Meet our colleagues
Ben Gilliams: “Pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy are like yin and yang”
Following a 25-year VP-level career at Umicore, Ben Gilliams has decided to make a remarkable career switch. On January 9, Ben started as Senior Valorisation Director at SOLVOMET ISC, one of SIM² KU Leuven’s innovation flagships.
Understanding the origin of critical metals associated to hydrous magmas
With a background in igneous petrology and magmatic processes, Olivier Namur recently started as an Assistant Professor at SIM² KU Leuven. Find out about Olivier’s exciting research in this new SIM² interview.
“Mining of critical metals has to bring economic and social benefits to Africa”
Anouk Borst recently started as an Assistant Professor at KU Leuven, a job that she combines with her geological research for the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Find out about Anouk’s research in this new SIM² interview.
“Recycling of lithium-ion batteries is no longer an option but a necessity.”
With a background in hydrometallurgy and recycling, Giuseppe Granata recently started as an Associate Professor at KU Leuven Campus Group T. His work in Leuven will focus on critical metal recovery from secondary resources.
Exploiting physicochemical interactions between fluid and solid phases
Holding a PhD in geology SIM² member Veerle Vandeginste is an associate professor (Dep’ Materials Engineering, KU Leuven-Campus Bruges). Her research is motivated by the challenges of global warming and sustainability.
“Bauxite residue and copper slag mirror each other in terms of chemistry”
Prof. Yiannis Pontikes’ burning desire is to convert bauxite residue (et al.) into green building materials. As one of SIM²‘s founding fathers he passionately leads the SREMat Group (Dept. Materials Engineering, KU Leuven).
“Sustainable metallurgy needs young people to start a career in this industry”
Bart Blanpain, one of SIM²‘s founding fathers, is an inspirational KU Leuven Professor leading the HiTemp Group (Dept. Materials Engineering, MTM). His grand mission is to contribute to sustainable metallurgical processing.
Providing fingerprints of molecules and materials using high-resolution Magnetic Resonance
SIM² Member Prof. Dimitrios Sakellariou is a Greek KU Leuven Professor working at the cMACS division in the Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M²S). High-resolution Magnetic Resonance comprises his unique expertise.
“We design microreactors that integrate renewable, electricity-based energy sources”
Prof. Simon Kuhn is a KU Leuven Professor in the ProcESS division (Department of Chemical Engineering). After obtaining an ERC Starting Grant, he has now also been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his work on novel reactor types.
“Let’s integrate membrane separation, solvent extraction and ion exchange”
Prof. Xing Yang is a new KU Leuven Professor in the ProcESS division (Dep’ Chemical Engineering). Her research group focuses on the development of smart responsive separation processes for solute purification & resource recovery.
“Lithium mining in Spain & Portugal is within the realm of possibility”
Dr. Dominique Jacques’ is developing a metallogenic model to explain the structural emplacement of magmatic-hydrothermal quartz vein and pegmatites, which are enriched in critical metals such as W, Sn, Li, Nb and Ta. In this interview you get to know more about his work.
“A granted project is like a child you hand over to your PhD students”
During the past years Prof. Tom Van Gerven has been the driving force behind the SIM² Research Line “Process Intensification and Digitalisation”. In this interview you get to know more about his research activities & philosophy.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Dr. Thomas Abo Atia
As of August 1, 2020, Thomas Abo Atia is a new postdoc at the SOLVOMET Group (Department of Chemistry). His work will focus on the development of novel, eco-friendly hydrometallurgical extraction, recovery and recycling processes.
Meet our colleague: Piet Wostyn (SOLVOMET – SIM² KU Leuven)
Piet Wostyn works as a hybrid project manager & researcher for the SOLVOMET Group (SIM² KU Leuven). His work comprises both EU project management and PhD research on the Social License to Operate of mining & recycling processes.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Prof. Jo Van Caneghem
Jo Van Caneghem is associate professor at the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven Campus Group T, where she heads the research group ChEMaRTS. Her work focuses on material recovery from thermally processed non-recyclable waste.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Prof. Patrick Degryse
Patrick Degryse is professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the KU Leuven and at the faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University. He is head of the Archaeometry research unit.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Innovation Manager Marion Bechtold
Marion Bechtold is a new IOF innovation manager in the field of innovative materials for a circular economy. She also coordinates the Leuven Materials Research Center (MRC) and represents it at (inter)national platforms.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Prof. Philippe Muchez
Philippe Muchez is professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the KU Leuven and dean of the Faculty of Science. His is head of the Ore Geology and Geofluids research unit and leads the ETN SULTAN project.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Niels Hulsbosch
Niels Hulsbosch is a FWO postdoctoral researcher at the Division of Geology. He is a member of the research group of Prof. Philippe Muchez who leads the SIM² research line on Geological exploration and advanced resource characterization.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Joren van Stee
Joren van Stee is doing his PhD at SIM² KU Leuven in the research group of Prof. Tom Van Gerven. His topic is solvent extraction in milliflow systems. Find out more about Joren van Stee and his work in this new SIM² interview.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Prof. Valérie Cappuyns
Prof. Valérie Cappuyns is professor at the Faculty of Economics & Business (Campus Brussels). She works in the interdisciplinary research group CEDON. Find out more about Valérie Cappuyns in this SIM² interview.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Arne Peys
Dr. Arne Peys is a postdoc in the SREMat Group (Dept. Materials Engineering, KU Leuven) aiming to valorise industrial residues in novel processes or materials . Find out more about Arne Peys and his work in the interview below.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Katarzyna Janusz
Katarzyna Janusz is a project manager at the Materials Engineering Department. She coordinates the EIT Labelled Master Programme on Sustainable Materials (SUMA), which is SIM² KU Leuven’s future-oriented education flagship.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Annelies Malfliet
Dr. Annelies Malfliet is research expert at the Department of Materials Engineering, where she works in the research group of High Temperature Processes and Industrial Ecology. She coordinates the HiTemp Industrial Service Centre.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Rayco Lommelen
Rayco Lommelen started his PhD in the SOLVOMET Group at KU Leuven in September 2018. He is working on the development of a better model to describe and predict solvent extractions and metal separations using basic extractants.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Willem Vereycken
In September 2018 Willem Vereycken started his PhD in the SOLVOMET Group on solvent extraction of critical metals using ionic liquids in milliflow applications. He is nominated for the “EOS Scriptieprijs 2018” for his MSc thesis.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Giacomo Damilano
In December 2016, Giacomo Damilano started his PhD studies at KU Leuven researching the synthesis of novel Ionic Liquids starting from renewable materials,in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN SOCRATES project.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Brecht Dewulf
Brecht Dewulf started his PhD in the Lab of Inorganic Chemistry supervised by Prof. Koen Binnemans. He is interested in non-aqueous solvent extraction for the separation of rare earths.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Steff Van Loy
Steff Van Loy is a PhD student at the Department of Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven. His work targets the implementation of mechanochemical methods for recycling of critical metals from industrial waste streams.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Liubov Lukina
Liubov Lukina is a PhD student at the Department of Materials Engineering at KU Leuven. She is working on the magnetic separation of rare-earth ions. She has a MSc degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland).
