About the team

The proposed work will be led by Dr. Kemal Celik, an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at New York University in Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). He also holds an appointment with New York University, Tandon School of Engineering, as a Global Network Assistant Professor and serves as the Director of the Advanced Materials and Building Efficiency Research Laboratory (AMBER Lab) at NYUAD. He received his Ph.D. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Structural Engineering, Mechanics & Materials. His work covers synthesis, characterization, mechanical and durability assessment, and applications of novel construction materials to improve the sustainability of the construction industry. Dr. Celik will liaise and coordinate with all involved researchers, the sponsor (Sandooq Al Watan), the Office of Research at NYUAD as well as industrial/academic collaborators. He will also monitor the overall scientific and industrial progress of the project. His team comprises faculty, researchers, and undergraduate students of diverse skills and knowledge and will be responsible for the different aspects of the project. Prof. Nidal Hilal, Professor of Engineering and Director of NYUAD Water Research Center, will provide consultancy in the pilot plant design and implementation of the technology to fit into an existing desalination plant in the UAE, Research Scientist Rotana Hay (Ph.D. Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCB) will focus on process conceptualization and design. Postdoctoral researchers Ghanim Kashwani (Ph.D. Civil Engineering, Heriot-Watt University), and Inderjeet Singh (Ph.D. Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur) will be in charge of experimental execution, materials characterization, process optimization, and process scale-up. Undergraduate student Majid Alabbasi will assist with data collection and analyses. The collaboration effort will be led by Dr. Dante Simonetti, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering, Dr. Guarav Sant, Professor and Henry Samueli Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering as well as the Director of the Institute for Carbon Management, and Dr. David Jassby, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Their research focuses are complementary to that of Dr. Kemal and have been on adsorptive separation processes, heterogeneous catalysis, catalytic reaction synthesis, and industrial application.

Technical Information

Cement production is one of the biggest industrial emitters of CO2, accounting for approximately 8% of the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Decarbonization of the construction industry thus requires closer scrutiny and an innovative approach to tackle the upstream of the construction process. Reactive magnesium oxide (MgO) cement (RMC) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to the Portland cement (OPC), considering the low calcination temperature used during its production, carbonation sequestration for strength gain, and the possibility for full recyclability. Meanwhile, ground raw limestone has been successfully used to partially replace OPC. Reject brine from desalination is heavily concentrated with magnesium and calcium ions, making it an attractive source to recover these two materials. For this project, both magnesium and calcium will be recovered from reject brine using reactive crystallization.

About Team Leader

Team members