Eveline Volcke

Position/title: 
associate professor
Institution: 
Ghent University (UGent)
Department: 
Department of Biosystems Engineering
Personal/department website
Research interests: 
wastewater treatment
(innovative) biological nitrogen removal
greenhouse gas emissions
granular sludge reactors
process design
process control
modelling
simulation
full-scale monitoring
lab-scale experiments
Short CV / biography / description of scientific focus and achievements: 

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Chemical engineer, (‘burgerlijk scheikundig ingenieur’), magna cum laude, Faculty of Applied Sciences (Engineering), Ghent University, 1999

PhD in applied biological sciences: environmental technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 2006

Postdoctoral research fellowships of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and of the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Ghent University, taken up at Dept. of applied mathematics / Dept. of Biosystems engineering, Ghent University, 2006 - 2011

EU Marie Curie IEF (Intra-European Fellowship) research fellow at the Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology (LBE) of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Narbonne, France, 2007

01/10/2009 - present Associate professor (100%, tenured) Dept. of Biosystems engineering, Ghent University (UGent).

RESEARCH FOCUS

Eveline Volcke is the founder and head of the research unit ‘Biosystems Control (BioCo)’, dealing with efficient and sustainable process design and process control. The group studies process engineering aspects, in particular the actual design and control of processes and reactors, through a combination of physical-based modelling and experimental techniques. The application domain concerns environmental technology, with a prime focus on bioconversion processes.

The ‘Biosystems Control’ group counts 1 postdoctoral researcher, 8 PhD students and 7 master thesis students (status on 15/2/2016). We are involved in international exchange programs and regularly welcome visiting professors, doctoral researchers and master students. Eveline Volcke is an active member of the International Water Association (IWA), being the chair of IWA Specialist Group on Instrumentation, Control and Automation and member of the IWA programme committee, among other responsibilities.

Relevant publications: 
Krayzelova L., Bartacek J., Díaz I., Jeison D., Volcke E.I.P., Jenicek P. (2015). Microaeration for hydrogen sulfide removal during anaerobic treatment - a review. Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology, 14(4), 703-725.
Winkler M-K.H., Ettwig K.F., Vannecke T.P.W., Stultiens K., Bogdan A., Kartal B., Volcke E.I.P. (2015). Modelling simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium removal in a granular sludge reactor. Water Research, 73, 323–331.
Mozumder M.S.I., Garcia-Gonzalez L., De Wever H., Volcke E.I.P. (2015) Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production from CO2: model development and process optimization. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 98, 107-116.
Castro-Barros C.M., Daelman M.R.J., Mampaey K.E., van Loosdrecht M.C.M., Volcke E.I.P. (2015). Effect of aeration regime on N2O emission from partial nitritation-anammox in a full-scale granular sludge reactor, Water Research 68, 793 – 803.
Daelman M.R.J., van Dongen L.G.J.M., van Voorthuizen E.M., Volcke E.I.P., van Loosdrecht M.C.M. (2012). Methane emission during municipal wastewater treatment. Water Research, 46(11), 3657-3670.
Volcke E.I.P., Picioreanu C., De Baets B., van Loosdrecht M.C.M. (2012). The granule size distribution in an anammox-based granular sludge reactor affects the conversion - implications for modeling. Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 109(7), 1629-1636.