Research
Research
Ever since automatic dishwashers and washing machines became widely used by common households in the second half of the 20th century, scale formation has been a problem detergent manufacturers have struggled with. Scale formation may cause deterioration of the machinery, decrease the performance of surfactants, while also result in cloudy glasses and dishes. Solutions that have been applied in the past often relied on harmful chemicals such as phosphates, causing eutrophication of surface waters, or non-degradable polymers which accumulate in the environment. Sustainable alternatives are often lacking in performance, making their applications limited.
My project, in collaboration with Azelis, industry partners, and Wageningen Food & Bio-based research, is focused on developing sustainable solutions for these everyday problems. The development of new technologies to produce bio-based building blocks, and new polymers with enhanced performance without compromising on environmental aspects is included in this research. Heterogeneous oxidation catalyst development and characterization, as well as various polymerization techniques are utilized to meet these goals, allowing the cleaning industry to become more sustainable.
CV
CV
2025-present
PhD Candidate Chemistry & Catalysis
Utrecht University
2022-present
Innovation Chemist & Project Manager
Azelis Netherlands, formerly Sirius International, Nijkerk
2022-2024
MSc Molecular Sciences
University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Research thesis: A Sustainable Approach Towards Anti-Scaling Polymers for Homecare and Industrial Cleaning
• Literature thesis: Photochemistry – The Design and Mechanistic Understanding of Homogeneous Photocatalysts for Organic Transformations
February 2022 – July 2022
Internship R&D
BASF, De Meern
• Topic: Nickel cathode synthesis, scale-up, and performance optimization
2018-2022
BSc Chemistry – R&D
University of Applied Sciences Utrecht