Student Profile

Name of student:

Anca Roibu (intern)

Summary Institutes/universities attend and attending:

• Master studies: Erasmus Mundus Master Programme 'Advanced Spectroscopy in Chemistry' at Lille 1 University (France), Bologna University (Italy) and Leipzig University (Germany) (2012-2014)
• Bachelor studies: 'Chemistry and Engineering of Organic Compounds, Petrochemistry and Carbochemistry' at University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania) (2008-2012)

Your current job/employment/research (max 100 words):

Currently, I am an intern at VUAnCh (March-May 2015) and starting with June 2015, I will begin my PhD studies as a Marie Curie Fellow (ESR) at KU Leuven, Belgium (see http://www.photo4future.com/?page_id=5).

Previously, my master thesis was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Roger Gläser in Heterogeneous Catalysis Group (Institute of Chemical Technology, Leipzig) in the field of heterogeneous catalysis for biomass conversion in liquid aqueous phase.

Research carried out at VUAnCh (max 600 words):

The aim of my research is to investigate the catalytic conversion of fatty acids to biofuels. Fatty acids are produced from vegetable and animal oils and fats. Stearic acid was chosen in the current work as model compound and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) as method for oxygen removal. The research implied preparation, characterization and testing of supported catalysts in stearic acid conversion. My focus is to identify the suitable operating conditions and noble metal-free catalyst active for production of n alkanes, with a high selectivity for hydrogenation/dehydration and low selectivity for hydrocracking reactions.

Valuable skills and experience gained from working with VUAnCh (max 200 words):

At VUAnCh, I had the opportunity of being involved in the preliminary stages of a research project. This allowed me to learn the methodology of working at a new research topic and how to deal with unpredicted challenges. In addition, I acquired practical experience in working with autoclave at high temperatures (e.g., 350 °C) and pressures (e.g., 20 bar) and in analysing liquid and gas products by gas chromatography (GC). Even the stay was short, I had the chance of being introduced to the work culture of VUAnCh, a non-academic research environment.