About Me

The specific area of research, which this summary relates to, was aimed at finding a simple, robust and cost effective way to produce the bio-fuel (Dimethyl ether (DME)) from agricultural wastes. It was targeted towards developing countries which can’t afford the price of other conversion technologies. In order to produce DME, methanol and acidic catalysts are needed. Methanol is currently produced as a by-product in sugar fermentation and refining and is quite common in Egypt which is my home country. Furthermore Egypt has the largest aluminum company in the Middle East producing Aluminum Solid Waste (ASW). In my previous research we developed a patent on converting ASW to alumina catalysts. This opened up the possibility to take waste methanol and waste aluminum to produce the bio-fuel DME, cheaply and robustly. Within QUB I was able to take this research much further and develop greater insights into how these catalysts could be further improved. In addition QUB allowed me to explore the opportunities for commercialization of the technology and develop my communication skills. The impact which this research can have in Egypt and beyond is significant as this bio-renewable fuel will aid in solving several energy and the pollution problems. Moreover, I have taken these research skills to develop catalysts for the more challenging methane partial oxidation reactions. For the development and dissemination of the DME process I have presented at the Fame lab 2015 and INVENT 2015 competitions and reached the final in the Fame lab.