Dr. Ioannis Economou

Biography

Dr. Economou's research focuses on the design, development, validation and application of state-of-the art models for the prediction of structure and physical properties of complex chemical systems that are of interest to oil & gas and chemical industry, to the protection of natural environment, and to the society, at large. Our models span a broad range of time and length scales, including: sub-molecular calculations using quantum mechanics techniques, molecular simulations using Molecular Dynamics and Metropolis Monte Carlo methods, and macroscopic engineering models such as equations of state rooted to Statistical Mechanics. Development of new models and predictions generated from these models are validated against experimental data from the literature or measured in our partner's laboratories. For our simulations, we are using the state of the art high performance computing facilities of Texas A&M University at Qatar. Research activities refer both to basic fundamental research as well as applied research. In all cases, the research projects in which we are involved are carefully selected with the aim to maximize our contribution to the international academic and industrial community. To this end, we collaborate with academic and industrial research groups in Europe and North America which are world leaders in their respective fields.  On-going research projects include: Molecular Modeling and Simulation: Thermodynamic and transport properties of water – carbon dioxide – salt systems, Gas hydrate multi-phase equilibria, Microscopic structure and physical properties of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for isomer separation, Ionic liquids in pure and in mixture with supercritical CO2 and other gases, Sorption and diffusion of small molecules (CO, H2 and H2O) in heavy hydrocarbons, related to Gas-To-Liquid process for production of high value hydrocarbon fuels. Molecular Thermodynamics and Equation of State Development with Emphasis to Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Equations of state for electrolyte mixtures, Novel algorithms for multiphase equilibrium calculations including near critical conditions, Thermodynamic models for primary and derivative properties of CO2 mixtures, Equations of state for confined fluids.   Education PhD in Chemical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.  1992      Diploma of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. 1987. Experience ​ 2013 – Present, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University at Qatar 2009 – 2012, Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Professor of Chemical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE 1995 – 2009, Researcher to Laboratory Director, Molecular Thermodynamics and Modelling of Materials Laboratory, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Aghia Paraskevi, Greece 1994 – 1995, Post-doctoral fellow, Exxon Research & Engineering Company, Florham Park, New Jersey, USA  1993 – 1994, Post-doctoral fellow, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. 1992 – 1993, Military service, Greek Navy, Greece. 1988 – 1992, Research Assistant, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Visiting faculty / research positions held at The American College of Greece (2007 – 2009), Open University of Greece (2002 – 2009), Technical University of Denmark (2001 and 2006 – 2007), Princeton University, USA (2004), University College London, UK (1994 – 1996).    Honors Chairman, Working Party on Thermodynamics and Transport Properties, European Federation of Chemical Engineering, 2007 – . 41 members from 23 countries.  Member of Research Advisory Council, University Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia, 2011 – 2013.   Member of the International Scientific Review Committee of the Directorate of Applied Chemistry and Physical Chemistry, Institut Français du Pétrole, Paris, France, June 2008.  Member of the Greek National Council for Research and Technology, October 2003 – September 2004. External examiner for PhD thesis at the following institutions: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, November 2011. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Universidade do Porto, Portugal, September 2011. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, May 2010. Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece, March 2009. Department of Process Engineering, Université Paris XIII (Paris-Nord), Villetaneuse, France, September 2008. Department of Materials Science, University of Ioannina, Greece, February 2008.  Department of Physical Chemistry, Université Paris-Sud XI, Orsay, France, October 2007. Department of Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, June 2002 and December 2006. Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, December 2006. Department of Chemistry, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, December 2006. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Spain, Spring 2003.

Research Interest

sub-molecular calculations using quantum mechanics techniques, molecular simulations using Molecular Dynamics and Metropolis Monte Carlo methods, and macroscopic engineering models such as equations of state rooted to Statistical Mechanics.