Chemistry researcher receives top award for “outstanding” PhD
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:38:00 BST
Examiners approved Ahmed Elmekawy’s PhD thesis with no corrections – a rare distinction
BASED at the University of Huddersfield, Egyptian-born scientist Ahmed Elmekawy is making big strides in research that will help the chemical industry become more environmentally friendly and economically efficient.
And he has just passed a major personal milestone with the award of his PhD. Examiners approved his thesis without requiring any corrections, which is a rare distinction. As a result, Dr Elmekawy has received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for an Outstanding Research Degree Thesis. He was supervised in his three-year project by Professor Rob Brown.
Now Dr Elmekawy continues with his research, which aims to develop new types of solid catalyst for chemical processes. The materials he works on hold two types of catalytic centre – acidic and basic – a combination not possible with a single liquid catalyst.
“The project is aimed directly at reducing the environmental impact of the chemical syntheses that are currently used in industry,” explains Dr Elmekawy.
“Over decades, thousands of liquid phase chemical processes have been developed using liquid acid and liquid base catalysts. These catalysts are very active, but they result in a large amount of effluent as they are removed from the processes. Replacing them with solid catalysts would immediately reduce the amount of effluent generated.”
The challenge, continues Dr Elmekawy, is to develop solid catalysts that are viable alternatives to liquids, so that the chemical industry would be willing to adopt them. Another dimension to his research is the incorporation of chiral selectivity into bifunctional acid-base catalysts. This would be of major importance to the pharmaceutical industry.
“...the best education in the world”
After obtaining a BSc degree in Physical and Chemical Sciences at Tanta University in his native Egypt, Dr Elmekawy worked as head of the chemical department for a Saudi-based company before decided to continue his studies and relocate to the UK – “which has the best education in the world”. He selected the University of Huddersfield, after being impressed by various factors, including its high employability rate among former students.
He studied for an MSc in analytical chemistry, scoring a distinction, before moving on to PhD research, for which he was awarded a scholarship. He has published three papers and given a sequence of conference presentations on his work and has been preparing a new article, co-authored with University of Huddersfield professors Rob Brown and Joe Sweeney, for the journal Catalysis Science and Technology.
Dr Elmekawy now continues with post-doctoral work at the University, and his career goals include collaboration with industry in tandem with academic research. He has found the University of Huddersfield to be an ideal base.
“The facilities are very good and they are all available to us, all the time. Also, you can discuss your project with staff members in different fields and their knowledge contributes to your thesis.”
