News

19-11-2021

From woody biomass to chemical raw material: relance means for the BioCon project

“With this project, we want to demonstrate that the extraction of lignin from green waste flows, such as plant residues and waste wood, and its conversion into chemical raw materials isn’t only circular, but also technologically and economically feasible”, says full professor of bioengineering Bert Sels. "The chemical industry is a very investment intensive industry; a successful innovation usually entails quite some preliminary research. With this pilot project, we want to take lignin conversion beyond the laboratory phase."

19-11-2021

Prof. Dr. ir. Bert F. Sels recognized in the list of the world's highly cited researchers

17 professors of KU Leuven are among this list of the world’s highly cited researchers. Prof. Dr. ir. Bert F. Sels of the Center of Sustainable Catalysis and Processing (CSCE), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (FBSE) is proud to be one of them! He is very grateful to his research team for achieving this exceptional milestone together.

11-10-2021

HOT article in Polymer Chemistry

Our review ‘A guide towards safe, functional and renewable BPA alternatives by rational molecular design: structure-property and structure-toxicity relationships’ is selected as a HOT article in the journal of Polymer Chemistry. Therefore, it is free to access until the 11th of November!

26-07-2021

Publication in Science: Methane hydroxylation in zeolites

Together with our collaborators in Stanford, we found a way to control the mechanism of methane hydroxylation in zeolites. These insights are now published in Science.

25-06-2021

Lignin-first biorefinery at pilot-scale: KULeuven and MTSA Technopower finalising detailed design

The promising research line about a novel lignin-first biorefinery technology, started in 2013, has reached another milestone.

14-05-2021

Our insights in the activation of nitrous oxide in Nature Catalysis

In our latest publication in Nature Catalysis, we identify the interaction of N2O with the active sites in iron zeolites, together with colleagues from the Universities of Stanford, Ghent and Caen. This insights will help us design better catalysis for N2O activation and decomposition. Ultimately our findings will contribute to better DeNOx technologies and the development of remediation technologies for greenhouse gas emissions.

13-04-2021

Effective practices for Sustainability Assessments for manuscripts in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

The Editors of the journal "ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering", Prof. Bert Sels is one of them, are pleased to provide some guidance on effective practices for incorporating the latest sustainability assessment tools in their research and manuscripts for the journal. They plan to publish a series of “best practices” editorials on the following topics: catalysis and catalytic processes, materials, solvents, renewable energy devices, biomass conversions, and others.

05-10-2020

Press news: Towards a more efficient refinery of crude oil with Zeopore

The technology of Zeopore, developed in the research group of Prof. Bert Sels, can enhance the efficiency of the crude oil refinery. Furthermore, it is possible to refine biomass with this technology as well. The daily magazine 'De Tijd' wrapped up the opportunities of the KU-Leuven in a nice overview.

02-07-2020

Demonstration of lignin-first technology at pilot-scale

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17-02-2020

Press news: Sustainable wood biorefinery concept in Science

To reduce the Carbon dioxide emmissions on earth, the Sels-group is working on the shift from petroleum towards wood as substrate for the chemical industry. Some recent novelties are now picked up by the press, together with a manuscript in science.