Personal details

Axel Funke studied energy and process engineering at Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) and the Royal Institute of technology (Stockholm/ Sweden) followed by a position as engineer in the quality assurance of power plant and biodiesel plant engineering and construction in 2006. He started his scientific career 2008 in the field of hydrothermal carbonization of waste biomass at the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany). The subsequent postdoctoral research at the Leibniz-Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy Potsdam (Germany) from 2011 onwards focused on biomass conversion to produce biochar according to the ‘terra preta do indio’ phenomenon. In 2013 he started as team leader for fast pyrolysis technology development at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and works within the bioliq® project for the production of liquid fuels from biomass residues. His scientific focus is on engineering wet and dry thermochemical biomass conversion technology.

Memberships

• Task leader of the IEA Bioenergy Task 34 “Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction” 2019-2021

Awards

• PhD scholarship of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)

Research

• Biomass thermochemical conversion process design
• Auger reactor design
• Heat transfer in moving beds of particles
• Design of condensation systems for pyrolysis applications
• Biochar applications

Projects

• IEA Bioenergy Task 34 “Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction”, Own role: Task lead and project management, started 01/ 2019
• alProWa, Valorization of process waters from thermochemical biomass conversion by Fermentation, Own role: Work package leader KIT-IKFT, started 11/2018
• BRISK 2 (Biofuels research infrastructure), EU project, 15 partners, Own role: Project management KIT/ ExCo board member, brisk2.eu, started 05/2017

Publications  

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8425-1346
• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Axel_Funke
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/axelfunke/