Teaser: what can you expect to learn?


Course details

  • Study time: 3-4h

  • Target audience: Students and professionals with Master in (chemical) engineering, bio-engineering, chemistry

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Welcome video

    • Meet the teachers

    • Learning objectives

    • Become familiar with the learning platform

    • eLECTRO support and discussion opportunities
  • 2

    Framework

    • Setting the scene

    • Know your chemical classics

    • Challenges

    • Exercise: Degradation time

    • Opportunities

    • Waste classification

    • Exercise: Recycling waste plastics in EU

    • Plastic going circulair
  • 3

    Pyrolysis

    • What do you think pyrolysis is?

    • Learning objectives for pyrolysis

    • Introduction to pyrolysis

    • Chemistry

    • Process - reactor technology

    • Exercise: reactor technology

    • Modelling pyrolysis: chemistry

    • Modelling pyrolysis: reactor

    • Exercise: comparing 2 setups

    • Exercise: comparing 2 setups - model answer

    • Exercise: explain the difference

    • Exercise: explain the difference - model answers

    • Challenges and outlook

    • Exercise: steam cracking dilution

    • Solution exercise steam cracking dilution - model answer

    • It's all about contaminants

    • Exercise: contaminants

    • Exercise: contaminants

    • Exercise: contaminants - model answers
  • 4

    Gasification

    • Open question: gasification

    • Learning objectives for gasification

    • Introduction

    • Chemistry

    • Exercise: Calculating mole fractions

    • Exercise: model answers

    • Exercise: Insight questions: air vs O₂

    • Exercise: Insight questions: air vs O₂ - model answers

    • Process - reactor technology

    • Modelling

    • Challenges and outlook
  • 5

    Conclusion

    • Concluding video

    • How to obtain your course certificate

    • Further readings

    • Help us to improve this course

    • What did you learn?

    • Thanks to our sponsors
  • 6

    Evaluate this course (for testers)

    • How this evaluation is structured

    • Evaluate this course - Chemical Recycling

Instructor(s)

Professor Dr.

Kevin Van Geem

Kevin Van Geem (full professor) is member of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology of Ghent University. Thermochemical reaction engineering in general and in particular the transition from fossil to renewable resources are his main research interests. He is a former Fulbright Research Scholar of MIT and directs the Pilot plant for steam cracking and pyrolysis. He is the author of more than hundred scientific publications and has recently started his own spin-off company. He is involved in on-line and off-line analysis of complex petrochemical and biochemical samples using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography. Pyrolysis, detailed kinetic modeling, process, scale-up, modeling, and anti-fouling technology belong to his main expertise.

Elisabeth Delbeke and Hilde Poelman

Elisabeth Delbeke 
Elisabeth Delbeke is Science Policy Coordinator for the Center for Sustainable Chemistry (CSC) at Ghent University since 2016. CSC is an umbrella organization fully supported by the Faculty of Sciences, the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering and the faculty of Engineering and Architecture. Elisabeth is involved in the management of both national and international projects, amongst which the eLECTRO project. Besides, she is the Ghent University liaison contact with Catalisti, the Flemish spearhead cluster on Chemistry and Plastics.

Hilde Poelman
Senior scientist Hilde Poelman is member of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology since 2009. She is in charge of coordinating and organizing measurements and experimental campaigns along the needs of the LCT researchers. Coming from the Department of Solid State Sciences, Dr. Poelman has a background in characterization, which is an indispensable part of catalyst and reactor materials research.

Daniël Withoeck and Mike Bonheure

Daniël Withoeck - Ghent University

Daniël Withoeck is performing his Ph.D. in the field of plastic waste pyrolysis under supervision of professor Kevin Van Geem. His research is focusing on modelling the complex kinetic behaviour of complex plastic waste feedstocks under pyrolysis conditions. Within the eLECTRO project, he focuses on assisting in optimizing the yields of pyrolysis processes, as well as providing detailed compositional data on the project’s wide range (compositionally and geographically) plastic waste feedstocks.

Mike Bonheure - Ghent University

Since September 2020, Mike Bonheure has been pursuing a Ph.D. at Ghent University’s Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT) under the guidance of Professor Kevin Van Geem. His research is financially supported by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) through project 1SD7121N. Mike focuses on advancing steam cracking reactors, with a specific interest in electrification and its comprehensive impact on plant operations. To achieve this, he employs various modelling techniques, ranging from 0D reactor models to 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Within the eLECTRO project, he takes a leading role in the development of a reactive CFD model for Coolbrooks’ Roto-Dynamic Reactor. This endeavour aims to gain insights into the behaviour of the flow field under different parameters, which ultimately enables the optimization of the design and its performance.