27 June 2022
What inspires our researchers to commit themselves to making the chemical industry more circular?
On the 23rd of June, ARC CBBC PhD-candidates Shrinjay Sharma and Rens Kamphorst from the Technical University of Delft spoke at the iLinqs Festival van de Industrie (Industry Festival). They spoke about what inspires them, and how they see their role in the transition towards a more sustainable chemical industry.
Rens Kamphorst: “The challenges we face in relation to climate change are manifold. Most technologies and products we are currently producing do not need to be improved; they need to be replaced. Apart from developing completely new technologies, implementation can be an obstacle in its own respect. This is one of the main reasons why I choose to do a PhD and, more specifically, to do one with an industrial partner. Where industry might not be able to afford time and resources into developing completely new ideas from scratch, universities on their own might not feel a big push to commercialize potentially interesting technologies by themselves. For a new idea to have any actual impact, the implementation has to be kept in mind during development, which is why the ties between industry and universities are crucial.”
Shrinjay Sharma: “We need chemicals and fuels which form an integral part of our lives. What is important is to see how these chemicals or fuels can be made CO2 neutral and circular. We are still in the transit between fossil based sources and renewable sources. We are making quite a lot of progress towards fossil free economy. But the transition needs some time. In the meantime, we need solutions in both the worlds. Countries like Netherlands are doing extensive research in these fields. That is why I came here for my higher studies.
In future, I would like to work in the field of multiscale modelling in sustainable energy conversion and process technologies. The multiscale modelling framework allows the user to cover a wide range of problems at different scales (of length and time). I am interested in analyzing these different pathways starting from the molecule to the system level. This will help me understand the bottlenecks of these technologies. Also I can gain insights on conditions under which these technologies can work better. Moreover, such analysis can be helpful in marching closer to commercialization.”
Stay tuned for the link to the recordings of the talks of Shrinjay and Rens!
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