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Biography
Begum graduated from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Turkey in 1999. She received her Master Degree in Chemical Engineering focused on the catalytic synthesis of Ethyl tertiary butyl ether on H-Beta zeolite catalyst. She developed expertise in the production and characterization of inorganic and composite materials (e.g. zeolites, membranes) for energy and environmental applications during her PhD in in Istanbul Technical University with Prof. Ayse Erdem-Ṣenatalar. To date, key outputs of the project she worked for have included contributing nanosize zeolite crystallization and growth mechanism during synthesis from clear solutions and demonstrating their potential for various applications including antibacterial fabrics, by controlling their size and properties. She was offered an ExxonMobil research associate position in Prof Richard D. Noble & Prof John L. Falconer research group at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA to conduct a project on ZSM-5 membranes for separation of organic mixtures by reverse osmosis. During this research, she developed expertise in reverse osmosis and characterization of zeolite membranes, as well as in membrane production. During a National Science Foundation project, in Boulder, she built track record in design of membrane pore characterization & pervaporation systems for dehydration of alcohols and this work resulted in 1 peer-reviewed publication. She continued her work in a Shell project on development of SAPO-34 membranes for CO2/CH4 separation. She worked as lecturer at the Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus between 2011-2012. She joined the University of Nottingham in 2013 as an assistant professor.
Begum is part of the Advanced Materials Research Group.
Expertise Summary
Begum's research interests are production and characterization of inorganic and composite materials (e.g. zeolites, membranes) for energy and environmental applications-in particular sustainable separation of gas and liquid mixtures using membranes, synthesis of micro/mesoporous materials for adsorption and heterogeneous catalytic reactions, and polymeric membranes for reverse osmosis desalination.
Teaching Summary
- Transport Phenomena (Heat, Fluid and Mass Transfer)
- Separation Technologies (Conventional and Novel Technologies)
- Reaction Engineering
Research Summary
Professor Begum Tokay's current research centers on developing advanced membrane materials to drive more sustainable, energy-efficient separations. She leads a research group focused on creating… read more
Selected Publications
CHEN, J., XU, S., TANG, C. Y., HU, B., TOKAY, B. and HE, T., 2023. Stability of layer-by-layer nanofiltration membranes in highly saline streams: Desalination Desalination. 555,
Current Research
Professor Begum Tokay's current research centers on developing advanced membrane materials to drive more sustainable, energy-efficient separations. She leads a research group focused on creating novel metal-organic framework (MOF) and composite membranes with high flux and selectivity, especially for capturing CO₂ from challenging gas mixtures such as N₂ and CH₄, compositions not well addressed by existing commercial membranes. In parallel, her group develops additive manufacturing methods to scale up MOF membranes for sustainable separation.
Future Research
- Hollow fiber mixed matrix membrane preparation for desalination applications using reverse osmosis technology.
- Direct methanol fuel cell membranes
- Hydrogen Storage using nano zeolites, carbon nanotubes, mesoporous structures
- Solar films
I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and international countries who are interested in the following research areas: membrane-based separation technologies, metal organic framework membranes, zeolite membranes, water purification, desalination, gas separation, isomer separations, electro-photocataly