I'm happy to share the slides of my inaugural lecture, presented today at the annual research day of our Faculty of Applied Engineering - University of Antwerp. The focus is was mainly on what drives me, and lessons learned from dogmas and market pitfalls I came across in my earlier research. Luckily, I have found ways how to deal with them, and let them drive my research in urban, industrial and agro-forestry mining 2.0.

1. June 2017
Urban & industrial mining 2.0
Avoiding market pitfalls and fighting dogmas
Pieter Billen

2. Who I am
Born and raised in/near Tongeren (Limburg)
KU Leuven educated (sorry for that )
Met my wife (already met her?) in Leuven (cliché)
Spent some time in U.S. (coolest city of the East Coast)
Trying to integrate in Mortsel (not that hard though)
2
PHILLY

3. Why I do what I do
3
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/faq/indicators.php

4. Why I do what I do
IPCC: “97 %”? What a killer…
Skepticism? Do a simple risk assessment
4
1. The Earth is warming, on average.
2. The concentrations of greenhouse gases
(mainly CO2) are increasing rapidly.
3. Human activity is responsible for large
emissions of greenhouse gases.
pietermkbillen.wordpress.com/blog/
Salt water basin, Death valley national park, CA
OPPORTUNITIES
no such
thing as
zero-sum
game

5. Energy – Materials Nexus
ENERGY
5
MATERIALSEoL
renewable feedstock
(biomass)

6. Energy – Materials Nexus
ENERGY
6
MATERIALSEoL
renewable feedstock
(biomass)

7. (for now)
Energy – Materials Nexus
7
HOW TO GET THERE?
Brown/Green Energy
Fossil feedstock
Functional Materials
Complete recycling
Green Energy
Bio-feedstock
Functional Materials
(Bio)degrade or Energy
GREEN
CHEMISTRY

8. (for now)
Energy – Materials Nexus
8
HOW TO GET THERE?
Brown/Green Energy
Fossil feedstock
Functional Materials
Complete recycling
Green Energy
Bio-feedstock
Functional Materials
(Bio)degrade or Energy
GREEN
CHEMISTRY
Conversion Energy/Cost
Limited Green Energy
Green Energy Materials
Downcycling

9. Energy – Materials Nexus
ENERGY
9
MATERIALSEoL
renewable feedstock
(biomass)

10. How can I contribute?
10
BIOBASED
NEW FUNCTIONAL
MATERIALS
BIODEGRADABLE
DEPOLYMERIZABLE
RECYCLED
applied engineering

11. How can I contribute?
11

12. 12
avoid market pitfalls
What was the problem with 1.0?
Push market vs. Pull market
A short story on incinerator ash
URBAN, INDUSTRIAL
& AGRI-FORESTRY
MINING 2.0

13. A short story on incinerator ash
Opportunity: recycling avoids (costly) landfilling
Problem: excessive leaching of heavy metals
13
Solution: reduce leaching
Verbinnen, B., Billen, P., Van Coninckxloo, M.,
Vandecasteele, C. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013:47,5858-63
Van Caneghem, J., Verbinnen, B., Cornelis, G., de Wijs, J.,
Mulder, R., Billen, P., Vandecasteele, C. Waste Manag. 2016:54,162-8
Billen, P., Verbinnen, B., De Smet, M., Dockx, G.,
Ronsse, S., Villani, K., De Greef, J., Van Caneghem, J.,
Vandecasteele, C. JMCWM 2015:17,229-36
HEATING CURING
ADDITIVES
avoid market pitfalls

14. What did markets say? Why?
14
A short story on incinerator ash
Verbinnen, B., Billen, P., Van Caneghem, J.,Vandecasteele, C. Waste
Biomass Valor. 2016: doi:10.1007/s12649-016-9704-0
http://www.concretecountertopinstitute.com
Billen, P., Mazzotti, M., Pandelaers, L., Farnam, Y., Liu, Z., Diaz Loya, I.,
Bartoli, I., Spatari, S., Hsuan, Y. 2017: manuscript in preparation
From fulfilling a demand… …to creating a new one
avoid market pitfalls

15. How about biomass?
15
Sorunmu, Y.E., Billen, P., Elkasabi, Y., Mullen, C.A., Macken, N.A., Boateng, A.A., Spatari, S. 2017: ACS Sust.
Chem. & Eng. (under review)
Drop-in chemicals
and fuels
High-end new applications
+ use nature’s design skills
From fulfilling a demand…
…to creating a new one
avoid market pitfalls

16. How can I contribute?
16
Oleochemistry & sugars
Alkane coupling
life cycle design
depolymerization
functionalization
Surface modifications
biodegradation
Residues/waste to value

17. Oleochemistry & sugars
Alkane coupling
life cycle design
Construction Firm
17
Serge Tavernier
Jan Dries
Pieter Billen
Jolien D’aes
Iris Cornet
Marc Wijnants
+ collaborators
+ students

18. How can I contribute?
18
BIOBASED
NEW FUNCTIONAL
MATERIALS
BIODEGRADABLE
DEPOLYMERIZABLE
RECYCLED
applied engineering

19. 19
“Green”
“Sustainable”
“Biodegradable”
“Biobased”
“Circular”
“Recycling”
“Reuse”
“Recovery”
“Environmental”
“Ecological”
“Eco-efficient”
Fighting Dogmas

20. 0
50
100
150
200
250
900 1100 1300 1500
GHGintensity[kgCO2-eq.perMg
coalash]
Temperature [°C]
Heat Nat. Gas
Heat Coal
NaOH (A)
NaOH (B)
(A) Avoided
Nat. Gas
(A) Avoided
Coal
Allegheny, PA (a)
Allegheny, PA (b)
How can I contribute?
Life Cycle Assessment
and Techno-Economic Analysis
 mostly retrospectively added to project
20
Fighting Dogmas
Prospective Life Cycle Assessment
and cost analysis
Billen, P., Spatari, S., Hsuan, Y.G. 6th International Conference on Engineering for
Waste and Biomass Valorization (WasteEng 2016). Albi (France), 23-26 May 2016, 239

21. 21
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/02/28/slecht-voor-economie-en-
milieu-1350656-a393156
VRT, 30/04/2016
“de technologie van verbranding
van biomassa is helemaal geen
duurzame oplossing”
Fighting Dogmas

22. 22
Billen, P., Costa, J., Van der Aa, L., Van Caneghem, J., Vandecasteele, C.
J. Cleaner Prod. 2015:96,467-475
Fighting Dogmas

23. Residual or Grown Biomass?
23
Kar, S., Billen, P., Katz, B., Yang, S., Volk, T.A., Spatari, S. A comparative temporal analysis of GHGs emissions
from conventional and district heating using forest biomass, energy crops and natural gas in New York and
New England. AEESP 2017, June 26-30, Ann Arbor, MI
Fighting Dogmas
CH & DH with natural gas
CH with forest biomass
DH with forest biomass
DH with Willow
6/22/2017
Carbon stock Sequestration
unpublished results

24. “No further research
funding for Pb-based thin
film photovoltaics, because
of toxicity”
<<paraphrased>>
24
34%
30%
20%
1%
6%
6%
1%
1%
1%
natural gas
coal
nuclear
petroleum
hydropower
wind
biomass
solar
other
Billen, P., Spatari, S., Fthenakis, V., Fararman,
A., Baxter, J. In preparation for submission
eia.gov
Fighting Dogmas
unpublished results

25. How can I contribute?
25
Residues/waste to value
Oleochemistry & sugars
alkane coupling
life cycle design
depolymerization
functionalization
Surface modifications
biodegradation
waste management product identification
synthesis route tradeoffs
alkane resins
saturated FFA valorization
Education @FTI

26. Strategy & Outlook
26
basic research
applied research
alkane
functionalization/coupling
oleochemistry
hydrogenation
hydro-/methano-/glycolysis
(trans)esterification
isomerization
biochemical
radical/oxidative
depolymerization
fiber modifications
biogenic monomers
surface modifications
alkane resin hardening
selective extraction
Quantitative
demonstration of benefits
2.0

27. 27
Where bulk replacement fails
start building platforms on value
and the bulk will follow
2.0

28. Where to find me (for now )?
28
FTI
Acknowledgements

29. Thank you all