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Gyorgy Szekely

Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

Physical Science and Engineering Division 
Center membership :
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials

gyorgy.szekely@kaust.edu.sa


Affiliations

Education Profile

  • PDRA, Imperial College London, 2012–2014
  • PhD, Technical University of Dortmund, 2009–2012
  • MEng, Technical University of Budapest, 2004–2009

Research Interests

Professor Szekely's research focuses on sustainable separations through the synergistic combination of materials science and chemical engineering. Sustainable production of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and clean water is largely impacted by the efficiency of separation processes in product supply chains. The conventional separation processes can account for as much as 80% of the total manufacturing costs, contributing ~10% of the world's energy consumption. In particular, the group's research investigates the potential of advanced membrane and imprinted materials for efficient purification and sustainable processing of fine chemicals and water.

Selected Publications

  • C. Yang, F. Topuz, S.-H. Park, G. Szekely, Biobased thin-film composite membranes comprising priamine–genipin selective layer on nanofibrous biodegradable polylactic acid support for oil and solvent-resistant nanofiltration, Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 5291–5303.
  • A. Alammar, R. Hardian, G. Szekely, Upcycling agricultural waste into membranes: from date seed biomass to oil and solvent-resistant nanofiltration, Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 365–374.
  • S.-H. Park, C. Yang, N. Ayaril, G. Szekely, Solvent-resistant Thin Film Composite Membranes from Biomass-derived Building Blocks: Chitosan and 2,5-Furandicarboxaldehyde, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2022, 10, 998–1007.
  • G. Ignacz, G. Szekely, Deep learning meets quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) for leveraging structure-based prediction of solute rejection in organic solvent nanofiltration, Journal of Membrane Science, 2022, 646, 120268.
  • L. Cseri, R. Hardian, S. Anan, H. Vovusha, U. Schwingenschlogl, P.M. Budd, K. Sada, K. Kokado, G. Szekely, Bridging the interfacial gap in mixed-matrix membranes by nature-inspired design: Precise molecular sieving with polymer-grafted metal–organic frameworks, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2021, 9, 23793–23801.