Catalytic Process Development for Renewable Materials

Dr. Pieter Imhof is currently VP Strategic Account Management at Avantium Chemicals B.V., after having held several positions in Research and Development, Technical Service, Marketing and Product Development both at Akzo Nobel Catalysts and Albemarle. Within Avantium, Pieter has been responsible for Global Business Development, Sales and Marketing for high throughput services and systems in both Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry. Pieter obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in Organometallic and Coordination Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam. He has published and contributed to over 100 scientific and conference papers and patents. Dr. Jan Cornelis van der Waal is Principal Scientist at Avantium Chemicals B.V. He studied Chemical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology (1987-1993) and received his Ph.D. at the same institute in 1998. After a postdoctoral assignment at the Royal Dutch Shell research and technology centre in Amsterdam for 2 years, he was involved in the foundation of Avantium Chemicals in 2000 and has since then worked for Avantium Technologies. Currently he is Principal Scientist Catalysts covering the area of biorenewable feedstocks conversion, in particular of oxygenates such as sugars, syn gas chemistries such as Fischer-Tropsch, Methanol and Ethanol synthesis, as well as selective oxidations and hydrogenations. He has published over 60 scientific and conference papers and patents.