biografie: Dr. Ir. John van der Schaaf

John van der Schaaf did his PhD-study from 1994-1998 at Delft University of Technology on the J.M. Burgers Centre project "Dynamics of Gas-Solids Fluidized Beds - analysis of pressure fluctuations". Parallel to writing his thesis, he did postdoctoral research from 1998-2000 on the validation of computational fluid dynamics codes for gas-solid fluidized beds. He joined the Glass Technology group of Prof.dr.ir. R.G.C. Beerkens in 2000, where he did postdoctoral research on the formation of foam in glass melting furnaces, in cooperation with TNO. During this period he coached four PhD-students working on sulphur chemistry of glasses, foam production from waste incinerator fly-ash, and model-based predictive control of glass furnaces. He developed a thermodynamic model for prediction of activities in glass-melts, a physicochemical model for foam production and a physical model for foam build-up and breakdown. He started working as assistant professor (tenure track) in the group of Prof.dr.ir. J.C. Schouten in March 2003. Currently, he coaches PhD-students working on catalyst particle design and modeling and hydrodynamics and mass transfer in slurry bubble columns and foam structured packings. His expertise is in multiphase flow physics, dynamic behavior of (multiphase) reactors and chemical engineering in general.