KU Leuven – Belgium

KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure (EUR 467 million in 2016). KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. Within KU Leuven, the Center for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis (COK) constitutes a large interdisciplinary team that teaches and researches solid-gas, solid-liquid, and solid-solid interphase chemistry. The COK has been recognized as a center of excellence for studying and teaching interphase chemistry and catalysis at KUL. COK’s Bert Sels group focuses strongly on biomass’s catalytic valorization to produce chemicals. The development of the so-called “lignin-first biorefinery” has been a core activity since 2012. This biorefinery concept combines biomass fractionation with catalytic lignin depolymerization, e.g., reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) of lignocellulosic biomass onto chemical building blocks. A pilot-scale RCF installation at TRANSfarm is implementing a biorefinery technology platform as a route towards bio-based aromatics in Flanders.