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Olusola Osunkoya's Webpage

Postgraduate Researcher Phone: +44 (0)20 7679 3836 Email: o.osunkoya@ucl.ac.uk

Address: Department of Chemical Engineering University College London Torrington Place London WC1E 7JE United Kingdom

Olusola Osunkoya studied Chemical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University and  University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he obtained a BSc (2001) and MSc (2005), respectively. He then worked in industry for a few years with the Centre for Energy Research and Development (CERD) in Nigeria [2002-2003], PZ Cussons Industries Plc in Nigeria [2004] and Stag Engineering Nigeria Ltd, [2005-2006]. He was subsequently involved in lecturing at the Chemical Engineering Department of Covenant University, Nigeria [2006-2010], where he developed an interest in the area of Process Systems Engineering.

Research project

Title: Modelling and optimisation of hybrid refinery separations based on shape-selective membranes

Supervisors: Dr Eva Sorensen

This project focuses on increasing the efficiency of refinery separation systems using hybrid separations which have been hailed as one of the most promising alternatives to conventional capital and energy intensive separation processes. Hybrid separation systems are able to effectively separate mixtures commonly encountered in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries that are difficult or impossible to separate by conventional distillation processes due to azeotropic behaviour or low relative volatilities.

In this work, hybrids between distillation and membrane separation are considered. The shortcomings of one method are thereby outweighed by the benefits of the other. The addition of a pervaporation unit to a conventional refinery distillation process, either before, after or fully integrated, adds complexity to the system but also more degrees of freedom which, if properly chosen, can result in capital and operating costs savings and can consequently increase the overall profitability of the system, particularly for difficult separations.

The objective of this research is to investigate the use of shape-selective zeolite membranes for separating high/low branched components from refinery side streams taking into consideration the extra degrees of freedom.

Selected Publications

J.O. Bello, T.M. Lawal, and O.A. Osunkoya, "Investigation into the influence of Electric Field on Osmosis", American Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, 2010.

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