Anubhi Semwal

PhD candidate
Utrecht University

Department

Department of Chemistry

Contact information

Room
David de Weidgebouw, 4th Floor

Email address
a.semwal@uu.nl

Key expertises

Heterogenous catalysis, Raman spectroscopy, catalyst preparation

About me

I was born in the Himalayan state of India, Uttarakhand. I completed my Bachelor’s (honours) in chemistry and Master’s in chemistry from Doon University, India. During my graduation and post-graduation I worked on research tackling water pollution through photocatalysis and adsorption. After completing my Master’s I worked as a project associate at CSIR- Indian Institute of Petroleum with work focusing on conversion of used cooking oil to BTX using zeolites.

About my research

Accurate mapping and control of temperature within packed-bed catalytic reactors are essential for stable, large-scale, and economically viable operation, as well as for reducing the environmental impact and overall cost of chemical processes. However, conventionally used multipoint thermocouple probe designs exhibit several limitations. In my project, operando Raman thermometry will be studied as a viable alternative to inline thermocouple sensors for true local catalyst bed temperature measurements and control in reactor beds. This will be accomplished by exploring its potential in catalytic systems for alkane dehydrogenation and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, representing endothermic and exothermic reactions, respectively.

Academic career

PhD candidate
2026- present: PhD candidate in the group of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at Utrecht University, the Netherlands under the supervision of Prof. B.M. Weckhuysen

Project Associate
2025: Worked as a project associate in the Upstream and Wax Rheology department at CSIR- Indian Institute of Petroleum, India under the supervision of Dr. Bipul Sarkar

M.Sc. Chemistry
2022- 2024: I completed my master’s thesis in the Chemical and Materials Science Department at CSIR- Indian Institute of Petroleum, India under the supervision of Dr. O.P Khatri

B.Sc. Chemistry
2019- 2022: I completed my Bachelor’s thesis in the Department of Chemistry at Doon University, India under the supervision of Dr. Charu Dwivedi