Prof. Youssef Belmabkhout : Versatility vs scalability. Quest of porous materials via the valorization of organic and inorganic Wastes
Event details
| Date | 12.09.2025 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:30 |
| Speaker |
Prof. Youssef Belmabkhout, Director of the Applied chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence (ACER CoE), Mohamed VI polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract: The large-scale production of energy, fertilizers, and other industrial commodities has dramatically increased pollution, driving the need for innovative strategies to both capture pollutants and valorize industrial waste. One promising pathway is converting waste into functional porous materials. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), mesoporous silicas, and zeolites are highly effective separation/catalytic agnets, yet their large-scale deployment could be limited by the high cost and purity requirements of commercial precursors. Waste valorization offers a solution by providing abundant, low-cost raw materials that can reduce production costs, ensure a sustainable supply chain, and advance porous material fabrication from laboratory scale to industrially relevant TRLs. In this work, phosphate rock tailings and phosphogypsum from the phosphate industry were transformed into advanced Ca-MOFs, heterometallic mesoporous silicas, and zeolites, while tannery effluents and waste plastic bottles were simultaneously valorized into water-harvesting Cr-terephthalate MOFs. These waste-derived precursors enabled the assembly of functional adsorbents with applications in carbon capture, heavy metal removal, alcohol dehydration, and water harvesting, often yielding heterostructures with enhanced properties not achievable from pure-grade precursors. Structural attributes and adsorption performance were confirmed by a comprehensive suite of analytical and sorption techniques. Overall, this study demonstrates how waste valorization can overcome scale-up challenges, support sustainable production, and accelerate the transition of porous adsorbents toward real-world applications in a circular economy.
References:
1. Ali Mohammed Yimer, Ayalew H. Assen, Ikrame El Mghaimimi, Omar Lakbita, Karim Adil, Youssef Belmabkhout, Unlocking the potential of phosphogypsum waste: Unified synthesis of functional metal-organic frameworks and zeolite via a sustainable valorization route, Chem. Eng. J. 2024, 479, 147902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.147902
2. Achraf Delhali, Ayalew H. Assen, Aminat Mohammed, Karim Adil, Youssef Belmabkhout, Enabling simultaneous valorization of tannery effluent and waste plastic via sustainable preparation of Cr-BDC MOFs for water adsorption, Sci. Rep. 2023, 13, 14653. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41840-9.
3. Ali Mohammed Yimer, Ayalew H Assen, Hamid Ait Said, Abdessamad Elamri, Omar Lakbita, Anthony Rousseau, Karim Adil, Hicham Benyoucef, Youssef Daafi, Youssef Belmabkhout. Direct synthesis of multiple heteroatoms functionalized mesoporous silica adsorbents from phosphate industry mining byproducts. Decontaminating water from Pb(ii) ions as an application case. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2024, 12 (43), 29669-29683. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA05281A
Bio: Dr Youssef Belmabkhout is a Full Professor of Chemical and process Engineering for Energy and Environment at Mohammed VI polytechnic University. He has a PhD in Applied Sciences from the University of Mons (Belgium). His doctoral expertise covers various aspects of reactive and non-reactive adsorption. He hold also a Chemical Engineering degree (oil and gas technologies) from the “Gubkine” Russian State University of oil and gas in Moscow (Russia).
Prior to his appointment as a professor at UM6P, Dr Belmabkhout occupied a position as a Senior research scientist at KAUST and few months in ICPET-NRC (Ottawa, Canada) in 2010. From 2007 to 2010, he occupied a research associate position in the department of chemistry at the University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) and spent one and half year in the prestigious French Institute of Petroleum (IFP) in Lyon, France from 2006 to 2007. During his research career, Dr Belmabkhout was awarded the prestigious European Marie–Curie fellowship and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Research fellowship. In 2018, he was honored with the Young African Researchers Award by the Egyptian academy of scientific, research and Technology (ASRT). The award recognizes his research in the water, energy and environmental sciences. Prof Belmabkhout has published more than 100 papers, he is the main inventor in more than 10 application patents and his research works accumulated more than 24000 citations. Prof Y.Belmabkhout was recognized among the 1% most highly cited scientists in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 based on Web of science “Clarivate”.
References:
1. Ali Mohammed Yimer, Ayalew H. Assen, Ikrame El Mghaimimi, Omar Lakbita, Karim Adil, Youssef Belmabkhout, Unlocking the potential of phosphogypsum waste: Unified synthesis of functional metal-organic frameworks and zeolite via a sustainable valorization route, Chem. Eng. J. 2024, 479, 147902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.147902
2. Achraf Delhali, Ayalew H. Assen, Aminat Mohammed, Karim Adil, Youssef Belmabkhout, Enabling simultaneous valorization of tannery effluent and waste plastic via sustainable preparation of Cr-BDC MOFs for water adsorption, Sci. Rep. 2023, 13, 14653. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41840-9.
3. Ali Mohammed Yimer, Ayalew H Assen, Hamid Ait Said, Abdessamad Elamri, Omar Lakbita, Anthony Rousseau, Karim Adil, Hicham Benyoucef, Youssef Daafi, Youssef Belmabkhout. Direct synthesis of multiple heteroatoms functionalized mesoporous silica adsorbents from phosphate industry mining byproducts. Decontaminating water from Pb(ii) ions as an application case. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2024, 12 (43), 29669-29683. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA05281A
Bio: Dr Youssef Belmabkhout is a Full Professor of Chemical and process Engineering for Energy and Environment at Mohammed VI polytechnic University. He has a PhD in Applied Sciences from the University of Mons (Belgium). His doctoral expertise covers various aspects of reactive and non-reactive adsorption. He hold also a Chemical Engineering degree (oil and gas technologies) from the “Gubkine” Russian State University of oil and gas in Moscow (Russia).
Prior to his appointment as a professor at UM6P, Dr Belmabkhout occupied a position as a Senior research scientist at KAUST and few months in ICPET-NRC (Ottawa, Canada) in 2010. From 2007 to 2010, he occupied a research associate position in the department of chemistry at the University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) and spent one and half year in the prestigious French Institute of Petroleum (IFP) in Lyon, France from 2006 to 2007. During his research career, Dr Belmabkhout was awarded the prestigious European Marie–Curie fellowship and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Research fellowship. In 2018, he was honored with the Young African Researchers Award by the Egyptian academy of scientific, research and Technology (ASRT). The award recognizes his research in the water, energy and environmental sciences. Prof Belmabkhout has published more than 100 papers, he is the main inventor in more than 10 application patents and his research works accumulated more than 24000 citations. Prof Y.Belmabkhout was recognized among the 1% most highly cited scientists in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 based on Web of science “Clarivate”.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering
Contact
- Wendy Queen
wendy.queen@epfl.ch