Dr Panagiotis Kechagiopoulos

Biography

• Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Aberdeen (08/2018 - Present)
• Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Aberdeen (08/2014 - 07/2018)
• Industrial Research Fund Technology Developer, Ghent University (06/2012 – 07/2014)
• Post-doctoral Researcher, Ghent University, Laboratory for Chemical Technology (04/2010 – 05/2012)

Education

• Master in Information Systems, Hellenic Open University (11/2012)
• Doctor of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (07/2008)
• Diploma in Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (11/2002)

Research Overview

• Chemical reaction engineering
• Micro-kinetic modelling
• Heterogeneous catalysis
• Biomass conversion technologies: pyrolysis, gasification
• Methane conversion technologies: reforming, partial oxidation, oxidative coupling
• Novel reactor concepts: spouted beds, membrane reactors

Current Research

Current research focuses on the application of, experimentally validated, computational methods to design and optimize chemical engineering processes for the efficient utilization of energy sources. The work primarily aims at the development of novel reactor concepts for the efficient conversion of natural gas and, more specifically, methane. Low-temperature steam reforming for the production of high-purity hydrogen as an energy carrier and Oxidative coupling for the one-step conversion of methane to ethylene as a chemicals building block are major application fields. In this regard, microkinetic models, consisting of elaborate elementary step reaction networks, are developed to accurately describe the occurring chemistry. Thermodynamic consistency is preserved, while a multitude of methods (transition state and collision theory, Evans-Polanyi relationships and unity bond index-quadratic exponential potential (UBI-QEP) calculations) are applied for the a priori determination of kinetic parameters. Intrinsic kinetic measurements of catalyst reactivity/selectivity are used to validate the developed models. The further integration of these kinetic models in reactor-scale simulations provides a deeper understanding that opens the road to knowledge-based process design and optimization and, ultimately, intensification. Novel reactor concepts, such as membrane configurations, are investigated to overcome thermodynamic limitations and design modular and energy efficient processes. Further extensions of the methodology are to be applied in the conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates to fuels and chemicals.

Funding and Grants

• BEIS: "Hydrogen from organic waste with an integrated biological-thermal-electrochemical process", £250,998, Co-I (Prof D. Dionisi, PI)
• EPSRC (via UK Catalysis Hub): "Plasma-catalytic upgrading of biogas: Computational and experimental catalyst development", £94,824.25, PI
• The Royal Society International Exchanges (IES\R1\211069): “Plasma-assisted catalytic oxidation of hydrogen with application to heat generation: multiscale modelling and process design”, £11,813.00, PI
• EPSRC Adventurous Net Zero Energy Research (EP/X000931/1): “Electrocatalysis in non-thermal plasma for energy storage”, £252,181.75, Co-I (Prof A. Cuesta Ciscar, PI)
• The Royal Society Research Grant (RGS\R1\191461): “Optical emission spectroscopy as a validation method of microkinetic models of plasma enhanced catalytic systems with application to methane activation”, £20,000.00, PI
• EPSRC New Investigator Award (EP/R031800/1): “Catplaskin: The microkinetics of non-thermal plasma-assisted heterogeneous catalysis with application to the non-oxidative coupling of methane”, £140,856.00, PI
• EPSRC (via UK Catalysis Hub): "Non-thermal plasma promotion of low temperature water gas shift catalysts", £86,448.70, Co-I (Prof J. Anderson, PI)

Teaching Responsibilities

Current

EX40HC Process Control (sole contributor) 

EG55P7 Process Plant, Equipment & Operations (sole contributor)

EG4013/14 Thesis supervisor, MEng/BEng in Chemical Engineering

Past

EG5597 Advanced Chemical Engineering (contributor)

EG5565 Meng Group Design (Chemical Engineering contributor)

EG5085 Supervisor, Advanced Topics