Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Blog

Dr. Hilal Ezgi Toraman, Wilson Faculty Fellow is an Assistant Professor of Energy Engineering and Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Toraman is the Elected Director for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division and Elected President of Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society (PCCS). She is the member of the International Editorial Board for Fuel Communications and ACS Engineering Au. Dr. Toraman’s research is in the field of chemical reaction engineering and catalysis with a focus on developing new processes, materials and technologies for efficient and sustainable use of non-traditional feedstocks such as shale gas, biogas, biomass and plastic waste. Dr. Toraman has received prestigious recognition and awards from prominent organizations in the field of chemistry and chemical engineering. She has been selected to receive the Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr.  Faculty Fellowship in Materials Science and Engineering and the Fuel Science Program at Penn State University. She has been acknowledged as a Rising Star by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Energy & Fuels, and was recently selected as one of the 2023 Pioneers of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) in the honorary session by the CRE division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Additionally, Dr. Toraman has been honored by being recognized in Chemical & Engineering News’ esteemed list of Talented 12 in 2023. Toraman was selected for her research in technologies that turn waste into fuels, chemicals and other products. Prior to joining the Penn State University, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Dionisios Vlachos’ group at the Delaware Energy Institute, and Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Delaware. She received her B.S. and M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. She received her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University, Belgium, under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Van Geem and Prof. Guy Marin.

Read Ezgi’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Catalytic co-pyrolysis of LDPE and PET with HZSM-5, H-beta, and HY: experiments and kinetic modelling – Reaction Chemistry & Engineering‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00144F

1. How do you feel about RCE as a place to publish research on this topic?

As a researcher working in the field of reaction engineering and catalysis, having a platform as Reaction Chemistry and Engineering to publish our research enables to reach easily the interested audience and go beyond considering the interdisciplinary topics that RCE publishes as well.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I’ve always been drawn to the intricacies of complex chemistries, whether they stem from the challenges at the reaction level—like activating and converting highly stable molecules such as methane—or arise from diverse feedstock sources like biomass and more recently, used plastics. The dynamic nature of these chemistries presents a multifaceted puzzle, and I’m exhilarated by the prospect of contributing solutions to comprehend and eventually control these processes.
One aspect that truly excites me is the current stage of our experimental capabilities. We’re now able to conduct experiments under precisely defined and controlled conditions, even for demanding solid-to-gas chemistries, and pair them with cutting-edge analytics. This technological leap offers immense opportunities for exploration and innovation in our field.

Additionally, the accessibility of data science tools is a significant advantage that I believe holds the potential to accelerate scientific progress. However, one of the most pressing challenges I encounter, not only in my own research but across the entire field, is effectively managing and ensuring the quality of the vast amounts of data generated. Achieving efficient data organization and maintaining data quality is paramount for leveraging the full potential of these tools and advancing our understanding.

3. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

As scientists, we often gravitate toward challenging problems, and coupled with our high expectations, the journey can be inherently stressful, especially for those juggling additional responsibilities, such as being a professor. Through my own experiences, I’ve learned the value of maintaining an open-minded approach to regularly revising strategies. Embracing the whole process rather than fixating solely on the end result has been a crucial revelation.

My advice to fellow early career scientists is to acknowledge the inherent difficulty in our chosen paths and to prioritize adaptability. Embrace the journey, focusing not just on the destination but on each step along the way. Allow yourself the flexibility to reassess and refine strategies as needed, finding fulfillment in the learning process itself rather than being consumed by the pressure of achieving immediate results. Remember, it’s the iterative journey toward understanding and discovery that truly shapes our scientific endeavors.

You can read more about Ezgi’s research here: https://sites.psu.edu/toramanlab/

You can see Ezgi’s Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilal-ezgi-toraman-0726a4133/

Miguel A. Modestino is the Director of the Sustainable Engineering Initiative and the Donald F. Othmer Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at New York University (NYU). Miguel obtained his B.S in Chemical Engineering (2007) and M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice (2008) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (2013). From 2013-2016, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland where he served as project manager for the Solar Hydrogen Integrated Nano-electrolysis (SHINE) project.

He is a winner of the Global Change Award from the H&M Foundation (2016), the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Award in Latin America (2017) and Globally (2020), the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award (2018), the NSF CAREER Award (2019), the Inaugural NYU Tandon Junior Faculty Research Award (2020), and TED Idea Search Latin America (2021).His research group at NYU focusses on the development of electrochemical technologies for the incorporation of renewable energy into chemical manufacturing. He is also co-founder of Sunthetics Inc., a startup developing machine learning solutions to accelerate the development of sustainable chemical processes.

Read Miguel’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Chemically-informed data-driven optimization (ChIDDO): leveraging physical models and Bayesian learning to accelerate chemical research‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00005A

1. How do you feel about RCE as a place to publish research on this topic?

Over the past few years, RCE has became the home of the reaction engineering community, and we are proud to have contributed to its growth by publishing our work on electro-organic reactions and machine learning optimization applied to chemical systems. While our team publishes in many different venues, we see RCE as the central journal for our community and a perfect venue for our core reaction engineering work.

In recent years, RCE has emerged as one of the most important journals for the reaction engineering community, and we take great pride in our contributions to its growth. Our team’s research on electro-organic reactions and machine learning optimization applied to chemical systems has been published in the journal as we recognize RCE as the core publication of our field.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I am very excited about our recent work at the interface of electrochemical reaction engineering, automation, and machine learning optimization. The mission of our group is to help decarbonize the chemical manufacturing industry via electrochemistry, and we recognize that it is a daunting challenge. To that end, we are rapidly building high-throughput electrochemical reactors and implementing machine learning optimization algorithms to accelerate the path from idea to discovery to scale-up, and hope to contribute solutions in the short timeframe that we have to decarbonize our industry.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

The central question that we aim to answer is how to develop cost-competitive electrochemical processes with high selectivity, efficiency, and throughput, which can operate stably at scale over long periods of time.

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Follow your passion, think critically, and inspire the next generation to pursue impactful careers that address society’s biggest problems.  

Professor Nicholas Warren graduated with a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield in 2012 specialising in Polymer synthesis and self-assembly under the supervision Prof Steve Armes and Prof Beppe Battaglia. He continued as a post-doc in Sheffield where he worked with Prof Steve Armes to develop new block copolymer materials using polymerisation-induced self-assembly, with a particular focus on hydrogels for stem-cell storage. In 2016 he was appointed as a University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. His research group focusses on enhancing precision of controlled polymer synthesis through the application of new ‘enabling’ technologies, including flow-reactors, online monitoring and artificial intelligence. His contribution to this field resulted in him being awarded the Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal in 2022.

Read Nick’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Continuous synthesis of block copolymer nanoparticles via telescoped RAFT solution and dispersion polymerisation in a miniature CSTR cascade‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00475E

How do you feel about RCE as a place to publish research on this topic?

Within our group we are striving to develop technologies which can accelerate R&D in polymer science, but many aspects are highly transferrable across the chemical sciences. In this context, publication of RCE enables us to disseminate our work to this broader audience in the hope that it will enhance impact across the discipline.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

Within science and engineering, advanced technologies such as automation and AI are having a huge impact. We are really excited to be able to apply these for developing the next generation of polymer materials and to encourage uptake across the discipline. As a chemist by trade, there is a steep learning curve in the context of automation, and from a physical aspect there are many challenges associated with dealing with polymer materials such as mixing, flowing and separation.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

The major question in the field is whether it is possible to generate new polymers which can be sustainable, affordable and provide the performance beyond that of current materials. Current R&D approaches are not sufficient to provide these materials on reasonable timescales, so it needs to be determined whether developing new technologies can do so.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Until now, my strategy has consisted of leveraging my existing knowledge and combining it with novel and unfamiliar concepts that I believe can make a significant difference in areas I am passionate about. To do this effectively, my advice is to establish an interdisciplinary network comprising individuals from both industry and academia across all career stages, recognising that these relationships will continue to be valuable for the rest of your career.

Find out more about Nick’s research on his website

Follow Nick and his research group on these social media:

Twitter: @njwarren1, @CpegLeeds1

Dr Bayazit received his BSc and MSc degrees with honours in Chemistry. He was then awarded a fellowship by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) in 2007 to pursue a PhD at Durham University. In 2010, he joined ICL Chemistry as a PostDoc to research nanostructured hierarchical assemblies and composites. Mustafa moved to UCL Chemical Engineering in 2014. He developed a microwave-fluidic reactor for high throughput fabrication of nanomaterials (e.g. metal/metal oxide NPs and graphene) and used them in solar-to-energy applications. In 2019, he moved to Sabanci University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, where he is currently an Associate Professor in Materials Science and Nanoengineering (http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/mkbayazit/). His research focuses on high throughput sustainable manufacturing of advanced inorganic/organic and inorganic/inorganic hybrids for energy materials, sensors, and functional surfaces. He is the recipient of TUBITAK 2232-A International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers (2019), the finalist of the IChemE Global Research Project Awards (2022), a recipient of the COMSTECH Award (2022), and contributing team member of the IChemE Global Business Start-up Award (2019). He is also a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Read Dr Mustafa Kemal Bayazit’s Emerging Investigator Series article, ‘Microwave-promoted continuous flow synthesis of thermoplastic polyurethane-silver nanocomposites and their antimicrobial performance’, DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00049K

Check out this video interview in which Mustafa talks about his recent publication, his future work and gives advice for early-career researchers

You can keep up to date with Mustafa’s research by following him on Twitter @mkemalbay or Instagram (nano_chem_al_ist)

David Simakov received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology working on the design of catalytic membrane reformers for integrated fuel cell systems. After spending two years in industry on research and developing of a new generation of fuel cells based on anion-exchange membranes, he moved back to academia. He first participated in a joint Technion-Princeton University project working on reaction-diffusion modelling of the biological pattern formation and then moved to Harvard University, where he studied the nonlinear phenomena in catalytic oscillatory chemical systems. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Simakov conducted his postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked on thermocatalysis and reactor design for solar thermal reforming. His main research expertise is synthesis of catalytic materials for heterogeneous catalysis applications, reactor design and system integration for thermocatalytic conversion applications. Currently, the main focus of Dr. Simakov’s research group is synthesis of thermocatalytic materials for transformation of CO2 into Renewable Synthetic Fuels and development of related sustainable processes.

Read David’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Autothermal CO2 Hydrogenation Reactor for Renewable Natural Gas Generation: Experimental Proof-of-Concept’, DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00236A and check out our interview

How do you feel about RCE as a place to publish research on this topic?

RCE was a perfect fit for publishing my work.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

The most exciting aspect of my work is the actual practical implementation of the CO2 utilization process via thermocatalytic conversion in a highly efficient way.  

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

The economic viability of the thermocatalytic CO2 conversion process must be investigated in detail.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I would advise to be open-minded and to look for creative solutions.

You can follow David on LinkedIn to keep up to date with his research

Chengming Wang is a Professor at Jinan University, China. He earned his Ph.D. degree (2017) from RWTH Aachen University under the guidance of Professor Magnus Rueping. Thereafter he moved to Duke University, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow (2018-2019) with Professor Qiu Wang. Since 2019, he has been a full professor at the chemistry department of Jinan University. His current research interests mainly include the developments of redox-neutral transformations, transition metal catalysis and novel radical chemistry.

Read Chengming’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Copper-catalyzed Redox-neutral Regioselective Chlorosulfonylation of Vinylarenes’ , DOI: 10.1039/D1RE00188D

Check out our interview below:

How do you feel about RCE as a place to publish research on this topic?

The Emerging Investigator Series of RCE is a very good platform for excellent early-career researchers, who are making a difference in the chemistry community, to showcase and feature their initial work.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

One of the most excited aspects of our current work is to develop and explore new NHC-catalyzed aldehyde-free radical reactions to further extend the catalytic system which is firstly disclosed by us in 2019 (Org. Chem. Front. 2021, 8, 1454–1460.)

The most challenging part of this research is the detailed mechanism study.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

How to capture/characterize the proposed NHC radical cation intermediate? And how about the asymmetric version of your reaction?

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Follow the path chosen by yourself single-mindedly rather than the so-called short cut.

Find out more about Chengming Wang’s research on his group website

Dr. Juan M. Bolivar is a chemical engineer and PhD in sciences. He has been researcher at Institute of Catalysis (ICP-CSIC, Madrid) and university assistant at the Graz University of Technology (Austria), and currently he is Senior Research Associate at Complutense University of Madrid within excellence programme “Atracción de Talento” of Madrid Government. His current interest lies in industrial biotechnology, enzyme catalysis, and bioprocess engineering in the context of integrated biorefineries and sustainable chemistry.

Read his Emerging Investigator article “Framework of the kinetic analysis of O2-dependent oxidative biocatalysts for reaction intensification” and read more about him in the interview below:

How do you feel about Reaction Chemistry & Engineering as a place to publish?

In our group we are very fascinated about research at the interface of chemical engineering and biocatalysis in the context of integrated biorefineries. We are convinced that the elucidation and quantification of the phenomena driving enzyme-catalyzed reactions from an engineering perspective will have a important contribution in the better understanding and implementation of biocatalysis in the modern sustainable chemistry. In this regard, RCE offers a wonderful venue for the meeting of chemists, engineers and (bio)technologists, where we feel very pleased to contribute.

Keep up to date with Juan and his research by following his Twitter @jmbbolivar