Khalifa University
Kyriaki Polychronopoulou is currently Full Prof. of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Center for Catalysis and Separations (CeCaS) at Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KU, UAE), Visiting Professor at ETH-Zurich and Scientific collaborator of the Center for Research and Engineering in Space Technologies (CREST) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cyprus (2005). Before, she was Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University (IL, USA) and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (IL, USA). She has been listed in the Stanford University List of World’s Top 2% Scientists for the years 2020-2022; She is Member of Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS), United Arab Emirates and she has also been invited in the Task force for setting the first-ever UAE R&D Priorities and Policies by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT). Her research is focused on catalysis for decarbonization, hydrogen economy and fuels.
Catalysis is in the heart and forefront of any fuel-related deployment technology. In particular, the use of catalysis in the transformation of wastes into energy and fuels is a sector with a revenue forecast in 2027 of USD 54.8 billion and a Growth Rate CAGR of 7.4% from 2020 to 2027. This research is of strategic priority for the United Arab Emirates as it has been stated in the UAE Energy Vision 2050. Wastes can be in the gas, liquid or solid state. In this talk some case studies of how catalysis and surface science principles are applied onto transforming certain waste feeds (CO2, bio-oil) into added-value products are discussed. In this talk, the emphasis will be on the design of graphene-based catalysts for CO2 valorization; in particular, graphene produced through laser-based methods, microwave plasma and pyrolysis are discussed regarding their performance on the CO2 methanation reaction. The intrinsic characteristics of the different types of graphene received and how they correlate with their performance for the reaction at hand will be discussed. Comparison with other classes of catalysts (e.g. ceramics) is provided.
Figure 1: CO2 valorization over Ni-based composite catalysts
©khalifa university. All rights reserved.
Funded by
