Dr Tala El Samad MBE
Contact details
About
Overview
Dr Tala El Samad MBE is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Systems and is a member of the Turbomachinery and Energy Systems Research Group at City St George's; she is also the Programme Director for the Energy and Environmental Technology and Economics (EETE) MSc.
Dr El Samad obtained her BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Balamand (Lebanon) in 2014 and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Masdar Institute, now Khalifa University, (UAE) in 2016, where she was also a research assistant working on new methods for enhancing biodiesel production. Funded by the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre, her work involved a range of research activities from experimental studies of different transesterification techniques, to numerical simulations of ultrasound assisted production, and the coordination of a social-impact project with multiple stakeholder. She was awarded a PhD in Energy from Cranfield University (UK) in 2020 for her doctoral work titled "Investigation of the Feasibility of Employing a Radial Turbine for a Utility-Scale Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle".
Her research interests are turbomachinery design for non-ideal fluids, and energy efficiency improvements through thermal waste heat recovery systems (supercritical CO2 and organic Rankine power systems and heat pumps). She is involved in a number of European Comission and UKRI fudned research projects.
Her teaching includes modules Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies and Thermodynamics.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, City, University of London, United Kingdom, October 2022
- PhD Energy, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, October 2020
- MSc Mechanical Engineering, Masdar Institute (Khalifa University), United Arab Emirates, May 2016
- BSc Mechanical Engineering, University of Balamand, Lebanon, June 2014
Employment
- Senior Lecturer in Energy Systems, City St George's, University of London, United Kingdom, August 2025 - present
- Lecturer in Thermo-Fluids for Energy Systems, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2022 - July 2025
- Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, City, University of London, United Kingdom, June 2020 - January 2022
- Research Assistant, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, June - September 2019
- Research Assistant, Masdar Institute, United Arab Emirates, September 2014 - June 2016
Languages
Arabic (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review), English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review) and Spanish - Latin American (can understand spoken)
Publications
Publications by category
Book
- White, M., Samad, T.E., Karathanassis, I., Sayma, A., Pini, M. and Guardone, A. (2023). Proceedings of the 4th International Seminar on Non-Ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics for Propulsion and Power. Springer. ISBN 9783031309359.
Conference papers and proceedings (13)
- Wang, Y., Borozan, S., El Samad, T. and Strbac, G. (2025). Probabilistic Evaluation of the Contribution of Smart EV Charging Strategies to Security of Supply. 2025 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe (ISGT Europe) 20-23 October.doi:10.1109/isgteurope64741.2025.11305682
- Elbaz, O., El Samad, T., White, M., Sayma, A., Turunen-Saaresti, T., Crespi, F.... White, M.T. (2025). Numerical and Experimental Study of Supersonic Nozzle for Organic Rankine Cycle Turbine. 8th International Seminar on ORC Power Systems 9-11 September, Lappeenranta, Finland.
- El-Baz, O., El Samad, T., Ghavami, M., White, M.T. and Sayma, A. Commissioning and Preliminary Testing of the NextORC Facility. .doi:10.1007/978-3-031-92695-2_18
- Anfossi, J., Al-Zaili, J., El Samad, T. and Sayma, A. (2022). Performance Assessment of a Recuperated Turboshaft Engine: A Multifuel Case. ASME Turbo Expo 2022: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition 13-17 June.doi:10.1115/gt2022-80455
- Samad, T., Al-Zaili, J., Kamuriwo, S., Sayma, A., Manyuchi, K., Kinoti, M.... Tsamenyi, M. A Study on the Market Potential of Biomass-Based Micro Gas Turbines in Sub-Saharan Africa. .doi:10.46855/energy-proceedings-9290
- El Samad, T., Oakey, J. and Amaral Teixeira, J. Aerodynamic Assessment of a Radial Turbine Design for an Advanced Oxy-Fired Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle. 10th International Charles Parsons Turbine Conference.
- El Samad, T., Mazoni, L., Almazrouei, M. and Janajreh, I. Assessment of Thermochemical Conversion of Glycerol: Pyrolysis vs Steam and CO2 Moderation. 5th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management.
- El Samad, T., Hussain, M. and Janajreh, I. (2016). Numerical Simulation of Solar Assisted Gasification for Glycerol Byproduct. Graduate Student Research Conference 28 April-, UAE.
- Janajreh, I., Hussain, M.N. and El Samad, T. Assisted Sonication vs Conventional Transesterification Numerical Simulation and Sensitivity Study. .doi:10.1088/1757-899x/92/1/012016
- El Samad, T., Hussain, M. and Janajreh, I. (2015). Assisted Sonication vs Conventional Transesterification. Emirati Chemical Society Annual Workshop 28 May-, UAE.
- Janajreh, I., El Samad, T. and Hussain, M. (2015). Numerical Simulation of Transesterification. International Conference on Industrial Waste and Wastewater Treatment and Valorization (IWWATV 2015) 21-23 May, Greece.
- El Samad, T., Hussain, M. and Janajreh, I. (2015). Numerical Simulation of Transesterification. Graduate Student Research Conference 22-24 March, UAE.
- Ali, M., AlShehhi, A., Christopoulou, P. and El Samad, T. (2015). Performance and Exergy Analysis of Turbine-Burner and Afterburner Gas-Turbine Engines. Graduate Student Research Conference 22-24 March, UAE.
Journal articles (14)
- Sun, Y., Borozan, S., Samad, T.E., Wang, G. and Strbac, G. (2026). Cost-effective power system expansion planning under uncertainty considering fast EV charging stations with integrated energy storage support. Electric Power Systems Research, 259, pp. 113201-113201. doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2026.113201
- Jouhara, H., Żabnieńska-Góra, A., Delpech, B., Olabi, V., El Samad, T. and Sayma, A. (2024). High-temperature heat pumps: Fundamentals, modelling approaches and applications. Energy, 303, pp. 131882-131882. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2024.131882
- El Samad, T., Żabnieńska-Góra, A., Jouhara, H. and Sayma, A.I. (2024). A review of compressors for high temperature heat pumps. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 51, pp. 102603-102603. doi:10.1016/j.tsep.2024.102603
- Samad, T.E., Adeyemi, I., Ghenai, C. and Janajreh, I. (2023). Assessment of glycerol gasification: devolatilization kinetics and parametric analysis. Chemical Papers, 77(6), pp. 3277-3291. doi:10.1007/s11696-023-02703-9
- Jeyaseelan, T., El Samad, T., Rajkumar, S., Chatterjee, A. and Al-Zaili, J. (2023). A techno-economic assessment of waste oil biodiesel blends for automotive applications in urban areas: Case of India. Energy, 271, pp. 127021-127021. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2023.127021
- White, M., El Samad, T., Karathanassis, I., Sayma, A., Pini, M. and Guardone, A. (2023). Preface. Ercoftac Series, 29, pp. v-vi
- El Samad, T., Amaral Teixeira, J. and Oakey, J. (2020). Investigation of a Radial Turbine Design for a Utility-Scale Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle. Applied Sciences, 10(12), pp. 4168-4168. doi:10.3390/app10124168
- Alsamad, T., Almazrouei, M., Hussain, M.N. and Janajreh, I. (2018). Modeling of Thermochemical Conversion of Glycerol: Pyrolysis and H2O and CO2 Gasification. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 9(12), pp. 2361-2371. doi:10.1007/s12649-018-0306-x
- Almazrouei, M., Samad, T.E. and Janajreh, I. (2017). Thermogravimetric Kinetics and High Fidelity Analysis of Crude Glycerol. Energy Procedia, 142, pp. 1699-1705. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.12.552
- Janajreh, I., ElSamad, T. and Noorul Hussain, M. (2017). Intensification of transesterification via sonication numerical simulation and sensitivity study. Applied Energy, 185, pp. 2151-2159. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.002
- Hussain, M.N., El Samad, T. and Janajreh, I. (2017). Physical and Chemical Analysis of Ultrasonic Transesterification through Numerical Simulation. Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 11, pp. 245-252
- Hussain, M.N., Samad, T.A. and Janajreh, I. (2016). Economic feasibility of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil in the UAE. Sustainable Cities and Society, 26, pp. 217-226. doi:10.1016/j.scs.2016.06.010
- (2016). Numerical Modelling of Sonicated, Continuous Transesterification and Evaluation of Reaction Kinetics for Optimizing Biodiesel Reactor Design. International Journal of Thermal and Environmental Engineering, 11(1). doi:10.5383/ijtee.11.01.012
- Janajreh, I., ElSamad, T., AlJaberi, A. and Diouri, M. (2015). Transesterification of Waste Cooking Oil: Kinetic Study and Reactive Flow Analysis. Energy Procedia, 75, pp. 547-553. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.451
Patent
- Janajreh, I., Noorul Hussain, M., El Samad, T. and Ataya, F.(2017). Continuous Sono-Chemical Reactors and Methods of using the same. Patent no. US 10,786,801 B2