Chemical Reaction Engineering is the study of chemical reaction kinetics and chemical reactors. More than 90% of chemical reactions in industry use catalysts. Catalysts accelerate reaction ratesvia providing alternative low energy reaction pathways without being consumed in these reactions. The most common application of catalysis in daily life is in the catalytic convertors of the automobiles where the three-way catalyst catalyzes the oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas to CO2 and H2O and the reduction of NOx to N2.
Our research focuses on the development and design of new catalyst-reactor systems for the synthesis of chemicals and fuels. These include:
- Design of new catalysts,
- Catalyst testing,
- Study of reaction kinetics and reaction mechanisms and
- Reactor design
Current projects in our group aim towards the conversion of renewable carbon sources (e.g. biomass) into useful chemicals or fuel. Parallelly, aiming towards minimizing the environmental impact of plastics and rubber, we investigate the catalytic conversion of solid waste into useful products.
Some of the ongoing projects in the group are:
- Dry reforming of bio-gas into hydrogen.
- Catalytic cracking of pyrolytic waste plastic oil into fuel
- Biomass/Biofuel hydrolysis
Contact:
Cassia Boyadjian, Joseph Zeaiter, Mohammad Ahmad