About

Diane Hildebrandt is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University, with a distinguished career in chemical engineering research and education. Her expertise encompasses process synthesis, reactor synthesis, thermodynamics of processes, Fischer Tropsch catalysis, biogas, comminution, kinetics, optimization, column profile maps, separation system synthesis, and waste to energy. She has held various academic and leadership positions, including Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Director of the Institute for the Development of Energy for African Sustainability (IDEAS) at UNISA, and a joint appointment at Wits Business School and the Molecular Sciences Institute. Her research contributions are recognized internationally, and she has received numerous awards and honors, including the Danckwerts Lecture at AIChE in 2022, the NRF Science Team Award in 2021, and the Hebei Province Provincial Award Friendship Award in 2020. She has also been elected to the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, and is considered a world leader in her field of research.

Research topics

• Engineering
• Organic chemistry
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Metallurgy
• Crystallography

Selected publications

• Public reproducibility package for Beyond direct combustion: a reversible benchmark for heat delivery from chemical fuels

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-05-21

  otherOpen access

  Initial release

  PublisherDOI

• Distinct adsorption mechanisms of MOFs and COFs for SF6/N2 separation revealed by high-throughput TSA screening

  Chemical Engineering Science · 2026-02-25

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Public reproducibility package for Beyond direct combustion: a reversible benchmark for heat delivery from chemical fuels

  Open MIND · 2026-05-21

  otherOpen access

  Public reproducibility package for the manuscript "Beyond direct combustion: a reversible benchmark for heat delivery from chemical fuels". This repository contains model code, generated CSV outputs, rendered figure assets, and Aspen exported audit material for inspecting and reproducing the manuscript results.

  PublisherDOI

• Public reproducibility package for Beyond direct combustion: a reversible benchmark for heat delivery from chemical fuels

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-05-21

  otherOpen access

  Public reproducibility package for the manuscript "Beyond direct combustion: a reversible benchmark for heat delivery from chemical fuels". This repository contains model code, generated CSV outputs, rendered figure assets, and Aspen exported audit material for inspecting and reproducing the manuscript results.

  PublisherDOI

• Theoretical Energy Requirements and Practical Challenges of CO2 Separation from Air for Methanol Production

  Advances in engineering research/Advances in Engineering Research · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• PNIPAM‐Based Copolymer Microgels as Nanoreactors for the In Situ Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles

  Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics · 2025-09-30 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT The combination of microgels and inorganic nanoparticles leads to hybrid systems with unique properties that are interesting for catalysis, optics, and biomedicine. A common strategy to incorporate nanoparticles into microgels is through encapsulation via seeded precipitation polymerization, leading to structurally well‐defined core‐shell microgels. An alternative and highly promising approach is the in situ nanoparticle formation within microgels. While this often leads to a random distribution of many nanoparticles per microgel, a challenge lies in the design of microgels that provide spatial control over nanoparticle formation to enable the formation of single nanoparticles in the central region of the microgels. In this study, we systemically investigate poly‐ N ‐isopropylacrylamide‐based copolymer microgels as versatile nanoreactors for the in situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles. By incorporating the comonomers acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate (AAEM) and acrylic acid (AAc), we shine light on the role of different functionalities for the in situ reduction and microgel colloidal stability. Importantly, depending on microgel composition and gold ion concentration, it is possible to synthesize single, monodisperse nanoparticles within each microgel. Additionally, we demonstrate that the formed nanoparticles can be overgrown through an easy one‐step protocol. Our new hybrid copolymer microgels are colloidally stable and show pronounced deswelling/swelling behavior in response to temperature.

  PublisherDOI

• Corrigendum to “Risk assessment framework for green hydrogen megaprojects: Balancing climate goals with project viability” [Appl. Therm. Eng. (2025) 125197]

  Applied Thermal Engineering · 2025-01-17

  erratumOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Surface-functionalized micro-graphite: A highly effective and green promoter of biodenitrification and its applications in UASB reactors

  Journal of environmental chemical engineering · 2025-08-06 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Overview of Economic Limits for Converting Waste CO2 to Fuel in CTL Process

  Advances in engineering research/Advances in Engineering Research · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Boosting industrial bio-denitrification through gene activation: the micro-nano-MoS2 enhanced bioprocess

  npj Clean Water · 2025-07-07 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  High levels of nitrates and nitrites not only threaten aquatic ecosystems and drinking water safety but also impair the biodegradation efficiency of industrial wastewater. In this study, micro-nano-MoS2-1013 (0.04 g/L) enhanced denitrification by 56.9% and 29.6% in steel pickling and meat processing wastewaters, respectively, and improved chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal by 136.7% in refinery cooling wastewater under continuous-flow conditions using a 3.5 L upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The catalytic effect of micro-nano-MoS2 on denitrification was achieved by stimulating an increase in the abundance of denitrification genes and the transcript levels of narL (93.82 times), narG (16.34 times), and nirK (12.27 times) within the bacterial cells, which led to an increase in the expression levels of denitrifying enzymes. These findings have significant implications for the design and optimization of biodegradation processes and bio-denitrification systems, particularly for the treatment of high-concentration nitrate wastewater.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• David Glasser

  University of South Africa

  201 shared

• P. Grigull

  Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

  189 shared

• Xinying Liu

  132 shared

• F. Sardei

  Max Planck Society

  126 shared

• R. Brakel

  Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics - Greifswald

  124 shared

• L. Giannone

  112 shared

• K. McCormick

  Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

  110 shared

• D. Naujoks

  Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics - Greifswald

  107 shared

Education

• PhD, Chemical Engineering

  University of the Witwatersrand

  1989

• MSc (Chem Eng), Chemical Engineering

  University of the Witwatersrand

  1983

• BSc (Chem Eng), Chemical Engineering

  University of the Witwatersrand

  1981

Awards & honors

• Invited to give the Danckwerts Lecture at AIChE, 2022
• Winner of the NRF Science Team Award, 2021
• Finalist of the China National Friendship Award of 2020
• Awarded the Hebei Province Provincial Award Friendship Award…
• Textbook Attainable Region Theory: An Introduction to Choosi…