Tom Smak

PhD Candidate
Employed since: September 2021
Email: t.j.smak@uu.nl
Room: DDW 4th floor open area

Research

Research

In recent years the urgency of the plastic waste problem has become more and more clear. In my research I will focus on the production of economically highly attractive dicarboxylic acids from polyethylene waste. This will be done via catalytic thermo-oxidative degradation using different oxidants under simulated conditions. To achieve this a suitable heterogenous catalyst system will be developed. In addition, operando IR spectroscopy will be used to obtain mechanistic and kinetic insights.

C.V.

C.V.

2021 – present
PhD candidate in the group of prof. dr. ir. Bert Weckhuysen, Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University
Project: Thermo-oxidative degradation of PE to valuable carboxylic acids

2019 – 2021
Master Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University
Master thesis: Redox-Efficient Production of Oxygenated Aromatics From Oxygen-Rich Bio-based Furanics

Master internship at Shell, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Topic: development of bimetallic precious metal catalysts for selective hydrogenation

2016 – 2019
Bachelor Chemistry at Utrecht University
Bachelor thesis: Coordination chemistry of a phosphine tethered aminoborane ligand to group 10 metal centers: towards a new cooperative ligand

Publications

Smak, Tom J.; Peinder, Peter; der Waal, Jan C. Van; Altink, Rinke; Vollmer, Ina; Weckhuysen, Bert M.

Oxidative Conversion of Polyethylene Towards Di-Carboxylic Acids: A Multi-Analytical Approach Journal Article

In: ChemSusChem, vol. 17, no. 7, 2024, (Cited by: 4; All Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access).

Links | BibTeX

Smak, Tom J.; de Peinder, Peter; der Waal, Jan C. Van; Altink, Rinke; Vollmer, Ina; Weckhuysen, Bert M.

Oxidative Conversion of Polyethylene Towards Di-Carboxylic Acids: A Multi-Analytical Approach Journal Article

In: ChemSusChem, 2023, (Cited by: 0).

Links | BibTeX