About:
Hilal Ezgi Toraman leads an interdisciplinary research program at Penn State focused on sustainable reaction engineering and catalysis for the valorization of non-traditional carbon feedstocks, particularly plastic waste. Her group integrates advanced pyrolysis experimentation, GC×GC-based analytics, and kinetic modeling to develop and optimize scalable chemical recycling technologies. She leads multi-institutional projects on mixed plastic pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading, where her group contributes intrinsic kinetic studies, GC×GC method development, and data management and analysis infrastructure to support process design and evaluation.
Toraman has secured over $5 million in research funding as a PI, published widely in high-impact journals, and received both national and international recognition, including the C&EN Talented 12, AIChE CRE Pioneers in Catalysis and Reaction Engineering, and ACS Energy & Fuels Rising Star awards. She has held leadership roles as Director of AIChE's Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division and currently serves as president of the Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society. Her honors include the Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellowship and the Wilson Fellowship.
Before joining the Penn State faculty, Toraman was a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Delaware Energy Institute at the University of Delaware. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Türkiye (Turkey), and her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University, Belgium.
- Perez, B. A., Krishna, J. J., & Toraman*, H. E. (2025). Characterization of polyolefins-based pyrolysis oils: A comparison between one-dimensional gas chromatography and two-dimensional gas chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A, 1739, 465510.
- Okonsky, S. T., Hogan, N. R., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Effect of pyrolysis operating conditions on the catalytic co‐pyrolysis of low‐density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate with zeolite catalysts. AIChE Journal, 70(12), e18548. (Nominated and invited for 2024 Futures Issue)
- Khan, R., Perez, B. A., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Comparative analysis of additive decomposition using one-dimensional and two–dimensional gas chromatography: Part II-Irgafos 168 and zinc stearate. Journal of Chromatography A, 1732, 465244.
- Khan, R., Perez, B. A., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Comparative analysis of additive decomposition using one-dimensional and two-dimensional gas chromatography: Part I-Irganox 1010, Irganox 1076, and BHT. Journal of Chromatography A, 1732, 465243.
- Jayarama Krishna, J. V., Perez, B. A., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Parametric Study of Polyethylene Primary Decomposition Using a Micropyrolyzer Coupled with Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 12(19), 7508-7518.
- Bozkurt, O. D., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Conversion of Polypropylene into Light Hydrocarbons and Aromatics by Metal Exchanged Zeolite Catalysts. Langmuir, 40(18), 9636-9650.
- Perez, B. A., & Toraman*, H. E. (2024). Investigating primary decomposition of polypropylene through detailed compositional analysis using two-dimensional gas chromatography and principal component analysis. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 177, 106376.
- Perez, B. A., Krishna, J. J., & Toraman*, H. E. (2023). Insights into co-pyrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate and polyamide 6 mixture through experiments, kinetic modeling and machine learning. Chemical Engineering Journal, 468, 143637.
- Dong, Q., Yao, Y., Cheng, S., Alexopoulos, K., Gao, J., Srinivas, S., Toraman, H.E.... & Hu, L*. (2022). Programmable heating and quenching for efficient thermochemical synthesis. Nature, 605(7910), 470-476.
- Bozkurt, O. D., Okonsky, S. T., Alexopoulos, K., & Toraman*, H. E. (2022). Catalytic conversion of SPW and products upgrading. Advances in Chemical Engineering, 60(1), 117-168.
- Perez, B. A., Jonnalagedda, V. J. K., & Toraman*, H. E. (2022). Characterization of SPW pyrolysis oils: Products spectra and opportunities. Advances in Chemical Engineering (Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 169-214). Academic Press.
- Okonsky, S. T., Krishna, J. J., & Toraman*, H. E. (2022). Catalytic co-pyrolysis of LDPE and PET with HZSM-5, H-beta, and HY: experiments and kinetic modeling. Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, 7(10), 2175-2191. (Nominated and invited for Emerging Investigator Series)
- Toraman, H. E., Alexopoulos, K., Oh, S. C., Cheng, S., Liu, D., & Vlachos*, D. G. (2021). Ethylene production by direct conversion of methane over isolated single active centers. Chemical Engineering Journal, 420, 130493.
- Chemical & Engineering News' (C&EN) esteemed list of Talented 12 (2023)
- Pioneers of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) honorary session by the CRE division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) (2023)
- Rising Star by the American Chemical Society's Division of Energy & Fuels (2023)
- International Symposium for Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE) 27 Conference Travel Award (2023)
- Wilson Faculty Fellowship (2023-2026)
- Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker, Jr. Faculty Fellowship (2019-2022)
- North American Symposium for Chemical Reaction Engineering (NASCRE) 4 Travel Award (2019)
- Ghent University Graduate Research Fellow, Belgium (2012-2016)
- Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) personal scholarship for M.Sc. study