Dr Muxina Konarova

Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineeri

School of Chemical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
m.konarova@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 54047

Overview

Biography: Dr Muxina Konarova is Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow (Mid-Career) and Senior Lecturer in the UQ School of Chemical Engineering. She gained her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. Dr Konarova has led four academia/industry projects since 2016, securing >$2M as lead CI and her team partnered with five large organisations under her Advance Qld Research (Early) and Mid-Career Fellowships, ARENA-UQ, ARC-Linkage and Innovation Connections.

Research: Dr Konarova’s research team focuses on the development of sustainable chemical processes and is directed to address climate change, waste utilisation and provide technical solutions for a circular economy. Current chemical industries are heavily reliant on fossil-fuel feedstock and significant advances in process engineering will be required to enable a carbon-neutral chemical industry. To accelerate the transition to circularity, fossil-fuel based industries are now seeking to introduce waste products and renewables as their feedstock. However, selective catalysts and suitable reactor designs are largely unknown for these new types of feedstock (biomass, plastic waste and CO2). This lack of knowledge has prevented both commercialisation of new chemical processes and the utilisation of sustainable resources. Dr Konarova’s research program focuses on the (1) design of selective, stable and active solid catalysts; (2) integration of solid catalysts into a reactor environment where an optimum mass and heat transfer can occur. Her team uses a range of advanced spectroscopic tools to analyse reaction products, elucidate underlying reaction mechanisms and control product selectivity. The overall research aim is to identify new generations of catalysts and reactors designs and address fundamental challenges associated with catalytic conversion and contribute to the development of sustainable chemical industry.

Teaching and Learning: Dr Konarova teaches “Low Emissions Technologies and Supply Systems (ENGY7003)” course content under Master of Sustainable Energy (MSE) program offered at the School of Chemical Engineering. In 2018 and 2019, Dr Konarova lectured into Process Modelling and Dynamics (CHEE3007) offered at the School of Chemical Engineering, UQ.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Tokyo Institute of Technology
  • Masters (Coursework) of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Publications

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Supervision

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Available Projects

  • This project aims to develop printable catalyst composition and 3D print catalytic monolith using solid free form fabrication. In these student will focus on the 3D printing of various types of catalysts including zeolite, activated carbon supported (Ni, Co, Fe etc). These catalysts will be used for the conversion of bio-syngas into fuels and chemicals.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Ahmed, Mohamed HM, Batalha, Nuno, Atanda, Luqman, Jamil, Anas and Konarova, Muxina (2023). The catalytic processes for the deoxygenation and densification of biofuels. Handbook of Biofuels Production. (pp. 401-418) Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-323-91193-1.00003-2

  • Fraga, Gabriel, Batalha, Nuno, Kumar, Adarsh, Bhaskar, Thallada, Konarova, Muxina and Perkins, Greg (2022). Advances in liquefaction for the production of hydrocarbon biofuels. Hydrocarbon biorefinery: sustainable processing of biomass for hydrocarbon biofuels. (pp. 127-176) edited by Sunil K. Maity, Kalyan Gayen and Tridib Kumar Bhowmick. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823306-1.00009-1

  • Konarova, Muxina, Aslam, Waqas and Perkins, Greg (2022). Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to hydrocarbon biofuels: present status and challenges involved. Hydrocarbon biorefinery: sustainable processing of biomass for hydrocarbon biofuels. (pp. 77-96) edited by Sunil K. Maity, Kalyan Gayen and Tridib Kumar Bhowmick. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-823306-1.00006-6

Journal Article

Conference Publication

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • This project aims to develop printable catalyst composition and 3D print catalytic monolith using solid free form fabrication. In these student will focus on the 3D printing of various types of catalysts including zeolite, activated carbon supported (Ni, Co, Fe etc). These catalysts will be used for the conversion of bio-syngas into fuels and chemicals.