Stijn Van Hulle

Position/title:

associate professor

Institution:

Ghent University (UGent)

Department:

Industrial Biological Sciences

Group:

Laboratory of Industrial Water and Ecotechnology

Personal/department website

Research interests:

modelling

scale-up

industrial water treatment

advanced oxidation processes

physical-chemical water treatment

aerobic biological water treatment

Short CV / biography / description of scientific focus and achievements:

Stijn Van Hulle is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Biological Sciences of Ghent University and is spearheading the industrial water technology related research of the department. During the last 10 years, his group performed externally funded research on the modelling and engineering of water treatment processes. His lab is equipped with several laboratory-scale set-ups that are used for research and education. Specific research projects currently running include: physical-chemical treatment of industrial waste water (e.g. leachate), water filtration with functionalised nanofibre membranes, implementation of autotrophic nitrogen removal for high-N streams, disinfection, tertiary water treatment with AOP processes (UV/H2O2/ozone/TiO2) and modelling of algal processes for water treatment. Prof. Van Hulle has participated in several (inter)nationally-funded projects such as the FP5 ICON project (EVK1-2000-00054) and the FP7 project Veg-i-trade (FP7-KBBE-2009-3). On a national level, he has coordinated 5 Technology Transfer (Tetra) projects funded by the agency for Innovation by Science and Technology. He is also responsible for the local and accessible expertise and service center on water technology (http://www.lednetwerk.be/led/water) which supports SME’s and non-profit organizations with advice and guidance concerning the production, treatment or management of their process and waste water. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Belgian IWA branch (www.b-iwa.be) and was one of the initiators of the Flemish Water Knowledge Centre (www.VLAKWA.be).

Relevant publications:

Decostere, B., De Craene, J., Van Hoey, S., Vervaeren, H., Nopens, I., & Van Hulle, S. W. (2016). Validation of a microalgal growth model accounting with inorganic carbon and nutrient kinetics for wastewater treatment. Chemical Engineering Journal, 285, 189–197.

B. Decostere, S.W.H. Van Hulle, M. Duyck, Thomas Maere, Han Vervaeren and Ingmar Nopens (2016). The use of a combined respirometric–titrimetric setup to assess the effect of environmental conditions on micro-algal growth rate. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 91, 248–256

Van Hulle, S.W.H.; Vandeweyer, H.J.P., Meesschaert, B.D., Vanrolleghem, P.A., Dejans, P., Dumoulin, A. (2010). Engineering aspects and practical application of autotrophic nitrogen removal from nitrogen rich streams. Chemical Engineering Journal, 162, 1–20

M. Chys, V.A. Oloibiri, W.T.M. Audenaert, K. Demeestere, S.W.H. Van Hulle (2015). Ozonation of biologically treated landfill leachate: efficiency and insights in organic conversions. Chemical Engineering Journal, 277, 104-111

E. Blondeel, V. Depuydt, J. Cornelis, M. Chys, A. Verliefde and S.W.H. Van Hulle (2015). Physical-chemical treatment of rainwater runoff in recovery and recycling companies: pilot-scale optimization. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering, 50, 1083–1098.