Environmental Sustainability through Process Integration, Control and Optimization

Environmental Sustainability through Process Integration, Control and Optimization

Monzure-Khoda Kazi

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Department of Chemical Engineering | Qatar University

Email: kazi.khoda@gmail.com; kazi0001@qu.edu.qa |Tel: (+974) 6640 8300

 

KEY CONTRIBUTION AREAS

 

§  Process Integration	§  Process Optimization	§  Process Control
§  Process Design	§  Process Intensification	§  Process Simulation
§  Financial Modelling	§  Ad hoc Reporting	§  Market Analysis

VISION AND PERSPECTIVE

 

The vision of my research is aimed at the improvement of environmental sustainability focusing on energy, water and food security. My research will promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and that lead to economic growth, environmental protection, and social progress for the current generation without compromising the potential of future generations to have an ecosystem that meets their needs. Innovations in industrial ecology, green engineering and large scale engineering research are the prime focuses of my long time research horizons. The ultimate target of my research activities is to conserve natural resources (mass and energy), recycle and reuse materials, prevent pollution, enhance yield, improve quality, advance inherent safety, and increase profitability.

Given the rise in human population and the inevitable consequences of climate change, the challenges of achieving secure and sustainable supplies of energy, water and food are Herculean. Within the next 20 years we will need to produce 50% more food and we will also need 50% more energy, and 30% more fresh water. There is an urgent need to develop long-term strategic programmes of research with integrated and sustainable approaches that will be able to offer potential solutions for managing such challenges. To achieve the desire goals a systematic framework and associated concepts and tools are necessary to guide designer methodically with the global insight of the process, identify root causes of the problems or key areas of opportunities, benchmark the performance of the process, and develop a set of design recommendations that can attain the true potential of the process.

My research background of process integration, process control and specially process optimization assist me for developing new concepts and tools to systematically enhance and reconcile various process objectives, such as cost effectiveness, yield enhancement, energy efficiency, and pollution prevention. I am working last few years to develop such methodical sustainable approaches for various processes starting from small scale production (producing valuable pharmaceutical drags using liquid chromatography) to large scale facility (managing industrial flares during abnormal situations). As my specialization is to work with different kinds of optimization algorithms and control concepts, I would also like to face the challenges from process uncertainty and from the black box problems which can be mitigated using sustainable process integration.

My knowledge of research is not limited to the industrial processes, I have also implemented my acquire optimization knowledge to develop some adaptable financial modelling/algorithms which can be used in the most challenging and unpredictable global financial markets. The unique point of my research activity is that I can use my long experience of capital market to develop long term view for energy and commodity prices; this knowledge can be integrated with my developed framework to make the system/design more robust to face different kind of challenges including unpredictable price fluctuations (price fluctuations of oil, natural gas etc.), unpredictable incidents (industrial flaring) or unknown disturbances (sudden changes in process parameters).

Future Plans

Following are three principal research areas and corresponding projects that I plan to advance in my research group during the first several years:

Figure 1. Schematic of proposed research projects and the research goal. Each of these rectangles (representing research projects) will interact with one another in an iterative manner.

Research Interests:

§  Industrial flare utilization strategies through process integration and energy optimization for abnormal situation management by economic and environmental friendly alternatives §  Development of energy alternative tools and sustainable process configurations to manage excess resources (i.e., waste energy streams, waste water) in the industrial complex for environmental sustainability  §  Development of fundamentals/technologies/alternatives for large scale “greening” separation technique (i.e., chromatography) to move towards environmental sustainability §  Sustainable approaches of producing functional super-foods with green solvents for global food security through process integration and intensification Teaching Interests: I am comfortable teaching the Chemical Engineering core courses offered within the department at both the undergraduate and graduate level. I would be well suited to teach fundamental course such as: chemical process control, chemical reaction engineering, particle technology, separation technology, chemical & engineering thermodynamics, numerical methods, unit operations, mass transfer technology, process integration etc. I appreciate the need for faculty flexibility and embrace the opportunity to cover a broad spectrum of courses. Based on my research, I also have a strong interest in process integration, control and optimization. I look forward to incorporating fundamental engineering concepts with cutting-edge technologies.

SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENTS

SUMMARY OF RECORDS

Peer Reviewed Journal articles: 5 published (3 first- and 2 co-authored) and 1 (first-authored) in review

Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings: 3

Conference Presentations: 14

Selected Peer Reviewed Publications (Citations: 16; h-index: 2; i-10 index: 1; total impact factor: 13.90,  as in April 2016)   ·         Monzure-Khoda Kazi, Fadwa Eljack, Nesreen A. Elsayed and Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi. Integration of energy and wastewater treatment alternatives with process facilities to manage industrial flares during normal and abnormal operations – A multi-objective extendible optimization framework. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, ACS publication, 2016, 55, (7), 2020-2034. (doi:10.1021/acs.iecr.5b03938) ·         Monzure-Khoda Kazi, Fahd Mohammed, Ahmed Mhd Nabil AlNouss and Fadwa Eljack. Multi-objective optimization methodology to size cogeneration systems for managing flares from uncertain sources during abnormal process operation. Computers and Chemical Engineering, Elsevier, 2015 vol 76, p.76-86 (doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2015.02.012) ·         Monzure-Khoda Kazi, Bijan Medi, and M. Amanullah. Optimization of an Improved Single-Column Chromatographic Process for the Separation of Enantiomers. Journal of Chromatography A, Elsevier, 2012. 1231: p. 22-30. ( doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2012.01.057).   GRANT WRITING EXPERIENCE   1.      “Water recovery from power plant flue gas: a hybrid technology as a novel source of water for Qatar”, PI: Asst. Prof. Mohammad Aman Ullah, 2015 (NPRP no.: 8-2191-2-855) 2.       “Experimental evaluation of the optimal operation of a single column continuous chromatography process under overloaded condition: profile-profile interaction”, Source: Qatar University (individual grant), Budget: US$ 35,715, PI: Asst. Prof. Mohammad Aman Ullah, 2013 3.      “Optimization of a single column continuous chromatographic speration process for the separation of optical isomers”, Source: 13th cycle of the QNRF’s undergraduate research experience program (UREP), Budget: US$ 58,850, Lead PI: Asst. Prof. Mohammad Aman Ullah, 2013 4.      “Design of a simulated moving bed (SMB) process for continuous binary separation of chiral compounds”, Source: Qatar University (student grant), Budget: US$ 2,715, PI: Asst. Prof. Mohammad Aman Ullah, 2012 5.      “Super food production using supercritical carbon dioxide technology: extraction, micronization, encapsulation and optimization”, PI: Assoc. Prof. Timothy Tan, 2012   TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE   Lecturer (Green University, Bangladesh) 1.      CSE 2102 -  Design and Innovation with Computer Simulation 2.      TEX 2201 - Fundamental of Textile Testing 3.      TEX 2209 – Environmental & Pollution Control   Graduate Teaching Assistant (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) 1.      CH3101 – Chemical & Bioengineering Process Control and Dynamics (AY 2011-2012 Sem 2) 2.      CH3001 – Process Control Lab (AY 2011-2012 Sem 2) 3.      MATLAB workshop on Numerical Methods (AY 2011-2012 Sem 2) 4.      CH1801 - Chemical/Bioengineering Lab (AY 2011-2012 Sem 1) 5.      CH1701 - Chemical/Bioengineering Lab (AY 2010-2011 Sem 1) 6.      CH3102 – Chemical Reaction Engineering (AY 2009-2010 Sem 2)   Student Advising 1.      Fahd Mohammed, MSc Student, Qatar University (2015) 2.      Fah Keen Chong, PhD Student, University of Nottingham Malaysia (2015) 3.      Viknesh Andiappan, PhD Student, University of Nottingham Malaysia (2015) 4.      Calvin Wiratama, Undergraduate Student, Nanyang Technological University Singapore (2012) 5.      Xueyuan Tian, Undergraduate Student, Nanyang Technological University Singapore (2010)

REFERENCES
Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi Professor, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas  A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3251 Tel: (979) 845-3484 Email: el-halwagi@tamu.edu   (He is my current research collaborator and mentored me in a workshop)		Dr. Fadwa T. Eljack Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713 – Doha – Qatar Tel: +974 4403 4141 Fax: +974 4403 4131 Email: Fadwa.Eljack@qu.edu.qa (She is my current supervisor)
Dr. Mohammad Aman Ullah Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713 – Doha – Qatar Tel: +974 4403 4162 Fax: +974 4403 4131 Email: Aman@qu.edu.qa  (He was my PhD supervisor in Singapore)		Dr. M. M. Faruque Hasan Assistant Professor, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas  A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3251 Tel: (979) 862-1449 Email: hasan@tamu.edu (He was my senior colleague in Singapore)