2010/06/02 > eTech France 242 > Waste and Biomass Valorization: The Example of Professor Ange Nzihou's Approach

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		Special Report Waste and Biomass Valorization: The Example of Professor Ange Nzihou's Approach http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/63529.htm The third WastEng Conference Series has just ended in Beijing. From May 17 to 19, the international congress dedicated to waste and biomass valorization brought together specialists from 48 different countries. This was an opportunity for Professor Ange Nzihou, a teacher-researcher at Ecole des Mines d'Albi (graduate engineering school of Albi) and creator of the scientific event, to present the first issue of Springer Editions' new international review called Waste and Biomass Valorization. He is both the editor-in-chief and initiator of the journal. For the world acclaimed French expert in waste treatment and valorization, who teaches at Princeton and Columbia (USA) and in China, this is the outcome of a long process that started some fifteen years ago when the then citizen of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) who was to become a French citizen, had just completed his doctoral thesis in Toulouse. The first issue of Waste and Biomass Valorization was officially presented at the annual congress of the American Chemical Society (ACS) [1] and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an event that drew 15,000 people and addressed the topic of sustainable development, last March in San Francisco. Every two years, the ACS and EPA give the Presidential Green Chemistry Academic Award to the person who has made a remarkable contribution to sustainable development over the past five years. At this year's congress, they awarded the distinguished prize to Professor Ange Nzihou. This is especially noteworthy as the award is usually given to US researchers. For the teacher-researcher at the Ecole des Mines d'Albi, the prize is the outcome of an approach that was undertaken fifteen years ago by the young researcher from the Republic of Congo who had come to France to defend his doctoral thesis in process engineering at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Génie Civile (ENSIGC, graduate school in civil engineering; ENSIACET since 2001). Research on Tomorrow's Topics The fifteen years started out as an obstacle course for the young foreigner who did not have the required documents to work in France. But the energetic and enthusiastic young researcher did not let that stop him. He decided to continue his research without pay at the laboratory where he wrote his thesis, as he was fully aware that for researchers it is "publish or perish". "If you don't, you no longer exist," he said. During those two years, he completely changed course. As he was from a country with huge oil resources, he had naturally opted for a career in the oil industry, hence his thesis written for the ELF group (now TOTAL). However, he quickly realized that the stakes and challenges were no longer to be found in oil production, but in the environmental issues the industry generates. So, he outlined a project that he submitted to different teaching and research establishments. This is how, in 1998, Professor Ange Nzihou joined the Ecole des Mines d'Albi, which had been created 5 years earlier. "The Graduate Engineering Schools are under the Ministry for Industry. So, the mindset is different. They mainly bank on on people and projects," he explained. His project appealed to the school, especially to Didier Lecomte, then Director of the Energy and Environment Center. "He was a very open-minded," said Professor Nzihou, and was instrumental in providing him with the required resources to develop his project. The basis of the project relied on a simple fact: the waste and biomass in metals or contaminants are thrown in dumps whereas they do have value. "How can one claim to address development that necessarily involves a clean use of the resource?" he wondered. So, he came up with the idea of stabilizing the metal and contaminants. Collaborative work, specifically with large industrial groups, was soon to follow, through the funding of the projects developed for the theses of young engineers who made up most of Professor Nzihou's team. "Partnering industry operators with our developments helped us make faster progress and gave visibility and meaning to our research." The research now conducted by the researcher's team tackles several topics in a vast fast-growing and very promising field. The team is working on an array of materials, ranging from so-called CCA wood and drainage sludge. Railway sleepers or electric poles are treated with a cocktail of copper, chromium and arsenic, hence the acronym CCA (chromate copper arsenate), to prevent them from rotting. The wood has so many metals in it that it cannot be stored in the soil. "Accordingly, we developed a process in partnership with a Bordeaux based industrial group, that makes it possible to produce energy and recover pure metals, whereas before everything was crushed," he explained. They also developed a process for drainage sludge that, once processed, can produce bricks and civil engineering materials. On the Importance of Reaching Out to Young People Ange Nzihou quickly realized that it is hard for teams such as his, which are working on topics under the general label of the 'environment' or sustainable development', to publish their research findings, or even discuss them at scientific events. "We are still a diffuse and scattered scientific community." That is why he suggested creating an event that had been lacking until then. It would be an international congress on waste and biomass valorization called WastEng Conference Series. The first congress was successfully held in Albi, in 2005. They did not expect more than 50 to 100 people, at most. But 300 people from 42 different countries attended. The second congress was held in Greece, in 2008, and was "watched with interest by the European Commission," he pointed out. The third congress, which just ended in Beijing, confirms the success and usefulness of this type of event. Professor Ange Nzihou is already tackling other projects. Although he may be justifiably satisfied with the outcome of the approach that he undertook when he was still a young researcher, he knows that the outcome is not an end in itself, but an opportunity to broaden his research and increase collaborative work with teams and industry operators worldwide. In 2011, with his colleagues at Columbia University (USA) where he teaches he will be drafting the four volumes of an encyclopedia on waste and biomass valorization. During the summer, he will attend the second session of a seminar in Abuka, Nigeria. He organized the first session with the International Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (2IE) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in July 2009, jointly with his colleagues Patrick Sharrock and Didier Lecomte. Researchers from all over the world attended the event. "Young people from 26 different African countries study at the 2IE engineering school. They are the future. So, it is important to reach out to them," stated the Professor of the Ecole des Mines d'Albi, who heads a cosmopolitan team of a dozen people, with numerous doctoral students and postdoctorands, including a Mauritanian student and a Malagasy student. What better proof that Professor Ange Nzihou keeps a watchful eye on what is going on in Africa despite his very heavy workload. -- [1] The world's leading scientific society bringing together researchers and industry operators in chemistry and processes	>> Suivant Version imprimable >> Transmettre cette info par email >> Recommander ce site à un collègue / ami >> S'abonner au eTech France >> FAQ / foire aux questions >> Conditions d'utilisation >>


	Pour en savoir plus, contacts :	Ecoles de Mines d'Albi (Graduate Engineering School of Albi)- Professor Ange Nzihou - email: ange.nzihou@mines-albi.fr	Code brève ADIT : 63529

	Rédacteur :	ADIT - Jean-François Desessard - email: jfd@adit.fr


	Origine :	eTech France numéro 242 (2/06/2010) - ADIT / ADIT - http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/63529.htm

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