INVITATION: EIRES Lunch | 26 November 2021

EIRES - Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems kindly invites you to join the twentieth EIRES Lunch lecture on Friday 26 November 2021 | 12h00 - 13h00 (CET).

This lunch lecture is organized by Marta Costa Figueiredo and Adriana Creatore, principal scientists EIRES | Focus Area - Chemistry for Sustainable Energy Systems.

In pursuit of sustainability, the last few decades have showcased a strong commitment to replace fossil by renewable resources (i.e., biomass, wind, solar) for the production of both energy and materials. To this end, the development of new catalysts has been instrumental by unlocking chemical conversions that will shape our sustainable future. For example, catalysis allows now for the conversion of non-edible biomass (e.g., agricultural residues) into bio-based polymers and pharmaceutical products, oftentimes using renewable electricity as energy source. However, in addition to finding alternative resources and viable conversion routes, sustainability demands process efficiency to make its way towards industrial implementation. Bridging the fields of catalysis and reactor engineering, Fernanda Neira D’Angelo (from the Sustainable Process Engineering group at TU/e) develops novel and highly efficient catalytic reactors and processes for the conversion of biomass to chemicals and fuels. In her research, the relevance of numerous phenomena at different lengths-scale (i.e., active site, pore, grain, reactor and process-scales) come into play, making this quest for efficiency a complex and exciting task. In this talk, she will address selected examples of her current research in the (electro)catalytic conversion of biomass, the most important bottle-necks and recent achievements.

About Fernanda Neira d’Angelo
Maria Fernanda Neira D'Angelo (Buenos Aires, Argentina) studied Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. In 2010 Neira D'Angelo graduated cum laude within the Biomass Technology Group at the department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where she conducted her master's research on biomass gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. She continued with PhD research within the TU/e Reactor Engineering Group on the catalytic conversion of biomass via Aqueous Phase Reforming. In 2014 she obtained her PhD with the distinction cum laude. In 2014-2015 Neira d'Angelo was employed at BiChem Technology (Eindhoven), initially as research scientist and later as the project leader of the pilot-scale activities for the conversion of biomass derived sugars into valuable chemicals. In 2015 she returned to the Reactor Engineering Group at TU/e as tenure track assistant professor.

Target audience
EIRES Lunch lectures are open for anyone interested in the latest developments in energy storage and conversion. Different keynote speakers from academia and industry will present their views, solutions and outlooks on the topic. The lectures leave plenty of room for discussion. We value your input. Looking forward meeting you!