Texas A&M at Qatar hosts experts to discuss sustainable chemical processes
Published Mar 04, 2015Texas A&M University at Qatar hosted the QAFCO-Texas A&M at Qatar Conference 2015, 3 March, which focused on sustainable chemical processes. Sustainability is a top priority worldwide for governments, industry and academia. Developing new chemical processes that use less harmful solvents, are more energy efficient and generate little or no waste or byproducts is a major driving force for research in chemistry and in chemical engineering. Dr. Ioannis Economou, co-chair of the 2015 conference and a professor in the chemical engineering program, said, “Sustainability is a global challenge in the 21st century. Chemistry and chemical engineering are in the forefront of developing new sustainable chemical processes. We are glad to have Professor Peter Wasserscheid, head of the Institute of Chemical Reaction Engineering at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany and founding director of the Helmholtz Institute on Renewable Energy Production, as keynote speaker. In addition, we have 15 distinguished speakers from the United States, Europe and Qatar.” The 2015 conference is the seventh itineration presented with the sponsorship of Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO). Executive Associate Dean Eyad Masad noted the importance of collaborations between industry and academia to further research and create new solutions. He said, “Texas A&M at Qatar is proud to partner with industry collaborators such as QAFCO to help realize sustainable solutions to real-world issues and to encourage the exchange of knowledge, ideas and expertise that is essential to fuel innovation and new thinking.” The event featured Wasserscheid's keynote lecture and talks focused on fundamental, experimental and computational studies as well as new process developments with immediate industrial applications. QAFCO Vice Chairman and CEO Khalifa Al-Sowaidi, said, “In the seventh year of our association with Texas A&M University at Qatar, I am delighted with the progress that we have made. I am glad that QAFCO has been associated with this noble venture for so long and will continue to support similar ventures in [the] future. The QAFCO–Texas A&M Conference 2015 is a meeting point of academics and industry. We hope the conference becomes the flag-bearer of investing [in] science for [the] betterment of humanity as we carry the responsibility for future generations. Together we will continue making an impact and safeguard the future for generations to come.” Dr. Hassan Bazzi, conference chair and assistant dean for research and graduate studies, said, “We are very proud of our partnership with QAFCO, which has generously supported us in hosting the first conference series in Qatar since 2007. This series has attracted an impressive list of world-renowned scientists over the years, including 65 speakers from 15 countries. In addition, the list of speakers in previous years included two Nobel laureates, Dr. Robert H. Grubbs and Dr. Ei-Chi Negishi. “We hope this conference will be an outlet for the exchange of scientific knowledge, sharing ideas, discussing future collaborations and building new projects. It affirms our pursuits of cutting-edge chemistry and chemical engineering research in Qatar and the region.”