H.L.F.M. (Henri) Spanjers

H.L.F.M. (Henri) Spanjers

Profile

Biography

Graduated as an Environmental Engineer from the Wageningen University. His PhD focused on activated sludge process respirometry. He worked at the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, at the University of Ottawa in Canada, at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. From 1999 to 2012 he was project director with Lettinga Associates Foundation in Wageningen. In addition, from 2006 to 2008, he was part-time professor of modeling and simulation of biosystems at Ghent University, Belgium. Since 2012 he is full-time associate professor in the section of Sanitary Engineering, Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology, where he leads the Industry Water group. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Water Resources and Industry journal, and board member of the Association for Knowledge Exchange Industrial Water Technology. In 2023 he was a visiting professor at the Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
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Biography

Henri Spanjers graduated as an Environmental Engineer. He worked with a number of research institutes in various EU countries and was project director with a consultancy firm. He is currently assoc professor at Delft University of Technology, faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, where he leads the Industry Water group. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Water Resources and Industry journal.

Expertise

  • Industrial water recovery, reuse, recycling and treatment
  • Process modelling

Expertise

Anaerobic treatment technology and resource recovery. Instrumentation of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. Use of respirometry in modelling and control of the activated sludge process. Nutrient removal processes. Identification of anaerobic and activated sludge process models. Modelling, simulation and control of wastewater treatment processes. Design of wastewater treatment plants. Industrial water use, treatment and recycling. Bio-energy and fuel cells.

Projects

  • Recovery of ammonia from residual water to fuel solid oxide fuel cell.
  • Treatment of extreme wastewater by anaerobic membrane bioreactor.
  • Recovery of water, salts, minerals from brines.
  • Recovery of ammonium hydroxide from waste streams using electrodialysis bipolar.
  • Magnetite surface properties under various conditions of power plant water steam cycle
  • Combined electrochemical and photocatalytic oxidation of micro-pollutants.

Projects

Feasibility testing and investigation into utilization of reject brine in  3D printable concrete production (BRINE2BETON)

Industrial Wastewater Treatment using Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor - Effect of magnetite addition on the anaerobic digestion of phenolic wastewater

N2kWh – from Pollutant to Power

Biography

Henri Spanjers is associate professor at TU Delft since 2009 and leader of the Industry Water group of the Sanitary Engineering section. He holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering (Wageningen University 1985) and a PhD in wastewater treatment (Wageningen University 1993). He worked at the department of Agricultural, Environmental and Systems Technology of Wageningen University, at the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, at the University of Ottawa in Canada, at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy, and at Ghent University in Belgium. He was project director with Lettinga Associates Foundation in Wageningen. Henri Spanjers is reviewer of various international journals including Water Research, Water Science and Technology, Environmental Technology, Bioresource Technology, Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, and expert review committee member for various national and international research funding organizations. He was member of the scientific and programme committee, and session chair of various international conferences. He was committee member of the Royal Netherlands Water Network (KNW) Theme Group on IT-Applications in the Water Sector and secretary of the International Water Association Specialist Group on Anaerobic Digestion. His research interest is in the use and treatment of water in the industry, and in the application of anaerobic digestion and instrumentation control and automation in industrial water management, more specifically focused on resource recovery and reuse, and biological treatment under extreme conditions. He has over 150 publications of which 140 in peer reviewed journals, and his H-Index is 34. During his 12-year career with Lettinga Associates Henri Spanjers has been responsible for many national and international consultancy projects. He has been working group leader in various EU projects and coordinator of several national research projects. He is currently coordinating 3 research projects and is daily supervisor of 5 PhD researchers.

 

 

 

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Research interests

Industrial water use, treatment and reuse

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