Dr Nader Karimi

• Sustainable Aerospace Fuels, Power-to-X and Waste-to-Fuel
• Chemically Reacting Flows
• Heat and Mass Transfer and Thermal Engineering
• Thermal Integration and Management in Industrial Electrification  
• Modelling, optimisation, and Technoeconomic Analysis of Thermal and Energy Systems

Current research

Karimi’s research spans the fundamental science and engineering of thermal and reacting systems, catalytic process intensification, and sustainable fuel and energy technologies. His work combines investigations of complex fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions with the development and optimisation of advanced industrial processes. A central ambition is to translate fundamental physical understanding into more efficient, sustainable and economically competitive technologies, with particular emphasis on industrial electrification, catalytic processes and low-carbon fuels. His research extends from the physics and engineering of individual components to the modelling, integration and optimisation of complete energy and production systems.

Component-level research and catalytic process intensification. Our research group investigates the fundamental physical mechanisms governing chemically reacting flows, with particular emphasis on the complex interactions between fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. We apply this understanding to the development and optimisation of advanced reactor technologies, including catalytic and process-intensified systems for producing sustainable fuels and essential chemicals. A key research direction is understanding how transport phenomena and reaction kinetics interact to determine reactor performance, efficiency and durability, and how these interactions can be exploited to develop more efficient and resource-effective catalytic technologies. Our work combines fundamental investigations of coupled transport and reaction phenomena with the engineering of practical reactor configurations and operating strategies.

Thermal engineering and industrial electrification. A complementary focus of our research is the science and engineering of heat transfer and thermal management in complex industrial systems. We investigate thermal transport, temperature control, energy losses and heat-transfer enhancement, particularly in processes involving coupled thermal, fluid and chemical phenomena. A growing research direction concerns the electrification of energy-intensive industrial processes, where effective thermal engineering is essential to achieving high efficiency, reliable operation and economically viable performance. Our work encompasses electrically heated reactors, thermal integration, process intensification and waste-heat recovery, with the broader objective of developing efficient and sustainable thermal technologies for industrial applications.

Sustainable fuels and system-level research. At the systems level, our research focuses on the development, evaluation and optimisation of sustainable fuel and energy production pathways. Major areas of interest include sustainable aerospace fuels, Power-to-X technologies, hydrogen, synthetic fuels and chemicals, and waste-to-fuel processes. We employ process modelling, techno-economic analysis, sustainability assessment and advanced optimisation methods to investigate the technical and economic performance of alternative production routes. Our work integrates process design, energy and thermal integration, waste-heat utilisation, and hybridisation with complementary energy technologies. Particular attention is given to understanding system-level trade-offs, identifying economically competitive technology configurations and developing robust decarbonisation pathways under technical and economic uncertainty.

Methods and collaboration. Our research combines high-fidelity computational modelling, ranging from continuum-scale computational fluid dynamics to molecular dynamics, with laboratory experimentation, advanced optimisation and machine-learning techniques. We collaborate closely with academic and industrial partners to connect fundamental scientific understanding with practical engineering challenges, supporting the development, demonstration and implementation of advanced thermal, catalytic and sustainable energy technologies.