Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering research group, led by Ville Alopaeus, has a strong tradition in practical industrial collaboration.

The research methodology is based on natural sciences and mechanistic modelling of chemical processes. The research aims at developing methodology and tools that allow fast and reliable development and scale-up of new industrial chemical processes. Teaching in Chemical engineering aims at development of generic skills and fundamental understanding of chemical processes. This understanding can be applied in a wide variety of chemical technology fields and practical applications.
Annually about 1.5 doctoral students finish their doctoral thesis and about 5 master students finish their master thesis.
Main research topics
- Measurement of phase equilibria relevant to chemical process industry. Especially measurement capabilities for vapor-liquid equilibria research are well developed.
- Microprocess technology, especially development of small scale distillation units. The technology is also applied in research of process intensification with integrated miniaturized chemical process plants.
- Modeling of thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and multiphase chemical processes. The aim in this focus area is to combine fundamental models describing molecular scale kinetics into unified integrated process modeling tools with high predictive power. These tools can significantly speed up traditional process development and design.
Ongoing projects
- Phase Equilibria for Bio-refineries (PEQBIO)
- Crystallization - FLUKI
- Academy Research Fellow Project: Process development intensification by utilization of a new generation of Micro-plants
- Physical Properties and Phase Equilibria Measurements for Pyrolysis Oil Components
- Phase Stability Calculation and Equilibrium Measurements for Biorefinery
- Fubio Joint Research 2 / Ionic Liquids
- Fubio Joint Research 2 / Modelling of Hot Water Extraction
- Products from dissolved cellulose / Modelling of viscose process
- CLEEN- Carbon Capture and Storage
Latest publications
Chemical engineering, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
Modelling a molten salt thermal energy system – A validation study
Publishing year: 2019
Applied Energy
Chemical engineering, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
Physicochemical Modeling for Pressurized Hot Water Extraction of Spruce Wood
Publishing year: 2018
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Biorefineries, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Chemical engineering
Isobaric Vapor–Liquid Equilibrium of Furfural + γ-Valerolactone at 30 kPa and Isothermal Liquid–Liquid Equilibrium of Carbon Dioxide + γ-Valerolactone + Water at 298 K
Publishing year: 2018
Journal of Chemical Engineering Data
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Biorefineries, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical engineering
Chemical Recovery of γ-Valerolactone/Water Biorefinery
Publishing year: 2018
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Chemical engineering, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
Modeling of nickel-based hydrotalcite catalyst coated on heat exchanger reactors for CO2 methanation
Publishing year: 2018
Chemical Engineering Journal
Chemical engineering, Printing Technology, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems
Investigating elastic relaxation effects on the optical properties of functionalised calcium carbonate compacts using optics-based Heckel analysis
Publishing year: 2018
International Journal of Pharmaceutics
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical engineering
Temperature and Pressure Dependence of Density of a Shale Oil and Derived Thermodynamic Properties
Publishing year: 2018
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical engineering
Quaternary and ternary LLE measurements for solvent (2-methyltetrahydrofuran and cyclopentyl methyl ether) + furfural + acetic acid + water between 298 and 343 K
Publishing year: 2018
Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical engineering
Compartmental modeling of large stirred tank bioreactors with high gas volume fractions
Publishing year: 2018
Chemical Engineering Journal
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical engineering, Biorefineries
Vapor pressure, vapor-liquid equilibria, liquid-liquid equilibria and excess enthalpy of the system consisting of isophorone, furfural, acetic acid and water
Publishing year: 2018
Chemical Engineering Science
Research group members

