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Dr. Yassir Taha Makkawi

Profile

College / Department

College of Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering

Teaching areas

Reaction Engineering, Numerical Methods, Separation Processes, Particle Technology, Gaseous Emissions, Mass and Energy Balances, Principles of Chemical Engineering

Research areas

Waste to energy via gasification and pyrolysis, computational fluid dynamic modelling of multiphase flow, hydrogen production, solar thermochemical conversion, production of biochar, applications of fluidized bed reactors, biofuels and high value products from algae and adsorption/desorption processes

Education

Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate of Professional Practice in Higher Education, Aston University
PhD, Chemical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
MS, Chemical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Khartoum

Professional experience

Professor at American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates(2019 - Present)
Associate Professor at American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates(2015 - 2019)
Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) at Aston university, United Kingdom(2013 - 2015)
Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant professor) at Aston university, United Kingdom(2008 - 2013)
Teaching and Research Fellow at University of Sheffield, United Kingdom(2006 - 2008)
Research Fellow at University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom(2006 - 2006)
Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom(2003 - 2006)
Process Engineer at an Emirates Engineering, United Arab Emirates(2000 - 2000)
Sales and Techical Support Manager at Yaseah Oil/Gas Industry Services and Supplies, United Arab Emirates(1999 - 1999)
Process Engineer (oil & gas) at Consolidated Engineering Company- Khatib & Alami (Consultant), Saudi Arabia(1995 - 1998)

Memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)- UK, 2011 - present
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry- UK (FRSC), 2009 - present
Member of The Institute of Chemical Engineers (MIChemE)- UK, 2004 - present

Contact

ymakkawi@aus.edu
+971 6 515 4938

Website

https://www.aus.edu/bioenergy-and-solar-conversion-research-group

Dr. Yassir Makkawi

Professor
PhD, Herriot-Watt University, UK

Before joining the AUS, Yassir Makkawi worked for 13 years as a researcher and faculty member at several UK universities (Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Aston). During the early years of his career, he worked for eight years as a process engineer serving the oil and gas industry sectors in the Middle East. He is currently pursuing research on energy recovery from waste, computational fluid dynamic modelling of multiphase flow, hydrogen production, solar thermochemical conversion, applications of fluidized bed reactors and gas separation and purification by adsorption/desorption.

Publications

Yassir Makkawi, Lad Jai, Adsorption of methyl chloride on molecular sieves, silica gels and activated carbon, Published, Chemical Engineering & Technology, 43, 3, pp. 436-446, 2020
Yassir Makkawi, Raffaella Ocone, Xi Yu, Parametric analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a downer fluidized bed reactor, Published, Renewable Energy, 143, pp. 1225-1234, 2019
Yassir Makkawi, Yehya El-Sayed, Mubarak Salih, Paul Nancarrow, Scott Banks, Tony Bridgwater, Fast pyrolysis of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) waste in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor, Published, Renewable Energy, 143, pp. 719-730, 2019
Yassir Makkawi, Xi Yu, Paula Blanco, Anthony Bridgwater, CFD and experimental studies on a circulating fluidised bed reactor for biomass gasification, Published, Chemical Engineering and Processing- Process Intensification, pp. 284-295, 2018
Yassir Makkawi, Mohamed Hassan, A hydrodynamic model for biomass gasification in a circulating fluidized bed riser, Published, Chemical Engineering and Processing- Process Intensification, 129, pp. 148–161, 2018
Yassir Makkawi, Paul Nancarrow, Ahmed El Sharkawy, Tony Bridgwater, Scott Banks, Stuart Jones, Analysis of product distribution and characteristics of bio-oil and bio-char from fast pyrolysis of date palm tree waste, Published, 2017
Yassir Makkawi, Muktar Basheer, Modelling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor, Published, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2017
Yassir Makkawi, Effect of Oscillatory Flow on Nucleation Kinetics of Butyl Paraben, Published, Crystal Growth and Design, 16, 2, pp. 875-886, 2016
Francis Elewuwa, Yassir Makkawi, Hydrogen production by steam reforming of DME in a large scale CFB reactor: Part I: Computational model and predictions, Published, International Journal of hydrogen production, 40, 1, pp. 15865–15876, 2015
Yassir Makkawi, A CFD study of gas-soid separation in a downer pyrolysis reactor equipped with a novel gas-solid separator- II: Thermochemical performance and products, Published, Fuel Processing Technology, 133, 1, pp. 51–63, 2015
Lad Jai, Yassir Makkawi, Adsorption of Dimethyl ether (DME) on zeolite molecular sieves at low pressure, Published, Chemical Engineering Journal, 256, 1, pp. 335-346, 2014
Yassir Makkawi, Reactor design and its impact on performance and products, Published, pp. 200, 2014
Yassir Makkawi, A priori prediction of aggregation efficiency and rate constant for fluidized bed melt granulation, Published, Chemical Engineering Science, 98, 1, pp. 291-297, 2013
Yassir Makkawi, Raffaella Ocone, Mass transfer in fluidized bed drying of moist particulate, Published, pp. 200, 2011
Yassir Makkawi, Time scale analysis for fluidized bed melt granulation- I: granule-granule and granule-droplet collision rates, Published, Chemical Engineering Science, 66, 3, pp. 318-326, 2011

Conference Presentations

Yassir Makkawi, Pyrolysis of Food Waste for Sustainable Production of Biofuels in Marginal Environments, 8th International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July, 2019
Yassir Makkawi, Intermediate - Regime in Particle-Fluid Flow, 8th World Congress on Particle Technology in Orlando, Orlando, United States, April, 2018
Yassir Makkawi, Analysis of product distribution and characteristics of bio-oil and bio-char from fast pyrolysis of date palm tree waste, BioChar 2017: Production, Characterization and Applications, Italy, Italy, August, 2017
Yassir Makkawi, Energy from waste through biomass gasification, 8th annual conference on Energy from Waste, London, UK., December, 2015
Yassir Makkawi, Bio-fuel production in a downer reactor: a computational modelling study, International Conference and Expo on Oil and Gas, Dubai, UAE, November, 2015

Grants and sponsorships

A Novel Bioenergy System for Marginal Environments, American University of Sharjah, 2022
Production of acidic biochar for soil application, Other, 2020
Sustainable production of bio-fuels from the Arabian Gulf Algae, American University of Sharjah, 2020
Modelling and simulation of a novel process for the conversion of paper mill waste into energy, American University of Sharjah, 2019
Solar-thermal conversion of waste to energy, Other, 2019
Thermochemical conversion of date palm tree waste to hydrogen-rich fuel gas, American University of Sharjah, 2017

Other creative/research

Research projects (experimental and modelling) are available in the areas of: • CFD modeling of novel processes • Biomass thermal conversion to biofuels • Solar-thermal conversion • Algae processing to high value products - Facilities available: • Parallel processing computers (workstations) • Biomass Thermal conversion reactors • Fluidized bed and auger reactors • Algea growth incubator

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