Innovation in separation technology will play a key role in the further adoption of sustainable sources for energy and chemicals. Prof. Kiss keynoted the major developments in his research field during his inaugural lecture on 15 October 2015. Future breakthroughs in process innovation will clearly help in increasing the energy efficiency and drastically reducing the costs. Close collaborations between academia and industry is needed to ensure rapid embracement of bio-based chemicals and energy.
Prof.dr.ir. Tony Kiss – working at the University of Twente since end of 2014 – has taken personally the call to create collaborations between industry and academia. He works as senior project manager in Process Technology SRG at AkzoNobel, while taking on a part-time position at the research group Sustainable Process Technology at the University of Twente. "I would like to conduct research that is fundamentally interesting and with important applications" – Tony Kiss summarized his efforts in both fields. "What we need are frequent interactions between industry and academia that will lead among others to enhanced practical skills for students, better talent for industry, and open innovation projects leading to overall growth. We need to build more bridges across the industrial and academic research in the field of separation technology, and overall in process technology."
Innovation opportunities
Building bridges would have to lead to substantial progress on a few topics. The first one is energy efficient (separation) processes aiming to strive not only for operational excellence but for also for real breakthroughs. In turning biomass into chemicals and energy, the separation and purification part is accountable for about 60-80% the total costs, while with traditional petroleum the percentage lays around 40-50%. Therefore, improving the quality and efficiency of separation processes will contribute considerably in reducing costs and making bio-based energy and chemicals truly feasible.
Another key topic, on which Tony Kiss would like to focus during his career at SPT-research group, is the development of bio-based chemicals and energy area. There lays a whole world of undiscovered innovations in biofuels production, biomass refining and introducing novel separation methods.
Value creation from waste will be made possible by optimizing and developing new separation processes leading to better use of waste. By further exploring the possibilities of traditional and novel methods, reduce/recycle/reuse or conversion of waste to valuable products or energy will be a step closer. Also the use of precious water can be reduced substantially by smart recovery methods.
About Tony Kiss
Prof.dr.ir. Tony Kiss – originally from Transylvania (Romania) – was awarded a BSc and MSc degree in Chemical Engineering at Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. Afterwards he successfully earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), under the guidance of Prof. Piet Iedema and Alexandre Dimian. Tony Kiss worked as PostDoc fellow at DeltChemTech (TU Delft) with Prof. Johan Grievink in the area of Process Systems Engineering. He returned as PostDoc researcher at UvA to work in Process Intensification and Catalysis areas with Prof. Gadi Rothenberg. For over a decade, he has been working as (senior) project leader and RD&I specialist at AkzoNobel Chemicals.
For the pioneering work and remarkable achievements in his area of scientific research, he was rewarded in 2013 with the Hoogewerff Jongerenprijs – a very prestigious award recognizing the most promising young scientist in The Netherlands. Together with his team, he received the same year, the first AkzoNobel Innovation Excellence Award, for the most successful industrial innovation.
