Analytical and Circular Chemistry (ACC) research lab @ UHasselt
Joined December 2021
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🪶 Did you know that each year, the poultry industry leaves us with nearly 10 million tons(!) of chicken feathers?
This fluffy food waste is a major source of nitrogen emissions. 👎
A potential solution? Incorporating the nitrogen into biochar via pyrolysis. 👍
The results:
✅ Co-pyrolysis doubles nitrogen retention!
✅ It doesn't decrease porosity development.
✅ Additionally, demineralization increased meso- and microporosity, resulting in the co-pyrolyzed activated carbon outperforming the commercial reference!
Another piece of great work spearheaded by recent PhD graduate Willem Vercruysse (@FWOVlaanderen).
Congrats to the entire team! 🙌
As part of our SBO-project #BASTA in collaboration with @ILVOVlaanderen, we studied the effects of biochar on NH3 and greenhouse gas emissions 💨 during the storage of cattle slurry 🐄💩 and after soil application. 🌱 1/4
“Cattle slurry storage is a major source of gaseous nitrogen emissions,” says first author Jarinda Viaene from @ILVOvlaanderen. “Amendment of biochar reduced NH3 emissions during cattle slurry storage.” 3/4
“What’s more, the nitrogen sorbed from the slurry by the biochar was not released as NH3 during soil application of the solid fractions and was not released as mineral N in the short term, i.e. within 28 days.” 4/4
Read the full story doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.202…
🥳 Woop woop! Congratulations, Dr. Vercruysse! 🎓
Yesterday, at his PhD defense, Willem Vercruysse impressed the jury and the audience with his work on the "Co-pyrolysis of nitrogen-rich biomass to produce biochar and activated carbon for electrochemical energy storage."
Yesterday we celebrated the achievements of #BASTA at the closing event in Maasmechelen. 🥳
BASTA = a multidisciplinary research collaboration between @CMK_Uhasselt and @ILVOvlaanderen focused on Biochar's Added value in Sustainable land use with Targeted Applications. 1/5
Amine et al. investigated the long-term cadmium removal capacity of fourteen biochars from seven biomass sources: “We wanted to select the best feedstock-pyrolysis temperature combination for optimal Cd2+ removal during a 10-day incubation period.” 4/5
As few existing studies evaluate cadmium adsorption for >24 h, our new results provide a solid basis for future soil-based experiments. ♻️
Congrats to the entire team! 🙌
The results were published earlier this summer in the journal Waste Management:
doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.202…
5/5
Let’s talk about common ivy 🌿
Willem Vercruysse et al. envision an urban circular biorefinery concept for common ivy: from cultivation in vertical ecosystems via refinery into bioproducts and valuable nutrients and then back into the soil. 1/6
Well, we’ve thought of that too. In another paper published recently in Separation and Purification Tech, we show the successful removal of impurities from common ivy through treatment with a natural deep eutectic solvent (or NADES), namely choline chloride-malic acid. 5/6
Congratulations Willem and the entire team! 👏
➡️ Vercruysse et al. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2023
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs…
➡️ Vercruysse et al. Separation and Purification Technology 2023
doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.202… 6/6
