Organizing Committee Member
Gustaaf Schoukens
Professor
Ghent University
Belgium
Biography
Prof.dr.ir. Gustaaf Schoukens is a professor of polymer technology at the Ghent University (Belgium), faculty of Engineering. He received his degree in Chemical Engineering from the K.U. Leuven (Belgium) in 1971 where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 1978. The subject of his Ph.D. research was “Non-linear viscoelastic behavior of dispersionsâ€Â. He worked as a senior researcher from 1978 till 2004 in the private industry (Solvay; Central Research Laboratory) in polymerization and polymer processing. In 1994 he obtained the part-time position of lecturer at Ghent University, teaching “polymer processingâ€Â. In 2004 he received the full-time position of professor at Ghent University teaching all courses concerning polymer technology, including processing and polymerization processes. He is also involved in the courses concerning “environment and sustainable development†in general and teaching the course on the “rational use of materials†in particular. Polymer technology in general and polymer processing, including synthetic and biopolymers, in particular, are the main leads in his research program and its publications. The main research topics are now the development of artificial turf for sports applications and the development of biopolymers based on chitin or chitosan with biomedical properties. More recent research is the study of nanostructures, especially nanoparticles obtained by reaction engineering. These nanoparticles are already used in large quantities for coating paper and paperboard. I am an expert in the production of monofilaments for artificial sports applications and founded ERCAT (European Research Centre for Artificial Turf).
Research Area
Sustainable development and environmental technology Polymers Materials processing.