Andrea Ramirez Ramirez

Profile

Dr. Andrea Ramírez is Professor of Low Carbon Systems and Technologies at ESS and director of the Graduate School of TPM. She holds a bachelor in Chemical Engineering (Colombia), a master in Human Ecology (Belgium) and a PhD in the field of energy efficiency (the Netherlands). She is one of the recipients of the Delft Technology Fellowship programme. Her research focuses on the evaluation of novel low carbon technologies and the design of methodologies and tools to assess their potential contribution to sustainable (energy and resource) systems.

Research

The focus of my research group is on the deep decarbonization of the Industrial sector. We develop methodologies for early technology assessment that integrate quantitative and qualitative knowledge and uncertainties.

I have recently been granted a VICI grant of 1.5 Million Euro by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Foundation (NWO). The project ‘Unravelling the impact of using alternative raw materials in industrial clusters’ aims to develop a conceptual framework to systematically analyse the impact of replacing fossil fuels with alternative raw materials in petrochemical industrial clusters.

This VICI will complement current research conducted in my group, which includes the following topics:

Production, conversion and storage of Hydrogen (Postdoc- Jonathan Moncada)
Negative emissions in the industrial sector (PhD project- Samantha Tanzer)
Industrial symbiosis in emerging industrial clusters (PhD project- Shiva Noori)
Heat networks in industrial processes (PhD project- Brendon de Raad)
Decarbonization of the Colombian Industry (PHD project together with RUG university- Edgar Yanez)
Impact of system conditions in electricity-driven biobased concept (Phd project- tbd)

Vural Gursel I., Dijstra JW., Huigen W.J, Ramirez A., (2019). Techno-economic comparative assessment of novel lignin depolymerization routes to bio-based aromatics. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining (Article in Press)
Tanzer S., Ramirez A., (2019). When are negative emissions negative emissions? Energy and Environmental Science 12 (4), 1210-1218
Fernandez-DaCosta C., Shen l., Schakel W., Ramirez A., Kramer GJ., (2019). Potential and challenges of low carbon energy options: Comparative assessment of alternative fuels for the transport sector. Applied Energy 236, 590-606
Fernandez-DaCosta C., Stojcheva V., Ramirez A., (2018) Closing Carbon cycles: evaluating the performance of multi-product CO2 utilization and storage configurations in a refinery. Journal of CO2 utilization 23, 128-142
Van der Spek M., Manzolini G., Ramirez A., (2018). New approach to techno-economic assessment of power plants with CCS. The inclusion of realistic dispatch profiles to calculate techno-economic of part load operations. Energy & Fuels, 32, 625-645
Moncada J., Posada J., Ramirez A., (2017). Comparative early stage assessment of multiproduct biorefinery systems: An application to the isobutanol platform. Bioresource Technology 241, 44-53
Tzanetis K., Posada J., Ramirez A., (2017). Analysis of biomass hydrothermal liquefaction and biocrude-oil upgrading for renewable jet fuel production: The impact of reaction conditions on production costs and GHG emissions performance. Renewable Energy 113,1388-1398
Liu W., Ramirez A., (2017). State of the art review of the environmental assessment and risks of underground geo-energy resources exploitation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76, 628-644

Full publication list

VICI- Unravelling the impact of using alternative raw materials in industrial clusters (2019- 2024). Principal investigator. The project aims to develop a conceptual framework to systematically analyse the impact of replacing fossil fuels with alternative raw materials in petrochemical industrial clusters.
A biobased approach to e-refinery concepts, work package 2: Impact of system conditions in the design and upscaling of biobased concepts applied to e-refineries (2019-2023).This project will assess novel integrated concepts that benefit of the carbon-neutrality of biomass and profit of the large fluctuations on electricity that are inherent to intermittent energy supply.
Hychain phase 3- Analysis of the current state and outlook of technologies for production,conversion, storage and transportation of hydrogen (based) energy carriers from renewable energy (2018-2019).

Associate Editor International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (Elsevier)
Jury of the NRG COSIA Carbon Xprize (see: carbon.xprize.org/). This is a 20-million-dollar global competition to develop breakthrough technologies that convert CO₂ emissions from power plants and industrial facilities into valuable products like building materials, alternative fuels and other items that we use every day.
Raad van Deskundigen voor de nationale metstandaarden (Board of experts of the Dutch metrology Institute)

Ramirez A., (2015). The PROSUITE social life cycle assessment framework. Chapter 8. In: Murray J., McBain D., and Wiedmann T., (Eds). The Sustainability Practitioner's Guide to Social Analysis and Assessment. Publisher: Common Ground, Champaign, Illinois, USA
Benson S.M., Cook P., Davison J., Coninck H. de, Farhat K., Ramirez A., Simbeck D., Surles T., Verma P., and Wright I., (2012). Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. In: Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future. L. Gomez-Echeverri, T.B. Johansson, N. Nakicenovic, A. Patwardhan, (eds.), IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria and Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA
Ramirez A., Patel M., Blok K. (2011). Using physical indicators to monitor energy efficiency development in non-energy intensive sectors. In: Florax R, de Groot H (eds). Improving energy efficiency through technology: trends, investment behavior and policy design. Chapter 4. Edward Elgar Publishing, 352 pp
Ramirez A., Blok K., Patel M. (2011). Monitoring energy use and energy efficiency in the Dutch service sector. Chapter 5, In: Florax R, de Groot H (eds). Improving energy efficiency through technology: trends, investment behavior and policy design. Chapter 5. Edward Elgar Publishing
Koornneef J., Harmelen T., van, Horssen A., van., Ramirez A., (2011). Carbon dioxide capture and air quality. In: Mazzeo N., (ed). Chemistry, Emission Control, Radioactive Pollution and Indoor Air Quality, In Tech. ISBN: 978-953-307-316-3, InTech, Available from: www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/carbon-dioxide-capture-and-air-quality
Patel M., Weiss M., Simon T., Ramirez A (2010).The chemical sector. Published in: Junginger M., van Sark W., Faaij A., Technological learning the energy sector. Lessons for policy, industry and science. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK, 2010, 233-247
Ramirez C.A., (2002). Peace, security and sustainable development in Africa. In: Regional sustainable development reviews: Africa, edited by dr. Emmanuel Boon. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford, UK