Research Interests

Catalysis and Reaction Engineering in the following areas

• Blue Hydrogen Production
• Oxidative cracking/or dehydrogenation of alkanes to olefins
• CO₂-mediated selective oxidation of hydrocarbons
• Catalytic CO₂ mineralization of produced water
• Gasification of heavy oil, micraoalgae (biomass) to produce hydrogen and syngas
• Decompostion of ammonia into hydrogen - hydrogen delivery
• Conversion of natural gas into hydrogen and CNT
• CO₂ capture, chemical-looping combustion (CLC)
• Dry/steam reforming of natrual gas to produce syngas
• VOC oxidation
• Heavy oil upgrading in slurry phase - dispersed catalysts for hydrocracking, hydrodesulfurization

Current Research Projects

• Hydrogen Production with CO₂ capture using novel approaches (Blue hydrogen production) - Industrial project.

• CO₂ assisted oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to propylene and syngas,  April 2020-March 2023, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (DSR-KFUPM project).

• Oxidative cracking of liquid hydrocarbons to olefins using supported metal catalysts IRC-RAC project.

• Catalytic CO₂ mineralization of produced water - Industrial project

• Catalytic decompostion of hydrocarbons to hydrogen and high value carbon, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KU-KFUPM joint project). 

• Development of bimetallic catalysts for ammonia decompostion - IR CRAC project (July 2021 -

• Hydrocracking using dispersed catalyst, April 2018-October 2022, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (DSR-KFUPM project).

 Completed Research Projects

• Oxidative cracking of olis to olefins using zeolites supported metal catalysts September 2018-, Saudi Aramco R&DC.

• Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butane to Butene, April 2017-March 2020, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (DSR-KFUPM project).

• CO2 Capture-CLC for liquid fuel based power plants- Thermodynamic modeling, Development of oxygen carrier (s), Reaction studies (KACST-TIC Project)

• Selective oxidation- Catalyst developments and Kinetics Studies (KACST Project, Collaboration with The University of Western Ontario, Canada)

• Heavy oil upgrading- Catalyst development and Kinetics Studies (KACST)

• Biomass gasification- Thermodynamic modeling, Catalyst development, Kinetics studies (In house project)

• Integrated CO₂ Capture/Sequestration and Wastewater Treatment by Microalgae Culture (KACST)

• Biological Wastewater Treatment in Liquid-Solid Circulating Fluidized Bed: Scaling (up/down) effects on the Reactor Hydrodynamics  (KACST-NSTIP )

• CO2 Capture-CLC involving gaseqous fuels - Development of oxygen carrier, Reaction studies, Kinetics modeling, Process simulations  (KACST-NSTIP Project)  (2012-2014).

• CO₂ Capture & Wastewater Treatment Using Microalgae: Investigation of Growth Kinetics, KACST-NSTIP (2012-2014).

• Integrated biomass-gasification and Chemical-looping combustion in fluidized (2011) (DSR, KFUPM, Saudi Arabia)

• Chemical-looping combustion in fluidized beds (2008) (Client: NSERC Canada)

• Selective oxidation of ethane to acetic acid: Kinetics and mechanistic investigations (2003). (Client: SABIC R&T, Saudi Arabia).

• Catalytic oxidation of propylene to acrylic acid: Kinetics Investigations (2002), (Client: SABIC R&T, Saudi Arabia).

• Catalytic oxidation of propylene to acrolein: Kinetics and mechanistic investigations, (2001). (Client: SABIC R&T, Saudi Arabia).

• Development of high performance heavy oil upgrading hydrocracking catalysts, Phase–II, (2002), (Client: Japan Petroleum Energy Center, Japan).