Spotlight Feature – Samson Akpotu

Research Associate

Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University

I am a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University (LU), hosted by Dr. J. Wagner and I joined the UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy in 2024. My research at LU is focused on the development of catalysts for hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass, plastic wastes and bio-oil upgrade to produce important chemical feedstock/platform chemicals. I obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and I carried out postdoctoral research in South Africa (NRF fellowship), Germany (DFG, Georg-Forster fellowship) and the United Kingdom. My primary research is in the synthesis, characterisation and application of porous materials as sorbent/catalysts for wastewater treatment, energy storage and the production of platform chemicals from bio-oil/biomass.