Soutenance de Thèse de Doctorat en Génie chimique présentée par Ermias Girma AKLILU

Doctoral Thesis Defense in Chemical Engineering

The Euromed University of Fez (UEMF) is pleased to inform the public of the doctoral thesis defense in Chemical Engineering.

Candidate: Mr. Ermias Girma AKLILU

Date: April 10, 2026

Time: 02:30 PM

Location: The Great Hall of the Incubator (LOC001994)

Thesis Topic

“DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL TWIN FOR METHANOL PRODUCTION BY INTEGRATING PHYSICS-BASED MODELING AND DATA-DRIVEN APPROACHES”

Summary

This research presents an advanced Digital Twin (DT) framework for optimizing the catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol, an important pathway for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling a circular carbon economy. By integrating physics-based models with machine learning and multi-objective optimization, the study addresses key challenges related to reaction complexity, process efficiency, and scalability.

High-performance surrogate models were developed and coupled with optimization algorithms to identify optimal operating conditions. The proposed approach achieved significant improvements in methanol yield, carbon efficiency, energy consumption, and overall economic performance. In addition, the framework provides substantial computational speed-up while maintaining high predictive accuracy, enabling faster and more reliable optimization.

A user-friendly web-based tool was also developed to enable rapid prediction and optimization of process performance, supporting real-time decision-making. Overall, these results demonstrate how AI-driven methodologies can transform sustainable chemical manufacturing by offering practical, scalable, and economically competitive solutions for CO₂ utilization. This work advances process intensification, energy efficiency, and digitalization, while contributing to the development of intelligent, AI-driven chemical plants and future digital twins.

Jury Members