Starch in the Bioeconomy

Jean-Luc Wertz holds degrees in chemical civil engineering and in economic science from Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, as well as a PhD from the same university in applied science, specializing in polymer chemistry. He has had various international positions in R&D, including Spontex where he was the worldwide director of R&D. He holds several patents related to various products. In his last job before his retirement, he was a project manager in biomass valorization at ValBiom and worked more than eight years on biobased products and biorefineries. He also wrote three books: Cellulose Science and Technology in 2010, Lignocellulosic Biorefineries in 2013 and Hemicelluloses and Lignin in Biorefineries in 2018. Bénédicte Goffin holds a Master degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) as well as a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Namur (Belgium). She joined Certech (Seneffe, Belgium) in 1998 as Project Manager. With more than 20 years of experience in the field of polymer science, Bénédicte is leading several collaborative R&D projects at regional and European levels. This includes the scientific and financial management of public funded projects such as cross-border projects (Interreg programme between France and Belgium). Through these various innovative projects, Bénédicte specialized more particularly on topics related to biobased products, wood or natural fibers polymer composites, circular economy and plastics recycling.