Prof. Dr. Ir. Tom Van Gerven is professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of KU Leuven (Belgium). His research focuses on process intensification, in particular by the use of external and localised energy sources (ultrasound, light), to improve transport phenomena (mass and energy transfer, mixing) and chemical activation with the aim of resource efficiency and recovery. Fields in which these energy sources have been applied include solvent extraction, crystallisation, leaching, metal purification and CO2 valorisation. Another area of process intensification is the integration of different processes, where the group has worked on integrated hydro- and pyrometallurgy flow sheets and mechanochemical activation. In general the developed technologies are applicable to chemical synthesis and environmental applications.
Tom Van Gerven has published 165 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, resulting in >5500 citations and an h-index of 38 (status on 21 January 2020). The full publication list can be found on the following website: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/cv?u=U0011040. Tom Van Gerven is currently general coordinator of three European projects (2 MSCA-ITNs: COSMIC and CHARMING, 1 SPIRE: SIMPLIFY) and partner in several others. He is also the main responsible of the research line Process Intensification in the KU Leuven Institute on Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM2). He is chairman of the EFCE Working Party on Process Intensification, vice-president of the European Society of Sonochemistry (ESS), member of the editorial board of Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Processing and member of the Expert Panel Chemical Engineering and Material Science of the Flemish Science Fund.