Chemistry of Citrus peel- Internship experience

Thomas Dezaire

MSc Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University

Thomas Dezaire is doing an internship with us and bringing all his chemistry knowledge to fine tune our technology to upcycle ingredients from citrus peel side-streams. Here is a small summary on his experience:

 

Hi! My name is Thomas Dezaire and from February to July, 2021, I am doing my internship at Greencovery as a final part of my MSc Nanomaterials Science. When I was looking for an internship, I was looking for a company that operates in the field of biomass valorisation as this topic had piqued my interest during my MSc thesis project at Utrecht University. A mutual contact between Carlos Cabrera and me suggested that I should get in contact with Carlos, and that is how I started my internship at Greencovery.

Francisco (Paco) Caparrós and I are working on a project in which Greencovery aims to improve the extraction of valuable components from an orange peel side stream using Greencovery’s technology. With a background in mainly catalysis and inorganic chemistry, working with a food side stream was a new experience for me. Luckily I got enough time to familiarize myself with the topic. My internship so far has been a good opportunity for me to get acquainted with the chemistry of citrus peels and to (re)familiarize myself with some process technology concepts. More importantly, this internship gives me the opportunity to gain more experience with working in an application-oriented research setting.

What I like the most about my internship is the pleasant and open working atmosphere: I am feeling a lot of freedom to contribute to the project with my own ideas. I have regular informal discussions with Paco in which we discuss the project, and every week we have a meeting with the R&D team to discuss the progress of all the ongoing projects.

I like using my chemical knowledge to make chemical processes and products more sustainable. During my time as a student and after having done multiple internships in industry and academia, I have learned that I get most satisfaction from doing academic research. Therefore, I would like to work in a research setting after this internship, preferably by pursuing a PhD.

Reach him out if you are looking for a great PhD candidate for your project: Thomas Dezaire- Linkedin