The Circular Economy

Head of the Green Chemistry laboratory his research in water treatment is performed at an internationally competitive level. The laboratory, which has been linked nationally and internationally, has engaged in synergistic collaboration with over 80 research partners from the world’s leading laboratories in six continents. His interest is focused in applying cutting-edge, fundamental and applied research at the interface of environmental, chemical and physical sciences and engineering to develop low cost, beneficial and practical solutions to various water problems faced by our society worldwide.

Dr. Sillanpää’s research work centers on chemical treatment in environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and analysis. More specifically, he has worked extensively with adsorption, photocatalysis, electrochemical treatment and advanced oxidation processes as well as ion mobility spectrometry, chromatographic methods, electrochemical sensor development and real-time monitoring. His most recent research work has been devoted to studying the application of nanotechnologies in the above mentioned research fields.

Dr. Chaker Ncibi obtained his PhD in Environmental Engineering in 2008 from the University of Sousse, Tunisia. He pursued his research activities as postdoctoral researcher in France, Guadeloupe, Germany and Finland. Currently, he is Assistant Professor in ‘circular economy in water treatment’ at the Department of Green Chemistry, School of Engineering Science, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His teaching and R&D focus areas include circular economy, bioeconomy, sustainability, green chemistry, advanced water and wastewater treatment technologies (adsorption, membrane bioreactor, AOPs and electrochemical processes), resources recovery from municipal and industrial side streams, and the thermochemical conversion of biomass and biowaste into materials, fuels and chemicals. Dr. Ncibi is the principal investigator of many projects, guest editor for several special issues in Elsevier journals, and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and two books in the broad field of sustainability.