Staff Profile

Background

I am a Process and Energy Systems Engineer and Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, UK with over 15 years combined experience in academia and industry. My research is focused on system engineering and computational chemistry application in carbon capture and transport, hydrogen production, energy storage and energy systems analysis and integration.

I have received over £900k in research funding (PI & CI) from different sources namely EPSRC, EU H2020, Royal Society and GCRF since August 2020 to date for ongoing/completed research projects (4 as PI and 2 as Co-I) with industrial and academic collaborators in UK, China, Norway, Belgium, South Africa and Nigeria. I also helped deliver 5 research projects from 2011 to 2019 with different funders including EPSRC, NERC, EU H2020 and BEIS. My work has been published in over 30 leading journals (H-index: 16) and presented in over 15 international conferences. One of my journal articles was awarded the SAGE Publishing Best Paper Prize 2014 and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) Ludwig Mond Prize 2014. This paper was also a major part of a 2020 UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) report titled “Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) deployment at dispersed sites”. Another journal article was the International Journal of Coal Science & Technology Best Paper 2017-2019 in "recognition of the quality made to the journal". 

Qualifications

BEng (Hons) Chemical Engineering - Fed Uni Tech Owerri, Nigeria

MSc (Hons) Process Systems Engineering - Cranfield University, UK

PhD Process and Energy Systems Engineering, University of Hull, UK

PgDip Research Skill - University of Hull, UK

PgCert Teaching and Learning - University of Sheffield, UK

Previous positions

2019-2022 Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Hull, UK

2016-2019 Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield, UK

2015-2016 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Hull, UK

2008-2010 Process Engineer, Notore Chemical Industries Ltd, Onne, Nigeria

Awards/Prizes

International Journal of Coal Science & Technology Best Paper 2017-2019 Award 

IMechE Ludwig Mond Prize 2014 – for collaborative work on the UK Humber Region Case Study on CO₂ capture and transport network

SAGE Publishing Best Paper Prize 2014 

Primary delivery staff (Post-doctoral Research Associate) for the EPSRC funded project “Process Intensification for Post-combustion Carbon Capture using Rotating Packed Bed through Systems Engineering Techniques” (EP/M001458/1) which was runner up in the IChemE’s Global Awards 2019

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded PhD studentship (with Prof Meihong Wang, University of Sheffield as PI) - 2011

Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigeria Overseas Masters Scholarship  - 2010

Membership

R.Eng (Council of Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria)

Corporate Member, Nigerian Society of Engineers

Associate Member, Institute of Chemical Engineers

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Research Grants 

1. Aug 2021-Jul 2025: CI for €772,800 EU Horizon 2020 RISE funded project titled “Smart and CO₂ neutral Olefin Production by arTificial Intelligence and MAchine Learning (OPTIMAL)”.
2. July 2021-April 2022: PI for £30k EPSRC - UKCCSRC funded project titled “Development of an energy-efficient and cost-effective catalytic regeneration system in the post-combustion CO₂ capture process”.
3. Oct 2021-Mar 2022: PI for £50k EPSRC - NETWORK-H2 funded project titled “Development of a compact and highly efficient onboard ammonia cracking system to produce hydrogen in a hydrogen-fuelled long haul civil airliner”.
4. Sept 2021-Aug 2024: PI for £40k Net Zero Research (formally BF2RA) funded project titled “Development and analysis of a novel liquid ammonia energy storage (LNHES) technology integrated into different energy systems”.
5. Nov 2021-Oct 2023: PI for £12k Royal Society funded Int’l Exchange Project titled “Development and testing of high-performance catalysts for on-board cracking of ammonia for hydrogen-powered transport system”
6. Aug 2021-July 2022: CI for £12k Royal Society funded Int’l Exchange project titled  “Research and development of thallium nitride nanorods (Ta3N5-NRs) for CO₂ reduction photoreactors”
7. Jan-July 2021: PI for £30k QR-GCRF funded project titled “Pilot testing of a low-cost pretreatment material for enhancing the biogas yield from the biodigestion of cassava waste”.
8. Aug 2021-Sept 2021: PI for £7k consultancy on “Analysis of cost-saving and carbon emission avoidance for a switch to geothermal energy” for a group of businesses in the Humber region, UK led by the AURA Innovation Centre, Hull, UK
9. Mar 2021-July 2021: PI for £9k consultancy on “Modelling and analysis of integrated geothermal and Organic Rankine Cycle system” for an industrial network led by the AURA Innovation Centre, Hull, UK

Postgraduate supervision

I am available for PhD supervision in the area of CO2 capture and transport, hydrogen production, transport and storage, energy systems design, optimisation, integration and analysis, energy transition and scenario modelling, energy storage. Typical topics include but not limited to: 

• Development and analysis of catalyst-aided regeneration in solvent-based CO2 Capture
• Study of novel liquid ammonia energy storage system
• Study of novel trilateral flash cycle design and integration
• Study of novel plasma-assisted desalination
• Green hydrogen production - plasma-assisted and electrochemical route
• Solar-assisted combined cycle gas turbine integrated to solvent-based carbon capture
• Evaluation of clean energy transition scenarios in emerging economies 
• Machine learning-based bidding strategy for different energy systems

Esteem indicator 

• Independent reviewer, University of Pretoria Exceptional Achiever's Award 2022
• Editor,  Carbon Capture Science Technology Journal  
• Invited Grant Proposal Reviewer: UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
• Journal Reviewer, AIChE Journal, Applied Energy Journal, Energy Journal, Fuel Journal, Applied Thermal Journal etc. 
  
• PhD External Examiner: Imperial College (2022) and University of Witwatersrand, South Africa (2019)
• Invited Panel Discussion Member, Africans in STEM Symposium, University of Cambridge 29^th April 2022
• Invited Speaker, Network-H2 Webinar series 25^th Feb 2022
• Invited Speaker, UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre Spring Conference 2022
• Member of Scientific Committee of the 5^th International Conference on Engineering for a Sustainable World ICESW 2021.  
• Invited Speaker, Department of Chemical Engineering Seminar, University of Pretoria, South Africa 29^th Sept 2021
• Session chair, International Conference on Applied Energy 2021 (ICAE2021)

• Li F, Zhang J, Shang C, Huang D, Oko E, Wang M. Modelling of a Post-combustion CO₂ Capture Process Using Deep Belief Network. Applied Thermal Engineering 2018, 130, 997-1003.
• Joel AS, Oko E, Wang M, Ramshaw C, Lee JGM, Wu K, Kim D, Shah N, Ma L, Pourkashanian M. Carbon capture: Application of rotating packed bed technology for intensified postcombustion CO₂ capture based on chemical absorption. In: The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Processes, Technologies, and Challenges. CRC Press, 2017, pp.457-478.
• Li F, Zhang J, Oko E, Wang M. Modelling of a Post-combustion CO₂ Capture Process Using Extreme Learning Machine. International Journal of Coal Science & Technology 2017, 4(1), 33-40.
• Bai Z, Li F, Zhang J, Oko E, Wang M, Xiong Z, Huang D. Modelling of a Post-combustion CO₂ Capture Process Using Bootstrap Aggregated Extreme Learning Machines. In: Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier BV, 2016, pp.2007-2012.
• Li F, Zhang J, Oko E, Wang MH. Modelling of a Post-combustion CO2 Capture Process Using Extreme Learning Machine. In: 2016 21st International Conference on Methods and Models in Automation and Robotics (MMAR). 2016, Miedzyzdroje, Poland: IEEE.
• Li F, Zhang J, Oko E, Wang M. Modelling of a Post-combustion CO₂ Capture Process Using Neural Networks. Fuel 2015, 151, 156-163.
• Oko E, Wang M, Zhang J. Neural Network Approach for Predicting Drum Pressure and Level in Coal-fired Subcritical Power Plant. Fuel 2015, 151, 139-145.