Muhammad Atiqullah

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals KFUPM, Saudi Arabia

Title: Advanced supported polyolefin catalysts: Innovation and challenges

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Biography

Atiqullah is a senior research engineer and professor at the Center for Refining and Advanced Chemicals (CRAC) in the Research Institute (RI) of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering with specialization in Polymer Reaction Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) at Troy, NY, USA. He is Editor-in-Chief at Research and Development in Materials Science Crimson, USA and earlier served the Open Catalysis Journal editorial board. He is a recipient of Research Institute Lead inventor, Distinguished Applied Researcher, and Distinguished Project Manager awards. He has 10 US patents (issued and applied) and 50 publications in ISI journals. He spent Summer 2013, as a visiting researcher, at Japan Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Ishikawa, Japan. He has successfully managed research projects for BASF The Chemical Company, KACST, SABIC, Saudi Aramco, and Caltech USA.

His research interests include polyolefin catalysts and conversion of olefin to value-added products (such as polymeric flow aids and oligomeric lubricants). He has over 30-year experience in these areas.

Dr. Atiqullah is a nominated Vebleo fellow. He currently leads a polyolefin research initiative, aiming at establishing a local feedstock-based market-driven chemical industry in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Transition metal catalysts produce polyolefins which top bulk-volume polymer materials and applications. This catalyst field remains outstandingly active over 70 years since the pioneering works of Nobel laureates Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta in early 1950s. But many later generation novel laboratory-scale precatalysts are not yet fully exploited despite high industrial demands and needs. Supporting a precatalyst makes catalyst active sites partially accessible because the support acts as a bulky ligand. Consequently, the activity drastically drops and varying active sites grow, which pose a big challenge. First, we shall discuss how we attempted to address this challenge by evaluating catalyst active site distribution (ASD) using mechanistic model, and appropriate catalyst and polyolefin characterization. Our work shows that modeling ASD and designing supported cocatalyst anion appropriately can contribute to developing enhanced supported PO catalysts. We shall also talk about selected applications of the ASD concept with reference to ethylene?1-hexene microscopic copolymerization kinetics, thermooxidative melt degradation, and antioxidant formulation development. Finally, we shall discuss potential PO catalyst spin-off subject. Here, we shall highlight the innovation diffusion culture that refers to research and researchers, R&D management and managers, and prospective investment and investors. In this context, we shall consolidate the importance of conducive sociology, psychology, and mindset that precede and dominate over innovation and technology.