Seba Alareeqi

Postdocs (PD)

Postdoctoral Fellow 2025-...

Current

Location:

Building 3, Level 4, Area 3, Workspace: 4287-WS10

Biography

Seba Alareeqi is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Multiscale Reaction Engineering (MuRE) Group. Her research bridges fundamental catalysis, microkinetic modelling, with reactor- and process-level performance for sustainable energy applications. She holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from The Petroleum Institute, UAE, and completed her MSc and PhD at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, focusing on the design and optimization of catalytic materials for sustainable fuels production. As part of her doctoral training, she undertook a research stay at Johns Hopkins University (USA), expanding her expertise in atomistic modeling and materials theory. She worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen (RICH center), contributing to sustainable fuels production. She is currently working at MuRE on the design of functionalized thermo- and electrocatalysts for energy conversion technologies.

Research Interests

My research focuses on multiscale reaction engineering, integrating first-principles modeling, microkinetic analysis, and process-level insights to design scalable catalytic systems. I am particularly interested in CO₂ valorization, sustainable fuels, and bio-oils upgrading, with an emphasis on predictive catalyst design, stability, and industrial relevance.

Selected Publications

  • S. AlAreeqi, C. Ganley, D. Bahamon, K. Polychronopoulou, P. Clancy, L. F. Vega, Rational design of optimal bimetallic and trimetallic nickel-based single-atom alloys for bio-oil upgrading to hydrogen. Nat. Commun., (2025) 2639. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57949-6
  • S. AlAreeqi, D. Bahamon, I. II. Alkhatib, K. Polychronopoulou, L. F. Vega, Advanced Computational Modeling for Biofuel Catalyst Optimization: Enhancing Beta Zeolite Acidity for Oleic Acid Upgrading, Biofuel Res. J.,11 (2024), 2194-2210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2024.11.3.5

Education

  • PhD in Engineering, Chemical Engineering - Khalifa University, UAE, 2024
  • Research Internship - Johns Hopkins University, US, 2023
  • MSc in Chemical Engineering - Khalifa University, 2019
  • BSc in Chemical Engineering – The Petroleum Institute, UAE, 2017

Professional Profile

  • 2025-Now: Postdoctoral Fellow, Multi-scale Reaction Engineering (MuRE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
  • 2024-2025: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research and Innovation Center on CO₂ and Hydrogen (RICH Center), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi – UAE 

Awards

  • Top 5% Journal Publication Award, College of Engineering at Khalifa University – 2022, 2023, and 2024.

KAUST Affiliations

  • Multiscale Reaction Engineering (MuRE)
  • KAUST Catalysis Platform (KCP)

Research Interests Keywords

CO2 valorization Hydroprocessing Oxygenates to hydrocarbons Catalyst deactivation Micro kinetic modeling Fluidized beds