Mostafa Elshafie
Assistant Professor
mostafa.elshafie@ejust.edu.eg
Personal Info
+201500442024
Building. 17. F2.05
Department of Energy Resources Engineering
I am thrilled that my name was listed in the World’s Top 2 % Scientists – Stanford University & Elsevier 2025. Currently, I am working as an assistant professor at Egypt-Japan University (E-Just) since September 28th, 2025, at the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, School of Energy, Environment, Chemical, and Petrochemical Engineering. I supervise and give lectures for undergraduate and postgraduate students (Egyptian and African students). I also joined the renewable energy and H2 production projects, collaborating with JICA, Kenya, and the South African Universities. I have worked as a designated associate professor at the Institutes of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University, Japan since October 2022 till September 2025. I am specialized in Mechanical power engineering, Renewable Energy Systems, Chemical Engineering, Fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and Hydrogen Energy Systems. I have worked in catalyst development for ammonia synthesis and decomposition processes in cooperation with Japanese multinational companies. I am experienced in different fields of renewable energy systems such as working on water purification systems and hydrogen production from other feedstocks in cooperative projects with Aramco Co. and the US government. Also, I am experienced in Hydrogen production, Ammonia synthesis, CO2 capture and storage, Catalyst synthesis, Techno-economic study, Heat exchangers design, Simulation analysis (COMSOL, FORTRAN, ASPEN, and gPROMS), and Hydrogen separation from syngas or pure feedstock gases using Pd-based alloy membranes and fuel cells. Moreover, I specialized in energy-saving applications, heat exchanger design, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, combustion, thermodynamics, CFD, energy, and exergy analysis. Additionally, I supervised and gave postgraduate (B4 and Master's) students lectures at Gifu University and Nagoya University.
Hydrogen can meet these requirements without any environmental impact. During my doctoral degree, I worked on hydrogen production and hydrogen permeation using dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBD). More specifically, I have introduced the hydrogen production from water vapor and ammonia gas by DBD plasma in two different reactor types. Also, I have shown the hydrogen permeation through the palladium-copper membrane at different heating and plasma conditions. Different catalytic materials have been utilized such as ruthenium, zeolite, alumina, and soda glass in hydrogen production and hydrogen permeation experiments.
By employing the DBD plasma for the water vapour decomposition, I have obtained the highest hydrogen flow rate and the maximum energy efficiency of 9.42 g/h and 49.42%, respectively at a plasma voltage of 18 kV. While the maximum hydrogen production rate from ammonia gas was 96.6% and the energy efficiency of 44.1%. Also, the exergy and energy have been analyzed for ammonia decomposition systems at different operating conditions. Heat transfer modes of hydrogen production from water vapour and ammonia gas have been investigated. The reactor temperature showed an important effect on the decomposition process of both gases using DBD plasma.
I have succeeded in simulating water vapor plasmolysis using the Comsol MultiphysicsTM program. One-dimensional models have been simulated and the best results were obtained from the model including the dissociative attachment reaction. One-dimensional simulation of hydrogen production kinetic models by water vapor plasmolysis in a DBD plate reactor was investigated. The hydrogen permeation through the palladium-copper membrane using the DBD plasma using different membrane thicknesses and different reactor design gap lengths was studied. Pure hydrogen and syngas have been utilized and the effects of different catalytic materials were documented.
Energy and exergy analysis of hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition systems using non-thermal plasma were investigated. The current study evaluated the energy and exergy efficiencies of three hydrogen production systems from ammonia decomposition using dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBD). I am interested in sustainability assessment and life cycle analysis for energy and industry systems. Also, I can solve problems that include environmental, technical, economic, and policy issues, as well as experience in assessing how to develop energy and industrial systems.
Recently, I have worked in water purification systems and hydrogen production from different feedstocks in cooperative projects with Saudi Aramco and the US government. Also, I did research in catalyst development and synthesis, techno-economic study, heat exchangers design, simulation analysis (COMSOL, FORTRAN, ASPEN, and gPROMS), and Hydrogen separation from syngas or pure feedstock gases using Pd-based alloy membranes and fuel cells. For example, the techno-economic assessment of small-scale hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.03.304) showed that the final H2 and N2 separation costs of configuration A was 5.05 $/kgH2 and 1.14 $/kgN2, and configuration B was 4.72 $/kgH2 and 1.08 $/kgN2. The hydrogen production cost from different ammonia synthesis pathways was compared. The technology readiness level (TRL) for hydrogen production from ammonia cracking was assessed and identified at a range of TRL 4–6. It can also be considered that the ammonia synthesis pathway controlled the prices and hydrogen production costs.
Among all hydrogen energy storage, ammonia is considered the higher hydrogen volumetric density content at zero-carbon emission. Nowadays, ammonia contribution as the second chemical material is almost generated by the Haber-Bosch process using conventional fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal). The production process of ammonia using the Haber-Bosch plant acts as the largest NH3 production route with ~96% as well as is exposed to higher greenhouse gas emissions; it is responsible for 1.2% of the total global CO2 emission. So, alternative ammonia production methods are investigated by researchers to minimize CO2 emissions from the Haber-Bosch method. Therefore, the development of catalytic materials is an important issue to enhance the performance of the ammonia synthesis process with high energy efficiency and low cost. The modeling and analysis of catalyst synthesis development for enhancing the ammonia synthesis process are investigated.
