Oscar Daoura

Syngas Reaction with Light Olefins to Produce High Value Products

The oxo process, discovered by Otto Roelen in 1938, represents one of the most atom economic, straightforward approaches to the preparation of aldehydes starting from olefins and syngas in the presence of a metal catalyst. This reaction is still nowadays the most applied catalytic process in industry to produce more than 6 million tons every year of aldehydes widely used for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, polymers, food, fragrance and agrochemicals compounds. Currently, phosphine-ligand-containing Rh complexes are mostly applied in industrial processes because of their superior catalytic activity. However, the catalyst separation issue remains unsolved. Heterogeneous catalysts are more suitable for industrial applications owing to the convenience of recovering and recycling. Consequently, tremendous efforts have been dedicated for the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts but with limited success. Designing new catalysts that combine the advantages of both hetero- and homogeneous ones throughout non-conventional pathways will be the main challenge.

C.V.

2020-present:

Postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of prof. dr. P. E. de Jongh, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Subject: SYNGAS REACTION WITH LIGHT OLEFINS TO PRODUCE HIGH VALUE PRODUCTS

2016-2019:

PhD in “co-tutelle” between Sorbonne University Paris, France and the Lebanese University Beirut, Lebanon. In collaboration with the University of Balamand, Koura, Lebanon.

Subject: TOWARDS ANTI-COKING AND ANTI-SINTERING NI@SILICA BASED CATALYSTS FOR THE DRY REFORMING OF METHANE

2014-2016:

Masters in Physical Chemistry of Materials, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon

2011-2014:

Bachelor in Chemistry, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon