Dr Nader Karimi

• Production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), e-fuels, hydrogen, ammonia, and other low-carbon synthetic fuels
• Process intensification in thermochemical and electrochemical reactors
• Heat and mass transfer, and advanced thermal management
• Reacting flows, combustion, and chemically reacting systems
• Analysis and optimisation of hybridised energy and fuel systems

Karimi’s research spans component- to system-level studies for sustainable fuels and thermal management:

Component level. Our group develops process-intensified thermochemical and electrochemical reactors—including gasification, pyrolysis, reforming, electrolysis, and fuel synthesis—by integrating fluid dynamics, transport phenomena, and catalytic chemistry. Current research focuses on catalytic process intensification for hydrogen and synthetic fuel production, ultra-lean combustion, and plasma-assisted biomass gasification and fuel reforming. We also pursue the intensification of thermal processes, aiming to achieve exceptionally high heat transfer rates with minimal pressure-drop penalties, a critical requirement across advanced energy and aerospace technologies.

System level. At the systems scale, we optimise end-to-end production pathways through energy integration, waste-heat recovery, hybridisation with complementary energy vectors, and robust optimisation under uncertainty. These studies identify pathways to lower-cost, lower-carbon fuels via improved process integration, with particular emphasis on waste-to-fuel/energy systems and Power-to-X technologies.

Methods and collaboration. Our approach combines high-fidelity simulations—from continuum-scale computational fluid dynamics to molecular dynamics—with laboratory experimentation and machine learning. We collaborate closely with academic and industrial partners to translate fundamental scientific insights into deployable, high-impact solutions for sustainable energy and fuel technologies.