Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
Research ESRIG - Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen Events

CANCELLED | ESRIG-EES colloquium | Natasha Reveilhac, Sybren Couwenberg and Marijke ten Hoopen, MSc EES students

When:Tu 17-03-2020 15:30 - 17:00
Where:5159.0110, Nijenborgh 6 (Energy Academy)

This colloquium is cancelled


Title | Land, water and energy footprint of four meat substitutes produced in the Netherlands.

Speaker | Natasha Reveilhac, MSc EES student.

Supervisors | Winnie Leenes and Sanderine Nonhebel (IVEM).

Summary | Products that are manufactured from livestock are related to environmental issues. It seems that a standard diet, which includes animal products, has a higher land, water and energy footprint than a vegetable diet per capita. Nowadays, there are different alternatives to animal products on the market. Some of them are meat substitutes, commonly known as “patty burgers”, which are classified into different categories. This research is focused on the plant-based category, which is composed of three subcategories: algae-based, fermented-based and vegetable-based meat substitutes. The agriculture and the food industry play an important role in the environmental impacts of these products. The aim of this research is to compare the land, water and energy footprint of four representative meat substitutes from the market with meat produced in the Netherlands.


Title | Automated system for the chemical pre-treatment of wood samples for radiocarbon dating.

Speaker | Sybren Couwenberg, MSc EES student.

Supervisors | Michael Dee and Dipayan Paul (CIO).

Summary | During this thesis we developed an automated system for the chemical pre-treatment of wood samples for radiocarbon dating. Up until now, the chemical pre-treatment has been a labour intensive process and has required a lot of laboratory technician time. With this new system, the standard pre-treatment for most samples (acid-base-acid, ABA) analysed by the CIO can be performed. The system consists of selector valves, liquid diaphragm pumps, tubing and glass reaction vessels all from resistant materials to withstand the required chemicals and prevent sample contamination. The system has been verified by gravimetric analysis, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and carbon-14 measurements. The results show that it produces statistically indistinguishable results from previously measured samples. Furthermore, by using this system the pre-treatment is more controlled and the results more reproducible. The hope is that this system will now be used routinely and save the laboratory considerable time and expense going forward.


Title | Exploring different Regional Energy Strategies for the RES region of Groningen to contribute to a CO2 neutral hourly electricity supply for the municipality of Groningen.

Speaker | Marijke ten Hoopen, MSc EES student.

Supervisors | René Benders and Piet Nienhuis (IVEM).

Summary | In June of 2019, the Dutch government presented the Klimaat Akkoord. Here, they set the goal of generating 35 TWh of electricity using large scale solar parks and wind turbines on land. In order to achieve this goal, the Netherlands was divided in 30 regions which all have to deliver a so called Regional Energy Strategy (RES) containing their plans on installing large scale solar parks and wind turbines on land. One of these regions is the province of Groningen. This research looks into the possibility of providing a balanced (on an hourly basis), CO2 neutral electricity supply for the municipality of Groningen under different implementations of the RES Groningen in combination with different storage techniques.