Karim Khalil

Experience

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  American University of Beirut

  Feb 2012 - Jan 2013

  Laboratory Assistant

  I prepared chemical solutions and calibrated equipment such as Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTRs), fixed and fluidized bed reactors, and distillation and absorption columns for the purpose of various laboratory experiments.

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  Gulf Cryo

  Jan 2013 - Jan 2014

  Chemical Engineering Intern

  My tasks and training were distributed between two units: the Air Separation Unit (ASU) and the Product Supply Unit (PSU). In the ASU, I learned about the process operation and control of cryogenic air separation. I also learned from the maintenance experts about how to ensure optimal operation and when/how to stop the plant and conduct the necessary maintenance tests.In the PSU, I also learned about process operation and control for three different plants: the acetylene, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide production plants. I was additionally given an overview by the experts about the different considerations to be taken when filling the cylinders with the product gases, as well as how to conduct purity tests and use gas chromatography to ensure that the required product specifications are met. Weniger anzeigen

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  The University of Texas at Austin

  Jun 2013 - Aug 2013

  Research Intern

  I developed MATLAB models based on experimental data to determine the correlations between configurational properties (the excess entropy) and dynamic ones (the dynamic viscosity and the shear-induced diffusivity) of soft particle glasses. The results obtained showed that measuring the diffusivity of soft particle glasses, a difficult microscopic measurement, can be replaced with the easier macroscopic measurement of the viscosity, which is correlated to the diffusivity through the excess entropy. Weniger anzeigen

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  Imperial College London

  Jun 2015 - Jul 2015

  Visiting Researcher

  As part of my Master Thesis, which was a collaboration between the Safety & Environmental Technology Group at ETH and The Hallett Group at Imperial College London, I spent one month as a visiting researcher at Imperial. The aim of my project was to model using Aspen Plus the two most important ionic liquid-based biomass pretreatment processes, namely the Dissolution and the Ionosolv processes, and then assess the environmental aspects of these technologies using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. At Imperial, I used the experimental results obtained by The Hallett Group to build my biomass pretreatment models and conduct my LCAs. After working closely with The Hallett Group during this month, my LCA results enabled the successful identification of the environmental burdens in the processes and directed the path for the research work in the coming months in order to address these issues. Weniger anzeigen

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  ETH Zurich

  Sept 2015 - Jan 2015

  Research Assistant

  My project aimed at the synthesis of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanoparticles by emulsion polymerization followed by gelation of the latex by salt addition. The goal was then to apply thermal treatment on these synthesized materials in order to reach PAN-based materials that can be used as sorbents for CO2 capture and other applications such as catalytic supports. My tasks involved the optimization of the emulsion polymerization reaction, the particle swelling and the gelation steps through the lab-scale testing of different monomer/polymer loadings, surfactants (type, concentration and ratio), swelling conditions (testing different swelling solvents at different degrees of swelling), gelation conditions (temperature and vacuum effects on gel strength), salt effect on gelation time and gel strength (testing different concentrations of salts with monovalent cations like NaCl and divalent ones like CaCl2). The effect of temperature on the gel strength and volume shrinkage was also investigated when scaling up the gelation procedure. The characterization of these materials was achieved using dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry, nitrogen sorption, etc. Weniger anzeigen

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  The Dow Chemical Company

  Apr 2016 - Jan 2016

  Intern in EH&S and Sustainability

  In my internship in the EH&S and Sustainability function of the Dow Oil, Gas & Mining Business (DOG&M), I worked collaboratively with several functions in the business (R&D, TS&D, Supply Chain, Commercial and Manufacturing) on completing product portfolios owned and sold by the business for the purpose of compliance with REACH regulations in the EU. My tasks included collecting, correcting and updating recipes and various compositions (product compositions, legal compositions, SDS compositions and polymer compositions) of the Dow products and the raw materials used in their production. This was important in order to correctly and accurately track chemical substances that are REACH-relevant. I also worked on collecting and updating logistics data for these products, which is critical when conducting the REACH assessments to determine whether the import transaction into Europe is in compliance with REACH or not. In my assessments, I determined which chemical substances are necessary to register under REACH to enable future imports of the products that contain them into the EU. For the polymer products that are used in indirect food contact applications, I have also created a database that houses all the updated FDA opinions and EU food contact statements that are necessary for the use of these products.Throughout my internship, I also worked on additional projects besides the ones that were expected of me when I started, such as:- Supporting the product risk tier characterization project in the business.- Creating a database that houses all the biodegradability and acute aquatic toxicity studies (algae, fish and invertebrate) for products that need to be registered for use in offshore applications.- Supporting SDS creation for new products and product series.- Customer support with REACH and FDA compliance checks, as well as completing composition and regulatory forms for products that the customers were interested in.- Training new hires in the DOG&M business. Weniger anzeigen