Vic van Dijk (28) won third prize with his poster presentation on the ninth European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9, The Hague). This international congress attracted about 1800 visitors, 750 of these presented their work with a poster. During the conference dinner on Wednesday 24th of April, the jury announced that Vic has earned an iPad mini for his poster and enthusiastic story.
For Vic‟s PhD research, he would like to functionalize the enormous internal surface of a polymeric filtration membrane. The membrane is therefore given a dual function, thereby being beneficial for the production and product quality of food products. All pore surface of the sponge-like membrane structure will be covered by silica nano spheres; the fluid flowing through the membrane will only „feel‟ silica. Certain compounds, from for example orange juice or beer, will bind to the silica spheres by adsorption.
“This is only the start, in the end one wants to do more exciting things with the big surface area of the inside of a membrane. A lot of surface in a small volume means that one can do a lot of chemistry, thus leading to a decrease in use of energy and raw materials. Therefore my research fits well in the conference theme „Shaping a Sustainable Future‟,” Vic says.
This research will last for about three more years within the research groups Soft matter, Fluidics & Interfaces (SFI) and Membrane Science & Technology (MST) of the faculty Science and Technology and the institute MESA+ of the University of Twente. This research is also part of NanoNextNL, a micro and nanotechnology consortium of the Government of the Netherlands and 130 partners.