Farewell Michiel Makkee

Michiel Makkee retires after 30 years of devotion in research and education at our department.

After obtaining PhD at TU Delft in 1984 and before coming back to TU Delft, he spent 6 years at Exxon Chemicals working on various petrochemical catalytic processes, sharpening his unique sense for applied catalysis research and safety. Michiel is one of the key founding members of Industrial Catalysis (now Catalysis Engineering) section with Prof. Jacob A. Moulijn and has established a solid ground to perform both fundamental and applied catalysis research at ChemE.

The most recent example is Industrial Catalysis Lab (Building 67) where we benefited from his rich experience on high-pressure reactions and safety for its successful construction. He is globally recognised for his research activities in petrochemical, syngas and environmental catalysis. In particular, he is known for his unbendable philosophy of “catalysis has to be useful and practical”, which is greatly appreciated by industries and numerous graduates educated under his supervision.

While Michiel will continue giving valuable advices to the researchers in Catalysis Engineering section, it is the time to enrich his non-professional life as well. We all wish him all the best with the next steps ahead!