The team
Professor Herbert Sixta
D. Sc., head of the Biorefineries research group at Aalto University. Professor Sixta has an extensive industrial and academic career in the field of wood chemical pulping and conversion to cellulose derivatives. He has authored and coauthored over 250 scientific publications and written a comprehensive textbook on all aspects of pulp production, conversion, and characterization.
Professor Ville Alopaeus
D. Sc. (Tech.), head of the Chemical Engineering research group at Aalto University. After his doctoral degree, he worked as a process design engineer at Neste Jacobs and then started his post-doc researcher career at TKK (nowadays Aalto University). He began the full professorship of Chemical engineering in 2008 and is currently head of department in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. He has authored and coauthored over 200 scientific publications.
Dr. Juha-Pekka Pokki
D. Sc. (Tech.), senior lecturer and researcher in the Chemical Engineering research group. Dr. Pokki has extensive scientific and industrial experiences on important phase-separation techniques. His current research focus is investigating phase equilibria of complex systems and developing lab-scale unit operations to support the chemical recovery of the GVL biorefinery.
Dr. Huy Quang Lê
D. Sc. (Tech.), responsible for pulping activities in Biorefineries research group (Aalto University). Together with Professor Sixta, he developed the proof-of-concept for the GVL biorefinery during his doctoral dissertation.
Marianna Granatier
M. Sc. currently working as a doctoral candidate in the Biorefineries group (Aalto University) on the topic of GVL Biorefinery with emphasis on GVL pulping of birch wood, fundamentals of GVL chemistry and GVL recovery.