Christel Koopman

Background

I obtained my BSc degree in Molecular Science and Technology and my MSc degree in Chemical Engineering at the TU Delft. During my master thesis, I studied the scale-up opportunities of Gas Diffusion Electrodes for electrochemical reduction of CO₂ in the Transport Phenomena group. After an internship on green and sustainable chemistry at Cefic in Brussels, I am now back in the research group to do a PhD on electrochemical separation of carbon monoxide.

Research

Cost and energy efficient separation of carbon monoxide will be an important part of the transition to a circular carbon economy. Carbon monoxide is a valuable chemical for the production of fuels and higher value chemicals. However, to be able to use CO for the production of these higher value chemicals, we need to be able to separate CO gas molecules from other gases, such as N₂, CO₂ and O₂. Compared to conventional separation methods, electrochemical separation could offer high selectivity and limited energy losses. During my PhD project, I aim to develop a separation technology to separate carbon monoxide from gases using electrochemistry.