scientist and Senior Research
Scientist, mainly developing and designing
Platinum Group Metal catalysts for several
chemical, petrochemical and biorenewable
applications.
During my PhD at the
University of Cambridge, I developed Magnetic
Resonance techniques for non-invasive tomography
imaging and spectroscopic measurements of
chemical composition and temperature in
catalytic reactors. These techniques were then
employed in operando studies of interactions
between hydrodynamics, heat and mass transport,
and chemical reactions at industrially relevant
hydrodynamic conditions of operation. Hot-stops
formation was investigated and liquid-solid mass
transfer coefficients were measured by direct
quantification of the intra- and inter-particle
liquid composition.
I am also a member of the
Pedagogical Research in Chemical Engineering and
Advanced Materials group.
Research Interests
1. Biorefining
2. Biofuels
3. Biorenewable Chemicals
4. Catalysis
5. Catalyst Synthesis
6. Green Chemistry
7. Reaction Engineering
Current Projects
-
A Novel Approach Combining
High-Throughput and Modelling
Methods for Accelerated Rational
Catalyst Development with
Application to Conversion of
Biomass Waste into Biorenewable
Fuels and Chemicals -
Project funded by the Institute
for Sustainability
-
Integrated Process for
Conversion of CO2 into
Value-added Product, and
Simultaneous Production of
Biodiesel without Waste Glycerol
by-product -
Project funded by the Institute
for Sustainability.
-
Process
Intensification of Biodiesel
Production from Microalgae - SHARE sandpit
award funded by the SuperGen
Bioenergy Hub.
-
Improving Teaching Effectiveness
in Chemical Engineering
Education.
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