UOB awards its first PHD within the scope of the ARCUS E2D2 project

Eliane DAHDAH has successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled: “The role of Mg-Al hydrotalcite-Derived Mixed Oxides as Catalytic Materials: Applications in the Transesterification of Vegetable Oils for Biodiesel Production and in Steam Reforming of Glycerol for Hydrogen Production”. This is the first accomplished PhD dissertation within the scope of the ARCUS E2D2 project (http://arcus-e2d2.univ-lille1.fr/). It was jointly funded by the CNRS-L, the AUF and ULCO.

The dissertation was prepared under a “co-tutelle” agreement between the University of Balamand and the “Université du Littoral – Côte d’Opale (ULCO)”, France. It was co-supervised by Dr. Jane ESTEPHANE (Chemical Engineering/UOB), Dr. Samer AOUAD (Chemistry/UOB), Dr. Cédric GENNEQUIN (ULCO) and Pr. Edmond ABI AAD (ULCO).

The research focused on a versatile cheap catalyst that is able to convert vegetable oils into valuable biodiesel. The obtained by-product, glycerol, was also converted over the same material in a different reaction to produce hydrogen gas, a promising energy vector.

Eliane presented her work in Balamand on December 17th, 2018 in front of a Jury presided by Pr. Mouin HAMZE (CNRS-L Secretary General), Pr. Madona LABAKI (Lebanese University), Pr. Jean Luc BLIN (Université de Lorraine/President of the 31st section of CNU, France) and the co-supervisors. She was congratulated for her excellent oral presentation and her well written manuscript and was awarded the title of PhD in Chemistry from UOB and Docteur en Chimie from ULCO.

Eliane presented her work in several national and international conferences. She has six published articles in international peer-reviewed journals and three additional papers are on the way. Congratulations to Eliane!!!