(6dt) Sustainable Conversion Processes and Reactor Design to Produce Fuels and Chemicals

The objective of this abstract is to briefly present my academic background, future research aspiration, research experience and teaching interest. I was awarded PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Alberta, Canada in 2016, obtained MESc in Chemical Engineering from Western University, Canada in 2011, and BSc (Engg.) in Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology with distinction securing highest CGPA among 52 students in 2005.

Research Interests:

My future research aspiration falls within the strategic target areas of Energy and Reaction Engineering. In next five years, my research activities will focus towards: (i) conversion processes to produce fuels and chemicals from alternative sources, (ii) application of microfluidics to develop sustainable manufacturing processes, (iii) engineering aspect of liquid phase oxidation, and (iv) fouling and sludge formation of fuels during storage and transportation. My research will able to develop alternative and sustainable processes that have potential to meet the future demand of fuels, biofuels, petrochemicals and/or pharmaceuticals while mitigating environmental impact.

• Sustainable conversion processes will use to produce fuels and chemicals from alternative resources such as biomass, coal, bitumen, and waste materials. Some of these materials are rich in oxygen (for example, Canadian coal has about 20 wt % O), moisture (e.g. coal and biomass) and sulfur (oilsands bitumen, for instance, has about 5% S). Oxidative or oxidative hydrothermal dissolution to depolymerize the alternative sources has great prospect to recover chemicals (such as organic acids, phenol) from O-rich materials and to produce fuel having higher heating value and lower sulfur content. Both the catalytic and non-catalytic routes will be investigated by using air and H₂O₂ as a green and economic oxygen source. Catalysts will be synthesized by wet impregnation method. Fuel will also be produced from the recovered organic acids via catalytic decarboxylation. The depolymerization of cellulose to glucose by oxidation-hydrolysis will also be considered. Glucose can then be used to produce renewable fuels.
• Microfluidic reactor will employ for better understanding of the industrially important chemical processes to develop a sustainable manufacturing process. For instance, ibuprofen can be produced only in three minutes in microfluidic reactor whereas traditional complex routes require many steps and produce huge wastes (E-factor: 20–100). Oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde can also conduct easily in microfluidic reactor instead of traditional catalytic route that produce huge wastes. Moreover, alcohol and ketone production will be manipulated by using different level of oxygen in a reactor (e.g. BUSS loop reactor) that would be beneficial for pilot/industrial scale. Micro/Nano droplet formation using hydrocarbons, alcohol and H₂O₂ will also be investigated to develop sustainable oxidation.
• Engineering aspects of liquid phase oxidation will be explored measuring in situ oxygen level in different organic liquids at different experimental conditions. A model will be developed to predict and validate the oxygen transport data for different compound classes based on the elemental component and the structures. In addition, work will be extended to monitor the transport of other gases into the hydrocarbons. Moreover, there is scope to develop more sustainable HIOXY patches to monitor in situ oxygen level at wide temperature (currently available patches can only work at 50 ℃) and hydrocarbon ranges.
• Part of my PhD work ended up indicating the role of heterocyclic compounds in bitumen weathering, fouling and sludge formation during transportation of fuel. However, very little information is available in literature despite considerable industrial interest. I envision working in the field.

Research Experience:

As a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, currently, I am involved with multiple research projects including but not limited to oxidative coal dissolution, multiphase reaction engineering in a microfluidic reactor, micro/nano droplet formation for sustainable oxidation, and heavy oil upgrading. During my PhD at University of Alberta, I worked on a multidisciplinary project and the main accomplishments were: (i) identified the main challenges (such as viscosity increase) of oxidative bitumen upgrading, (ii) identified the main compound classes responsible for free radical addition reactions (potentially caused viscosity increase) with an explanation based on their reaction pathways, (iii) demonstrated by applying a microfluidic reactor how oxygen availability can be used to control oxidation selectivity independent of conversion by manipulating reactor hydrodynamics, (iv) developed a method to monitor in situ oxygen transport in liquid hydrocarbon by using an oxygen phase fluorimeter and modified the current theoretically predicted threshold for the oxidation in the film based on the Hatta-number. Following the in situ method developed to monitor the liquid phase oxygen during my PhD study, I also worked on the oxygen transport in different liquid hydrocarbons at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in collaboration with University of Alberta. The objectives were to generate more engineering experimental data that could be used for reactor design and operation. A manuscript is in preparation based on the experimental data.

In addition, I conducted experimental research in biodiesel production from solid sludge of wastewater treatment during my MESc study at Western University. I am advising one graduate student of Chemical and Materials Engineering Department of University of Alberta. I also supervised six undergraduate students during my work at University of Alberta, Western University and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. My research has been resulted in eleven research articles in reputable journals such as Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Fuels & Energy, Fuels, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Reaction Chemistry and Engineering, and in the proceedings of eight conferences including prestigious conference ACS. These contributions have made positive impacts within the research community, with 261 citations to date (Google scholar h-index: 6; June 29, 2019). Recognizing my contribution in fuels and petrochemicals research area, I received Gerald J Maier/NOVA Chemicals Corporation Graduate Recruitment Award (CAD 5000) at University of Alberta. I also received Julie Lassonde Scholarship (CAD 10,000) and GTA Outstanding Research Contribution Scholarship (CAD 500) at Western University in recognition of biodiesel production from wastewater sludge.

I have extensive hands-on experience in many modern analytical tools and experimental techniques. I have synthesized copper oxide supported on activated carbon catalyst (CuO/C) and used for the decarboxylation of the model acids and organic acids extracted from coal via oxidative dissolution of coal as a part of my postdoctoral project. Moreover, I prepared and characterized heterogeneous acid and base catalysts and zeolite catalysts and applied in biodiesel production from wastewater sludge. I gained extensive experiences in liquid phase oxidation during my PhD research. These experiences will facilitate conducting research that I envisioned.

I believe effective collaboration and pursuing funding play a significant role in accelerating academic research and innovation. I have been involved in various research and engineering projects with industrial partners, i.e. Cenovus FCCL Ltd, Mancal Incorporation, Suncor Energy, Institute for Oil Sands Innovation (IOSI) and 3P Technologies. I have learned how to effectively communicate with potential industrial partners to find a "sweet spot" for collaboration and pursuing funding. Furthermore, I assisted my current and former advisors in the preparation of several funding applications and research proposals for the federal agencies such as NSERC, MITACS and provincial agencies such as AITF. I believe that given my drive and motivation as reflected by my research experience, I will be able to link with existing research expertise in my future work place with industrial partners, external research agencies, and other universities (especially with University of Alberta, Canada) to accelerate my research.

Teaching Interests:

My teaching interests include but are not limited to different undergraduate courses on Chemical Process Analysis, Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer, Mass Transfer, Statistical Process/Statistics for Engineers, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Petroleum Refining, Natural Gas Processing, Petrochemical Technology, and Fuel and Energy. I am interested in teaching graduate courses on Energy and Environment, Green Energy and Engineering, Instrumental Analyses for Engineers, Liquid Phase Oxidation, Petroleum Refining, and Advanced Chemical Engineering Topic (such as Thermal Analysis-Fundamentals and Applications, and Rheology- Flow Properties of Non-Newtonian Fluids). For advanced graduate courses, I plan to develop course materials and lectures that will motivate the graduate students to learn advanced fundamental concepts as well as to stimulate their critical thinking skills that would be important for cutting-edge research and innovative engineering practice.

I have a strong commitment to facilitate and promote the equity, diversity, and inclusion. I believe my five years of teaching experience at the university level, strong academic records and ten years of research experience in the field of conversion processes to produce fuels and chemicals by using free radical chemistry and multiphase reaction engineering would allow me to perform successfully in this position.