Assessing the Potential and Feasibility of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Technologies in Saudi Arabia

Principal Fellow- Climate & Sustainability Naser is leading research on carbon dioxide removals (CDRs), bioenergy, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. He holds a BSc…

Naser is leading research on carbon dioxide removals (CDRs), bioenergy, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Engineering, and he has 20 years of experience in the U.K. in both academia and consultancy. His main interests are industrial decarbonization, technology innovation, and policy modelling. In the U.K., Naser led the conceptualization of the U.K. government-funded BIOCCUS system, a community-scale biomass pyrolysis-based cogeneration technology with biochar production and CCUS. His current research interests are understanding the challenges and requirements for integrating CDR within industrial processes and assessing the opportunities for carbon utilization in industry in Saudi Arabia as part of the Circular Carbon Economy.

Expertise

• Carbon Dioxide Removals
• Industrial Decarbonization
• Bioenergy
• CCUS

Executive Director- Climate & Sustainability Mohamad Hejazi is the executive director for the Climate and Sustainability Program at KAPSARC. He also leads the Climate Change…

Mohamad Hejazi is the executive director for the Climate and Sustainability Program at KAPSARC. He also leads the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Partnership (CAMP) project, and his work focuses on climate change research, climate impacts and adaptation, climate mitigation, integrated assessment modeling, and energy-water-land nexus. Prior to joining KAPSARC, Mohamad worked as a senior research scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he served as the principal investigator for the Global Change Intersectoral Modeling System project, a multi-million-dollar project that includes over 40 interdisciplinary researchers across many institutions. He has also led and contributed to projects with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, US-AID, US-EPA, USGS, NASA, and NSF-INFEWS. Mohamad has authored over 100 journal publications, and he has also served as a contributing author to the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment, and the AR6 IPCC WG III report on the mitigation of climate change. Mohamad holds a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Expertise

• Climate change research
• Climate impacts and adaptation
• Climate mitigation
• Integrated assessment modeling
• Energy-water-land nexus