I am a PhD student in the labs of Prof François Maréchal and Jeremy Luterbacher since September 2021. As part of the EPFLglobaLeaders fellowship, my project is in collaboration with the EPFL spin-off Bloom Biorenewables. Teaching is an important part of my work and I am also organising a summer school this year on Science and Policy titled “Beyond the Lab: Addressing Global Challenges as Scientists”. Prior to joining EPFL, I graduated from Imperial College London with a first class degree in Chemical Engineering. If I am not in the lab, you will find me outside, either hiking, sailing, skiing or cycling!
My research
The goal of my PhD is to accelerate the commercialisation of a new type of biorefinery which converts (waste) biomass into high-value chemicals and materials while preserving native biogenic structures as much as possible. Starting from experimental data collected by my colleagues in the lab of Jeremy Luterbacher or at the pilot-scale facility of Bloom Biorenewables, I build process simulations to identify early bottlenecks and propose modifications to improve the economics and the sustainability of the process. Instead of targeting drop-in replacement for petrochemicals, this process produces functionality substitues for plastics, solvents and surfactants among other. Comparing those new molecules with their fossil conterparts requires the development of a new assessment framework which consideres the high biomass utilisation efficiency. Finally, our process is destined to be an integral part of the future decarbonised chemical industry and we developped a decision support tool to identify biorefinery configurations and synergies with auxiliary processes.
Languages
English, French, German
Awards
Best poster at GRC Biobased Materials and Chemicals, June 2023, USA
Chemistry Travel Award from SCNAT & Swiss Chemical Society, June 2023.
Selected Publications
Manker L.P., Hedou M.A., Broggi C., Jones M.J. et al. “Performance polyamides built on a sustainable carbohydrate core.”, Nature Sustainability, March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01298-7
Sun S., De Angelis G., Bertella S., Jones M.J., Dick G.R., Amstad E. & Luterbacher J.S., ”Integrated Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Bio-Based Amphiphiles using a Functionalization-Defunctionalization Approach”, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, January 2024, https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202312823.
Manker L.P., Jones M.J., Bertella S., Behaghel de Bueren J. & Luterbacher J.S., ”Current strategies for industrial plastic production from non-edible biomass.”, Current Opinions in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, June 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2023.100780. *Contributed equally
Guo M., Jones M.J., Goh R., Verma V., Guinn E., Heng J.Y.Y., ”The Effect of Chain Length and Conformation on the Nucleation of Glycine Homopeptides during the Crystallization Process”, Crystal Growth & Design, January 2023, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c01229.
Manker L.P., Dick G.R., Demongeot A., Hedou M.A., Rayroud C., Rambert T., Jones M.J., Sulaeva I., Vieli M., Leterrier Y., Potthast A., Maréchal F., Michaud V., Klok H-A. & Luterbacher J.S., ”Sustainable polyesters via direct functionalization of lignocellulosic sugars.”, Nature Chemistry, June 2022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022-00974-5.