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Professor of Chemical Reaction Engineering, Deputy Head (Research)
Biography
Prof Gavriilidis joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London in 1993, where he has been professor of Chemical Reaction Engineering since 2004. He is currently deputy Head for Research and chairs the Departmental Research Committee. He has been visiting professor in the University of Sydney (2003) and ETH Zurich (2018). He is member of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) Working Party of Chemical Reaction Engineering since 2005, subject Editor of Chemical Engineering Research and Design since 2002, and member of the UK Catalysis Hub Steering Group since 2012.
Teaching Summary
I have been teaching courses in Chemical Reaction Engineering that is a key course that differentiates chemical engineers from other engineers and chemists. This course as well the reactor design part of the design project where I am involved provides fertile ground for students to exercise critical thinking and synthesise solutions building on previous knowledge. I am keen to on research-led teaching, where I use examples from latest developments from my group's research activities and beyond, relevant to the state-of-the-art technologies and grand challenges such as sustainability and net zero.
Research Summary
My research interests centre around chemical and catalytic reactor engineering, microreaction technology, micro process engineering, process intensification, and nanomaterials flow synthesis. Our approach is based on fundamental understanding and evaluation of chemical and catalytic reactions and their interaction with hydrodynamics, mass and heat transfer. We utilise microstructured and millifluidic automated and autonomous reactors with online analysis for efficient generation of kinetic and mechanistic information. We develop intensified and multifunctional reactors to improve the production of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials in terms of robustness, sustainability and product quality. The reactors have been used to perform various reactions, such as catalytic oxidations, hydrogenations, epoxidations, ozonolysis and nanomaterials synthesis. We collaborate with chemists, microbiologists, pharmacists and other engineers to ensure the products fulfil the requirements for the intended applications, which recently have included gold nanoclusters for antimicrobial surfaces and iron oxide nanoparticles for cancer hyperthermia and MRI contrast agents.
Education
1993
PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, U.S.A.
1988
Diploma, Chemical Engineering, Arsitotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Professional Affiliations
- FIChemE
- MAIChE – member of AIChE
- CEng – chartered engineer
Publications
G. Gkogkos, M. Besenhard, L. Storozhuk, N. T. K. Thanh, A. Gavriilidis, “Fouling-Proof Triple Stream 3D Flow Focusing Based Reactor: Design and Demonstration for Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Co-Precipitation Synthesis”, Chem. Eng. Sci., 251, 117481 (2022).
B. Venezia, E. Cao, S. K. Matam, C. Waldron, G. Cibin, E. K. Gibson, S. Golunski, P. Wells, I. Silverwood, C. R. A. Catlow, G. Sankar, A. Gavriilidis, “Silicon Microfabricated Reactor for Operando XAS/DRIFTS Studies of Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions”, Catal. Sci. Technol., 10, 7842–7856 (2020).
H. Huang, G. B. Hwang, G. Wu, K. Karu, H. Du Toit, H. Wu, J. Callison, I. P. Parkin, A. Gavriilidis, “Rapid Synthesis of [Au25(Cys)18] Nanoclusters via Carbon Monoxide in Microfluidic Liquid-Liquid Segmented Flow System and their Antimicrobial Performance”, Chem. Eng. J., 383, 123176 (2020).
G. Wu, E. Cao, P. Ellis, A. Constantinou, S. Kuhn, A. Gavriilidis, “Development of a Flat Membrane Microchannel Packed-Bed Reactor for Scalable Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol in Flow”, Chem. Eng. J., 377, 120086 (2019).
C. Waldron, A. Pankajakshan, M. Quaglio, E. Cao, F. Galvanin, A. Gavriilidis, “Closed-Loop Model-Based Design of Experiments for Kinetic Model Discrimination and Parameter Estimation: Benzoic Acid Esterification on Heterogeneous Catalyst”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58, 22165-22177 (2019).