Chemical Engineering

PhD
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Chemical Engineering,

MSc
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Research Expertise

Biomass Separation and Purification Processes;  Food Process Engineering; 3D Food Printing; Bio-separation and Environmental Systems.; Tribo-charging of particles; Tribo-electrostatic Separation; Electrospinning

Catalysis and Reaction Engineering; Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals from Renewable Resources; Water-Energy-Food Nexus

Fluid Mechanics (CHEG-301)

Heat Transfer (CHEG-302)

Food Engineering (CHEG 426 )

Process Design 1 (CHEG 407)

Process Design 2 (CHEG-414)

Fundings

USDA-NIFA-AFRI Grant, Solmaz Tabtabaei (PI; $450K; Grant #2020-67021-31141), 2020-2025, for the project: "Additive Manufacturing Of Protein Snack Foods From Electrostatically Enriched Protein Fractions Prepared From Legumes And Cereal".

NSF-HBCU-UP-RIA Fund, Solmaz Tabtabaei (PI; $300k; Grant# 1900894), 2019-2024, for the project: “Research Initiation Award: Investigation on Tribo-charging Behavior of Agricultural Particles in the Development of Water-free Bio-separation Approach for Biomass Residues”.

FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS AND AWARDS

Nominated and received the “Student Choice Professor Award” from the College of Engineering and Architecture Student Council. (April 24, 2024).

Eminent Engineering, Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society. (November 17, 2023 - Present).

Provost’s Distinguished Service Award, Howard University, received January 2021, for serving as Program Prioritization Task Force (PPTF) Member during May 2019

Summer Faculty Research Fellowships ($20,000), Office of Research, Howard University, June 2019 and April 2017

Faculty Incentive Stipend Award, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Howard University, February 2019.

Faculty Stipend Award, College of Engineering and Architecture, Howard University, January 2019 & January 2017

NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship – Canadian Federal Award, $90,000 (One of the Most Competitive Postdoctoral Fellowship), January 2016

Life Catalyst Student Award, Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, June 2015

Global Engineering Leaders Award, Engineering Grads to Watch, University of Toronto, June 2015
https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/grads-to-watch-15-global-engineeri…

MITACS Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship – Canadian Provincial Award, $57,000; November 2014

Industrial Oil Products Division Student Award, American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS), May 2013

Toronto Section Award, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST), March 2013

Doctoral Completion Award, University of Toronto, $5,000; March 2013

Ontario Provincial Graduate Scholarships (OGS), $15,000; 2013-14

Lachlan Gilchrist Fellowship Fund, SGS University-Wide Awards competition, University of Toronto, $8,000; August 2012

School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Conference Grant, University of Toronto, May 2012

Wallberg Research Fellowship Award, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering Awards, University of Toronto, April 2012

John Brown Award, Centre for the Environment (CFE), University of Toronto, April 2012

Recent Refereed Articles

• Ghadiri Gargari, S.†, Thomas, J., Rajabzadeh A.R., and S. Tabtabaei* (2025) “Advancing Sustainable Protein Enrichment: Insights and Pathways from Integrated Milling and Tribo-Electrostatic Separation of Yellow Pea.” Journal of Food Engineering, 397: 112592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2025.112592
• Ghadiri Gargari, S.† and S. Tabtabaei* (2025) “Combined effects of particle dosing rate and airflow rate on triboelectric charging of wheat and yellow pea protein and starch.” Food Research International, 202, 115607.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2024.115607
• Thomas, J., S. Ghadiri Gargari†, S. Tabtabaei* (2023) “Tribo-electrostatic Separation of Yellow Pea and its Optimization Based on Milling Types and Intensity.” Powder Technology, 415, 118169.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2022.118169
• Ghadiri Gargari, S.†, and S. Tabtabaei* (2022) “Green protein tribo-electrostatic fractionation: a state-of-the-art method.” INFORM magazine, 4034492, September 2022. https://www.informmagazine-digital.org/informmagazine/library/item/september_2022/4034491/
• Kuspangaliyeva, B.†, D. Konakbayeva†, S. Tabtabaei* (2023). “Towards Dry Fractionation of Soybean Meal into Protein and Dietary Fiber Concentrates.” Journal of Food Engineering, 342, 111358.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2022.111358
• Konakbayeva, D†, B. Kuspangaliyeva†, A. R. Rajabzadeh, S. Tabtabaei* (2022). “Separation Behavior of Sieved Endosperm-Enriched Oat Fractions vis Tribo-electrostatic Approach” Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 80, 103098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2022.103098
• Mehrtash H., D. Konakbayeva†, S. Tabtabaei*, S. Srinivasan*, A. R. Rajabzadeh* (2021). “A New Perspective to Tribo-charging: A Novel Non-destructive Approach for Online Monitoring and Rapid Characterization of Powders.” Foods, 11(5):693. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11050693
• Konakbayeva, D.† and S. Tabtabaei* (2021). “Assessing the Chargeability and Separability of Oat Groat Particles through Sieving Combined with Triboelectrification-based Approach.” Separation and Purification Technology, 278: 119486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2021.119486
• Vitelli M., H. Mehrtash, A. Assatory, S. Tabtabaei, R.L. Legge, A.R. Rajabzadeh* (2021). “Rapid and non-destructive determination of protein and starch content in agricultural powders using near-infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy, and data fusion”. Powder Technology, 381: 620-631.
• Vitelli M., A. R. Rajabzadeh*, S. Tabtabaei, A. Assatory, E. Shahnam and R.L. Legge (2020). “Effect of Hammer and Pin Milling on Tribo-electrostatic Separation of Legume Flour”. Powder Technology, 372: 317-324.
• Tabtabaei*, S., D. Konakbayeva†, A. R. Rajabzadeh, and R.L. Legge (2019). “Functional Properties of Navy Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Protein Concentrates Obtained by Pneumatic Tribo-Electrostatic Separation.” Food Chemistry, 283: 101-110. 10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.01.031
• Tabtabaei*, S., A.A. D’Archivio, M. Maggi, M. Brutus, D. Bajracharya, D. Konakbayeva†, A. Soleimani, H. Brim, and H. Ashktorab (2019). “Geographical classification of Iranian and Italian saffron sources based on HPLC analysis and UV–Vis spectra of aqueous extracts” European Food Research and Technology, 245: 2435–2446; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-019-03352-7
• Ashktorab*, H., A. Soleimani, G. Singh, A. Amr, S. Tabtabaei, G. Latella, U. Stein, S. Akhondzadeh, N. Solanki, M. C Gondré-Lewis, A. Habtezion, and H. Brim (2019). “Saffron: The Golden Spice with Therapeutic Properties on Digestive Diseases” Nutrients, 11, 5, 943; DOI:10.3390/nu11050943

Awarded Presentations

• Kuspangaliyeva B. †*, D. Konakbayeva†, S. Tabtabaei (2021). Sustainable production of protein and fiber concentrates from defatted soybean flour by tribo-electrostatic separation. AIChE Annual Meeting, Boston, USA, Nov. 7-11. (Botagoz Kuspangaliyeva awarded 2021 Women in Chemical Engineering (WIC) Travel Award)
• Thomas, J.*, D. Konakbayeva†, S. Tabtabaei (2018). Enrichment of Oat Protein by Means of Gravity and Electrostatic Forces. AIChE Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (Jamaka Thomas awarded 2nd place poster presentation, Undergraduate poster competition, Food, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology session)
• Tabtabaei, S.*, D.G.B. Boocock and L.L. Diosady (2013). Adsorptive Drying of Oil-Solvent Miscella by 4A Molecular Sieves for the Preparation of High-Purity Methyl Esters. 104th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Solmaz Tabtabaei Awarded the 2013 Industrial Oil Products Division Student Award)

Invited Presentations

Tabtabaei, S.* (2024). Invited Speaker - Plant Protein Innovation Center (PPIC) - 5th Annual Research Spotlight Meeting, "Electrostatically enriched plant proteins and their application in 3D food printing," University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis, MN, United States. (May 22, 2024).

Tabtabaei, S.* (2024 Presenter & Author/Mentor/PI) and Ghadiri Gargari, S†. (PI's Graduate Student). "The Correlation between Tribo-charging of Agricultural Particles and their Classification Behavior via the Tribo-electrostatic Separation Approach," American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS), Montreal, QC, Montreal, Canada. (April 28, 2024).

Tabtabaei, S.* (2020). Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation, Invited as keynote presenter to USDA Intradepartmental Nutrition and Food Safety Workshop Series Theme: Innovation and Application through Collaborative Science (November 9)

Konakbayeva, D.†, S. Tabtabaei* (2019). Towards Fractionation of Agro-materials in a Water- and Chemical-Free Environment, 1st Advanced Wood Nanotechnology Workshop, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (November 8).

Tabtabaei, S.* (2018). “Chemical-Free Electrostatic Separation as a Sustainable Approach for Dry Fractionation of Agricultural Flours.” Department of Chemistry, The George Washington University, Washington DC (April 13)

Tabtabaei, S.* (2018). “Sustainable Production of Food-Grade Protein Products and Biofuels from Agro-Materials.” Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (April 18)

Book Chapters

Tabtabaei, S.*, B. Kuspangaliyeva†, R.L. Legge, A.R. Rajabzadeh (2023). “Air Classification of Plant Proteins”. In: Hernández-Álvarez, A.J., Mondor, M., Nosworthy, M.G. (eds) Green Protein Processing Technologies from Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16968-7_2