My research revolves around catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol, under the Inorganic Materials and Catalysis research group. It is a multilateral project funded by ARC CBBC.

I was tasked to optimize the cooling water network throughout the Rotterdam refinery. That was done through identifying bottlenecks in the network by conducting flow measurements through heat exchangers that utilizes cooling water, alongside the cooling water return supplied by the pumps and returning to the tower. Around 110 measuring points were made, and 95% of the cooling water flow supplied to the network exchangers by the pump was able to be measured. This provides a valuable inventory of how cooling water is distributed throughout the refinery.While waiting for the measurements to be made (there were some scheduling problems that were outside my control), innovative solutions to improve the cooling tower were also screened. Such innovative solutions include improving the internal equipment of the cooling tower (which reduces supply temperatures) or reducing the heat load of the tower, which allows one to re-distribute more flow to the other network exchangers.