Karam Jabbour

Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, American University of Middle East, Egaila, Kuwait

Title: Toward an understanding of H2-induced iron (III) oxide reduction into metallic form

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Biography

Karam Jabbour obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2011 and his Master’s in Chemical Engineering (concentration: Petroleum Engineering) in 2013 from the University of Balamand (UOB, Lebanon). He then applied for a scholarship from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) to pursue his doctorate studies between the Sorbonne University (Paris) and UOB. Three years later, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering, specialization in Materials Science and Catalysis. He joined the department of Chemical Engineering at UOB as a Researcher in September 2017. He got promoted to a tenure-track faculty position as an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering in September 2020. In March 2021, Dr. Jabbour joined the Chemical Engineering department at the American University of the Middle East (AUM) in Kuwait, as a full-time Assistant Professor. His research interests are heterogeneous catalysis, structure-function relationship, nanomaterials and thermodynamic simulations.

Abstract

There is an incessant need to design catalytic systems based on environmentally-friendly, low-cost and abundant metals for valorisation of proven resources such as methane in natural gas and for conversion of methane issued from renewable sources (i.e. anaerobic digestion of organic wastes) into high-quality gases for gas-to-liquid applications. Ni-based catalysts are conventional for catalysing methane reforming and decomposition reactions. Yet, the disposal of spent catalysts presents serious concerns since Ni is a contaminant to ground water and direct inhale of nanoparticles causes pathological concerns. Recently, iron is considered as an interesting substituent for Ni owing to its lower cost (180 times cheaper than Ni), higher natural abundance and, non-toxic chemistry. However, incomplete reduction of Fe2O3(s) into metallic Fe_((s))^0, under H2(g), is a drawback against industrialization of Fe-based catalysts for syngas and H2(g) generation. Current literature lacks thermodynamic studies associated with identification of conditions for optimum reduction of iron oxide into metallic form under H2(g). Thus, the present work provides thermodynamic models generated using the HSC 7.1 Chemistry software, relying on the minimization of the total Gibbs free energy, for understanding of iron oxide reduction where; theoretical conditions can be subsequently applied experimentally. Inlet Fe2O3(s) to H2(g) ratios were varied from the stoichiometric value till reaching ratios where H2(g) is in excess. Results indicated that direct reduction of Fe2O3(s) into Fe_((s))^0 is not possible, rather a series of H2(g)-induced reduction steps, along with other side-reactions, take place yielding partially reduced intermediates of iron oxides. An optimized Fe2O3:H2 ratio surpassing 0.25:3 (Figure 1) is needed to favour FeO(s) into Fe_((s))^0  reduction, a step necessary for creating Fe_((s))^0-rich domains. For validation purposes, theoretical values were compared with experimental ones, from literature, upon conducting calculations on real iron oxide amounts based on reduction medium and crystallographic state of Fe species in pre-and post-reduced samples