Adsorption School

Prof. Dr. Ir. Thijs J.H. Vlugt is a leading researcher in molecular thermodynamics, currently a full professor and chair of Engineering Thermodynamics at Delft University of Technology. He specializes in areas like CO₂ capture, hydrogen systems, adsorption in nanomaterials, and the thermodynamic properties of complex fluids, with over 330 publications, 19,000 citations, and an H-index of 74. His research centers on understanding molecular-scale processes to enable sustainable engineering applications, particularly in transport phenomena and adsorption in porous materials. Prof. Vlugt also plays a key role in scientific leadership, serving on multiple academic committees, organizing international conferences, and co-leading RASPA simulation software workshops. His contributions are supported by prestigious grants and extensive collaborations with industry and academia, aiming to integrate molecular insights with large-scale engineering innovations.

Dr. Frederico W. Tavares is a distinguished chemical engineer with a comprehensive academic and professional background. He holds a D.Cs. from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and has completed postdoctoral research in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and UC Berkeley. Dr. Tavares is a full professor at UFRJ’s School of Chemistry, where he supervises numerous graduate theses and post-doctoral projects. His research contributions are substantial, with over 225 peer-reviewed publications, two authored books, and a citation record demonstrating significant influence in his field. Dr. Tavares holds editorial positions in journals such as the Journal of Molecular Liquids and has received prestigious recognitions, including the “Scientist of Our State” fellowship and the CNPq “Productivity in Research” grant at its highest level since 2017. He has been awarded several large project grants from industry and government, underscoring his impactful research in chemical thermodynamics, phase equilibria, and molecular simulation.

Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern received in 1982 a Diplom in Chemical Engineering from Technische Hochschule Leuna-Merseburg and in 1987 a Ph.D. from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin (East). After a postdoc with Georges Guiochon at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, a Habilitation at the Technical University Berlin and a stay at the pharmaceutical company Schering in Berlin, he was between 1995 and 2022 Professor for Chemical Process Engineering at the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg. Between 2002 and 2024 he was Director at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, where he is still active as an Emeritus.

The research interests of Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern include heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption and preparative chromatography, crystallization and the development of new reactor concepts. Results of his work are published in approximately 600 research papers. Together with Peter Seeberger he received in 2015 the “Humanity in Science Award” (The Analytical Scientist, Phenomenex) and in 2021 the ACS Award for “Affordable Green Chemistry” (with Peter Seeberger and Kerry Gilmore). He holds Honorary Doctorates of the University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark) and the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland) and is member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering and the National Academy of Engineering of the United States. Between 2019 and 2022 he was President of the International Adsorption Society (IAS).

Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern organized several major international meetings, including the Symposium on Preparative and Industrial Chromatography (SPICA, 2002, Heidelberg), the International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE, 2006, Potsdam, with Albert Renken), Fundamental of Adsorption (FOA, 2016, Friedrichshafen) and the International Symposium on Industrial Crystallization (ISIC, 2021, Potsdam/online, with Heike Lorenz).

Matthias Thommes is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Separation Science and Technology at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). He also served as Head of the Department for Chemical and Biological Engineering at FAU from 2021 to 2023.

 Matthias obtained his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1993 at the Technical University Berlin. From 1992 to 1995 he was a project scientist at the EURECA mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 1996, he moved as an ESA fellow/research associate to the University of Maryland, College Park, USA.  In 1998, Matthias joined Quantachrome Corp (Boynton Beach, FL, USA).and was prior to accepting the position at FAU  Scientific Director at Quantachrome Corporation, Boynton Beach, USA (from 2001 to 2018). .In addition, he held Visiting Professor positions at the University of Edinburgh (UK) and the University of Lorraine (Epinal, Nancy, France) as well as prestigious leadership positions in a number of national and international boards, committees and authoritative bodies in the field of adsorption, nanoporous materials and their characterization. This includes  the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)), American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), International Zeolite Association (IZA), Facility of Adsorbent Testing and Characterization (FACT) at the National Institute of Standards (NIST, USA), International Adsorption Society (IAS), International Standard Organization (ISO).

Matthias Thommes’ work involves investigating the adsorption behavior of fluids in nanoporous materials, developing methodologies for application-specific nanoporous material characterization (both in the dry and wet phase) and conducting research in gas and energy storage. Within this framework, he examines the effects of nano-confinement on the adsorption, phase and wetting behavior of subcritical and supercritical fluids in nanopores. His research forms a link between the adsorption properties of adsorbents and their characteristics with the development of nanoporous materials and their use in various processes

He has received numerous recognitions for his work, among them the induction as a Fellow of the International Adsorption Society (IAS) in 2021.and most recently by the  American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), where is was distinguished for his outstanding achievements in the area of fundamentals of adsorption and porous materials characterization. during a dedicated  Honorary Session on October 28th in San Diego (USA)  at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting.

Ana Mafalda Ribeiro graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in 1999 and completed her Ph.D. at LSRE-LCM in April 2006. Since September 2019, she has been an Assistant Professor at FEUP. She has been involved in teaching in the Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering degrees at FEUP, in the areas of programming, separation processes and reaction engineering.

Her research focuses on adsorptive separation processes, including Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) and Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) design, adsorbent development, process modelling, and optimization. She is co-author of 1 book on Simulated Moving Bed Technology, of more than 150 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and 9 book chapters. She is also co-inventor of 1 granted patent and 1 patent application. She participated in several national and international projects.