I completed my PhD studies in Italy at the Institute of Membrane Technology at the University of Calabria. Since 2007 I am working in the Netherlands and in August 2010 I was appointed as Assistant Professor at the chair Chemical Process Intensification at Eindhoven University of Technology, where I am responsible of the research on membrane reactors and chemical looping processes. I am mainly involved in the development and experimental validation of novel reactor concepts also making use of new experimental techniques such as IR/PIV/DIA and High Temperature endoscopic PIV/DIA developed in the Chemical Process Intensification. Since 2012 I am working on a new reactor concept integrating chemical looping reforming and membranes for pure hydrogen production with integrated CO2 capture in the VIDI grant ClingCO2. At the same time I am responsible of several European projects where our new reactor concepts are further developed for actual prototype demonstration.
Archives
Sun
I am an Associate Professor in the Physics of Fluids Group at University of Twente. I have been mainly studying Turbulence & multiphase flows, Taylor-Couette flow, and Droplet impact dynamics & microfluidics.
Turbulence and multiphase flow:
Dispersed multiphase flows are omnipresent in a variety of large-scale manufacturing and transport applications. I have been studying bubbly flows and particles in turbulence employing both Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches.
Taylor-Couette flow:
I am interested in studying transport properties in highly turbulent Taylor-Couette flow in previously unexplored parameter regimes using the Twente Turbulent Taylor-Couette (T3C) apparatus. I also investigate bubbly drag reduction by combining global and local measurements (a VIDI project).
Droplet impact dynamics and microfluidics:
On droplet impact dynamics, I have been studying the effect of the air/vapor layer between an impacting droplet and unheated/superheated surfaces. For microfluidics, I am interested in investigating ultra-fast micro-jets/droplets and their applications.
Jongh
Petra de Jongh investigates nanostructured inorganic materials (typically nanoparticles in mesoporous supports), to gain insight in the impact of particle size, confinement and pore structure on the functionality of these materials for applications in catalysis and energy conversion and storage.
Huis
Dr. Marijn van Huis holds a tenure track position at Utrecht University (Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science). He is an expert both in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and uses these experimental and simulation tools to study nanoparticles and nanocrystals with novel physical properties. These nanomaterials undergo dramatic structural and chemical transformations upon heating or irradiation, which are investigated by performing experiments in-situ in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Through recently developed ground-breaking technology, transitions at elevated temperatures can now be imaged with atomic resolution and in real time. In conjunction with the experiments, detailed quantum mechanical and semi-empirical atomistic simulations are conducted to unravel the energetics of the atomic-scale reconstruction mechanisms. I strongly feel that experiment and theory need to be combined in an adequate way in order to establish structure-property relationships and to identify the relevant driving forces for the transformations.
Gardeniers
Han (J.G.E.) Gardeniers, after receiving MSc and PhD degrees from Radboud University Nijmegen, started as an assistant professor in the field of Micromechanical Tranducers at the University of Twente in 1990, and spent sabbaticals at University College London (1993) and Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh (1995). From 2001 till 2003 he was active as senior scientist in industry, first at Kymata Ltd./Alcatel Optronics and later at Micronit Microfluidics. In 2003 he rejoined the University of Twente, as an associate professor with the Biosensors/Lab-on-a-Chip Group. In 2004 he received a prestigeous VICI grant from NWO-STW on the topic “Exciting chemistry in microreactors”. Since January 2007 he is full professor at the University of Twente. He leads the research chair “Mesoscale Chemical Systems” which focuses on micro and nanofabrication, microreactors with alternative activation mechanisms (e.g. ultrasound or plasma) and microfluidic systems for chemical analysis (LC & NMR on chip).
Peters
Frank Peters is an expert in multiscale modeling of transport phenomena.
He is assistant professor at the department of chemical engineering and chemistry of the Eindhoven University of Technology. He has studied applied physics and obtained his PhD on the modeling of polymers in flow, i.e., the topic of microrheology. Much of his research is multidisciplinary and combines material science and transport phenomena.
Current topics of interest are and non-Newtonian multiphase flow through porous materials and transport in gas-solid systems. For the gas-solid systems it is attempted to model flow, reaction, mass and heat transport as it occurs in real chemical reactors such as fluidized beds. High resolution simulations are used to obtain fundamental insight. This insight is used as input to more coarse-grained simulations that can be compared to lab-scale experiments or describe industrial processes.
Pel
Leo Pel is an Associate professor in the group Transport in Permeable Media, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology.
In group Transport in Permeable media the transport of moisture and ions is studied in a variety of permeable materials, ranging from porous building materials of macroscopic dimensions, like brick and concrete, over chemical reactors up to thin polymer coatings. Our goal is to improve the performance by identifying the key parameters that govern the transport and damage mechanisms. My main research interest is the combined moisture and ion transport and crystallization in porous media in order to understand damages. In the group the potential of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging on multiple length scales is combined with physical and mathematical modelling. Over the past years we have built up a collection of home built NMR setups which have the unique possibility to measure non-destructively the moisture and ion contents in porous media over various length scales.
Groot
Frank de Groot is Professor of Synchrotron and Theoretical Spectroscopy of Catalytic Nanomaterials in group of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis of the Department of Chemistry at Utrecht University. His work reflects a concern with both the theoretical and the experimental aspects of X-ray spectroscopy, including both fundamental studies and applications. His current interest is in the use of X-ray spectroscopies for the study of the electronic and magnetic structure of condensed matter, in particular for transition metal oxides, nanoparticles and heterogeneous catalysts under working conditions.
Catalyst systems are studied under working conditions and are tracked with x-ray spectroscopy and microscopy. The main focus is on the new possibilities that arise due to the application of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS). This includes the study of the electronic structure of the interface between nanoparticles and surfactants. The 2013 ERC advanced grant is focused on the usage of RIXS to study the active sites in a chemical reaction that is usually concealed by the silent majority of in-active sites.
Mello Donega
Celso de Mello Donega is an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Sciences at Utrecht University (Netherlands). His expertise is in the field of synthesis and optical spectroscopy of luminescent materials. His current research is focused on the chemistry and optoelectronic properties of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. The nanoscale dimensions of these materials give rise to size- and shape-dependent properties that can be further engineered by controlling their composition. This allows a remarkable degree of control over nanoscale excitons. Moreover, the organic capping layer opens up the possibility of surface chemistry manipulation, making it possible to tailor a number of properties, such as colloidal stability and the ability to self-organize in superlattices. His work has yielded a number of size-, shape-, and composition-controlled colloidal nanocrystals with improved or novel properties, and has contributed towards a better understanding of the chemistry and physics of nanoscale materials.
Kolb
I received my Ph.D. on deactivation kinetics of zeolitic catalysts determined in a concentration-controlled recycle reactor. At Grace Davison I had worked at the development of novel, better poison and coke resistant FCC catalysts.
At Fraunhofer ICT-IMM my group (5 PhD, 6 engineers, 8 technicians, 2 students) is developing plate heat-exchanger reactors for practical applications such as fuel processors for fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), biofuel production, conversion of energy to energy carriers (Power-to-Gas) and catalytic combustion processes. Our focus is on catalyst development for reforming of a large variety of fuels, catalytic combustion, water-gas shift, preferential oxidation, partial dehydrogenation, methanation, Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG), biodiesel synthesis. As well as determination of kinetics in (microchannel) recycle reactors and catalyst coating techniques; we have developed a screen printing technique to deposit catalysts in microchannels.
With my work at TUe I want to get a better understanding of deactivation mechanisms by coke deposition and poisoning, but also of complex reaction networks through advanced experimental techniques.
