The 13th Annual Meeting of the Saudi Arabian Section of Combustion Institute (SAS-CI) took place over two days at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The theme of the meeting was “Towards Sustainable Energy Future” and it brought together around 100 experts from government, industry and institutions in Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Proceedings featured three keynote lectures addressing a diverse range of topics:
- Alessandro Parente from Universite Libre de Bruxelles presented on “Combustion in the energy transition: the role of data and digital twins.”
- Keynote speaker Prof. Hong Im from KAUST unpacked the “Challenges and opportunities in computational modeling of ammonia/hydrogen combustion.”
- On day two, Prof. Deanna Lacoste from KAUST spoke on “The role of plasma in decarbonization” in her keynote lecture.
You can read more about the keynote speakers here.
Additionally, three panel discussions explored the following topics:
- AI in combustion
- The role of combustion in decarbonizing heavy industry
- Sustainable fuels for future mobility.
Finally, two poster sessions showcased 35 posters. The best presentation awards were given to postdoctoral fellow Santiago Vargas and PhD student Ammar Alkhalifa, both from KAUST, and to Reem Albashrawi from Saudi Aramco.
For more information about SAS-CI, visit their official website.
Thank you to Prof. Bassam Dally for providing the written summary of the event, and to the organizers for their dedication and contributions to the combustion science community.