Professor Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua

Professor Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua completed his PhD (Analytical Chemistry) in 1992 at the University of Nancy 1, France. He worked at University of Malaya (Malaysia) for 23 years. He joined Sunway University (Malaysia) and Lancaster University (UK) from 2017 to 2025. Currently he is Saudi Aramco Chair Professor in CO₂ Capture and Utilization at the Department of Chemical Engineering and affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Hydrogen Technologies and Carbon Management at KFUPM.

His research addresses the fundamental and technical issues related to water, energy and environment. He is interested in developing green solvents, sorbents and processes for CO₂ capture and utilization; treatment of water and wastewater using novel adsorbents and advanced electrochemical processes; production of biodiesel and transformation of its by-products to value-added chemicals; and providing safe water to communities in remote areas through the application of membrane technology.

He has supervised to completion 38 PhD and 26 Master’s students. His research has generated more than 320 articles in and over 30,000 citations, and his h-index is 82 according to Google Scholar database.

Selected Awards

• 1^st Place in the Innovative R&D Award (International Institutions award) at the 3^rd Cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award 2023.
  Project Presentation & Video Feature: ▶ Watch Project Video
• World Top 2% Scientist in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 by Stanford University (Elsevier Scopus)
• Highly Cited Researcher in 2018 and 2019 (Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science).
• Winner of IChemE Global Award 2018 in Water Category
• University of Malaya Award for Outstanding Achievement in Community Engagement in 2016.
• University of Malaya Chancellor Award of Excellence in Inventions in 2007

Administrative & Leadership Posts

1. Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies), Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, 2019-2023.
2. Leader, Sunway Materials Smart Science and Engineering (SMS2E) Research Cluster, Sunway University, 2021-2023.
3. Founder and Head, Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization, Sunway University, 2018-2025.
4. Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Malaya, 2016-2017.
5. Head, Center for Separation Science and Technology (CSST), University of Malaya: 2012-2017.
6. Deputy Dean, Institute of Graduate Studies, University of Malaya, 2009-2016