UGent: Particle and Interfacial Technology Group (PaInT)

General expertise of the research group

The Particle and Interfacial Technology Group (PaInT) is a research group within the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University, which focuses on separation processes for physical-chemical water treatment. The name PainT stems from the fact that the research is focus on interfacial phenomena and selective separations. The key know-how of the group lies in:

• Industrial water treatment (high-quality applications, cooling & ultrapure water)
• Membrane-based processes (focus on transport phenomena), including reverse and forward osmosis, nano/micro/ultra-filtration, membrane distillation, and electrolysis/electrodialysis.
• Increasing selectivity and fouling resistance of interfaces.
• Resource recovery

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Physical and chemical water treatment for ultrapure water for H2 production in electrolysis
• Decentralised & alternative energy-powered desalination for ultrapure water
• Link between thermolysis of organic matter, formation of organics acids and H2-assisted corrosion phenomena in steam-water cycles (in collaboration with Prof. Kim Verbeken)

Available equipment/tools:

• lab- & pilot-scale (ultrapure) water treatment technology
• Mobile IMPROVED pilot-plant infrastructure for on-site water treatment, coupled with process (e.g., steam boiler) simulation and online corrosion measurements
• Lab-scale stacks for conventional electrodialysis and bipolar membrane and mono-selective membrane applications, including automated potentiostats.
• Lab-scale stacks for electrolysis applications
• Medium and large-size Pilot scale units for electrodialysis applications

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research

• AquaSPICE (H2020; started 12/2020)
• Improved (Interreg; finished 2020)
• RUSTICA (H2020; started 1/2021)
• BIOSTABLE (SBO; started 10/2020)
• REvivED (H2020, finished 2O21)
• Condensate Polishing (ISPT, started 2019)
• Numerous local grants

International collaborations:

• Large academic network throughout Europe, United States, Australia & South-East Africa
• Numerous industrial research collaborations with large multinationals (DOW, Yara, Sabic, DSM, Kurita,…)