Celso Magri, who has more than 20 years of experience in the chemical industry, has developed and launched products based on recycled sources for the automotive and consumer electronics industries. After joining Orion in 2020, he created the sustainability strategy for the rubber business at the specialty chemical company. Mr. Magri’s current focus is enabling the tire and rubber value chain to transition to the circular economy.
He has an MSc Engineering from University of Sao Paulo, an MBA from London Business School and is a certified engineer in Brazil and Germany.
Paul Ita runs Notch Consulting, a Massachusetts-based research company dedicated to the market research needs of the global specialty chemicals industry. Mr. Ita focuses on raw materials for the global tire and rubber industries, with a particular focus on carbon black, silica, and rubber chemicals. Through Notch, he publishes the Carbon Black World Data Book and the Carbon Black Quarterly Newsletter.
Krzysztof Wróblewski is a chemical and process engineer who gained his first pyrolysis experiences at Warsaw University of Technology as a member of research team and quickly became one of the designers of new technology at Contec. Taking part in the construction and leading the startup of the plant allowed him to implement and test new ideas. Now, as CEO, Krzysztof is still developing new solutions to perfect the process performance.
Tommi Pajala, MSc in energy technology and BSc in automation technology, has worked with pyrolysis and recycling technology for more than 20 years and founded the recycling technology company Ecomation in 2007. At the moment Tommi serves as the company's chief operating officer, responsible for product development, technology and the project operations. He is considered one of Finland’s leading experts in slow pyrolysis technology.
After finishing his chemical education (HBO) he started working as a R&D chemist and applications laboratory group leader. Later in his career he also finished an executive MBA in strategic marketing/general management. Getting in contact with customers and the market he decided to give his career a commercial twist and since then he has been working at the edge of sales, marketing and technical service, including a position at Cabot as technical service manager. In these positions he also gained a lot of international carbon black experience. He has been working for over 35 years in ink & coating related industries.
Alex Bowles is a final year PhD student at Imperial College, London. His research focusses on high-value product recovery from waste tyres, with particular focus on tyre derived activated carbon. Alex has been investigating tyre recycling for four years, and prior to his PhD, researched the potential of waterjet granulation of car tyres. Alex draws on the experience of his PhD supervisor, Dr Geoffrey Fowler. Geoff is a Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College, London, and has over 30 years of experience in the tyre recycling sector. Geoff’s research focusses on pyrolysis and manages a world-leading laboratory with 5 different pyrolysis reactors and a wide array of characterisation instrumentation.
Mr. Pascal Klein is CEO and Chairperson of the Executive Board of Pyrum. He is a founding member of the company and served as General Director of Pyrum ESC GmbH since 2008. From 2018 he has held the positions as Chairperson of the Executive Board, CEO, CFO and COO of the Company and is also a board member of Pyrum S.A.
Mr Klein received his bachelor degree in 2006 in "International Management" from ISEG Strasbourg and in 2008, he received his master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) at ISM Paris and St. Johns' University New York. He won the “Concours Lépine” in 2017 and was named national winner of the “Founder Campion for Innovation” in 2012.
Educated at Oxford and The Royal Military Academy, Robert Harper has been an industrial technology entrepreneur in the circular chemicals and renewable energy sectors for 14 years. This has involved innovating and scaling several plant technologies from lab concept through to scaled production and the production of novel sustainable fuels and circular chemicals under long-term contracts with several major multinationals. He is the Co-founder and Deputy CEO of Circtec, in which role he is currently focussed on deploying a new flagship plant scale-up in the Netherlands. He pioneered the first ever REACh registration for tyre pyrolysis products in 2015 and the first ever ISCC registration for tyre pyrolysis products in 2017. In 2021 Circtec and Birla Carbon announced a long-term supply agreement and partnership for sustainability. Circtec has 2 operational plants and a third under construction, and holds full permits for 250,000 tonnes per year of end-of-life tyre processing capacity in Europe.
On a broad background of Humansistics and a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Richard Chiari has over 25 years of professional experience in Manufacturing, Logistics and Procurement: twelve years in FMCG-food/feed with Mars, five years in Plastics Industry (Borealis-Borouge) and also several years as CPO (Procurement&Production) for Erber Group, a globally engaged Hidden Champion in sustainable Agro-Biotechnology.
As Semperit Group Global Lead Buyer Carbon Black, Richard works together closely with R&D to further develop a sound business case establishing rCB as a complementary raw material for MRG Mechanical Rubber Goods in bigger industrial scale.
Dr. Andreas Topp holds the position as Continental’s Vice-President for Material & Process Development and Industrialization Tires. The organization of Dr. A. Topp is responsible for innovating, developing, and industrializing new technologies in the field of raw materials, rubber compounding, and smart processing solutions for tire manufacturing.
In previous functions within the tire organization of Continental, Dr. A. Topp held positions with responsibility on classic material research & development. Moreover, he has held various management positions in the field of original equipment and replacement PLT tire product development as well.
Dr. A. Topp holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cologne, Germany. Prior to starting his career at Continental, Dr. A. Topp worked on a postdoctoral grant at the NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, focussing on the structural analysis and fundamental studies on dendrimers and hyperbranched materials.
Tony leads Bolder Industries with a great passion for protecting our environment, creating innovative products, and enhancing the lives of our employees. He founded Bolder Industries in 2011 after seeing inefficiencies in the recycling industry while operating three landfills in Central Florida. Drawing on his past experiences in the innovative field of medical devices, Tony looked for new and better ways to handle waste streams.
Tony graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Industrial Manufacturing Technology. He has led Bolder Industries to numerous business awards, including Environmental Leader’s “Top Product of the Year” for BolderBlack® and “Breakout Company of the Year” from the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association. Outside of the office, Tony loves to ski, mountain bike, and cheer for Bronco’s football. Leveraging his past experiences in the field of medical devices and the recycling industry, Mr. Wibbeler founded Bolder Industries in 2011 to develop innovative, closed-loop solutions to reduce and recycle various waste streams starting with waste tires. He has led Bolder Industries to numerous business and innovation awards, including Environmental Leader’s “Top Product of the Year,” “Breakout Company of the Year,” from the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association, and “Energy Manufacturer of the Year” from the Colorado Manufacturing Awards.
Jean Luc Cornillon joined Michelin having completed his degree in Engineering (Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Industrielle de Lyon) and a PhD in Chemistry (University of Houston, Tx). He has held various R&D management positions in France, USA, Japan, Thailand and is currently leading different R&D programs in the domain of liquid mixing and sustainable fillers.
Martin von Wolfersdorff is a consultant specialising in alternative rubber fillers and tire pyrolysis. He is in contact with over 320 tire pyrolysis companies globally and advises tyre manufacturing associations, tire manufacturers, tire collectors, refineries, pyrolysis technology providers & operators on the global tire pyrolysis industry and the marketing of recovered carbon black. Previously, Martin worked in the carbon black industry with Cabot, in the custom colour masterbatch industry with Americhem and in the white pigment industry with Huntsman Pigments. Martin holds a Dipl. Ing. (Univ.) degree in chemical engineering from the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany.
Alf Blomqvist has been Chairman of Scandinavian Enviro Systems since 2018 and a board member since 2017. He is an investor and independent advisor within active ownership, strategy and corporate finance, with particular interest in sustainable-focused, listed companies. He is also Chairman of Alelion - lithium ion batteries and has held roles including Head of Equity Capital Markets at Carnegie Corporate Finance, Head of Corporate Finance at Swedbank, and CEO & board member of Ledstiernan-listed VC company on Nasdaq Stockholm. Alf attended the Stockholm School of Economics.
Clara Silva concluded the master degree in Chemical Engineering, in 2021, at University of Aveiro - Portugal. Her research has been focused on the purification of recovered carbon black (rCB) obtained by pyrolysis of end-of-life tires (ELT). Currently, she is a Chemical Engineering PhD student working on the development of pyrolysis based innovative processes for the production of rCB with reinforcing properties from ELT, in a partnership between University Aveiro/CICECO and BB&G-AWES.
Victor Vreeken (48) is holding master degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Business Administration (MBA). Before joining Black Bear, Vreeken spent over 8 years at Avantium, active in the emerging industry of renewable and sustainable chemistry. Most recently he was Chief Operations Officer for Renewable Polymers business within Avantium. Vreeken joined Black Bear Carbon in January 2020 in the position of Chief Technology Officer. In August 2021 he transitioned into the role of CEO.
Raffaele graduated with a degree in Industrial Chemistry from Universita’ degli Studi di Napoli Federico II in 1998, where his studies were focused mainly on polymeric materials. After finishing university, he joined Bridgestone’s Rome-based European Research and Development Centre in 1999 as an engineer in the company’s raw materials development group, followed by various different roles in the centre’s materials department. From 2017 Raffaele has had the role of expert for open innovation, responsible for coordinating collaboration projects with various Bridgestone partners – from industry to academia – focusing on the development of innovative materials. He holds an Executive MBA from MIP Politecnico di Milano, received in 2020.
Dr. Cristina Bergmann is Business Development Director Process Oils at Ergon International Inc. and has more than 15 years of experience in Specialty Products (Chemicals and Oils), Materials and Technologies markets with strong emphasis on Automotive industry. She has held various positions at Continental Tires, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH and Hansen & Rosenthal.
She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the German Rubber Society DKG (Deutsche Kautschuk-Gesellschaft) since 2015.
Breno Asprino has a BBA from Pontifica Universidade Catolica (PUV) Brazil and an MBA. He has senior executive experience in the chemical, telecom and renewable energy sectors. Since 2013 he has led PXA projects, equipment contracts, factory assembly, startup, M&S development, and O&M. He is now the leader for PXA consolidation and growth.
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Prof. Dr. Jorge Lacayo-Pineda is Head of the Expert Field for Materials Evaluation at Continental, Tires, and has hold different executive positions in the Materials Labs of Continental since 1998. He is Honorary Professor at the Leibniz University of Hanover and Visiting Professor at the Qingdao University of Science & Technology. He is Chairman of Sub-Committee D11.20 Rubber Compounding Materials & Processes of ASTM International, member of the US Delegation to ISO TC 45 – Rubber & Rubber Products, Convener of the ISO Working Group TC45/SC2/WG5 Chemical Tests of Rubber, and member of the Board Council of the German Rubber Society.
Franz studied Chemistry at the TU Chemnitz and at the TU Graz and then did his PhD in the Atmospheric Physic group at ETH Zürich. His research field was the investigation atmospheric aging process on soot particles and how this contributes to the formation of clouds. During that time Franz used a broad range of aerosol-based instrumentation to observe changes in the morphology and chemistry of isolated soot particles. Based on this work, he was granted with 195 kCHF by the SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) and Innosuisse over 18-months to develop a new method for the online-characterisation of the structure and surface of Carbon Black and similar materials. He is now commercialising this new analytical approach via his own company, FemtoG.
2002-2008: Mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University.
Degree: Diploma
2008-2015: Research Scientist at the Institute of Aerodynamics and Chair of Fluid Mechanics of RTWH Aachen University.
Doctoral Degree (“Dr.-Ing.”) in 2014
Since 2015: Engineer in the R&D department of NEUMAN & ESSER Process Technology GmbH. Responsible for grinding and classifying development projects.
Claus has been leading commercial (financing) and technical projects for over 40 years. Since 2010 Claus has been working exclusively in sustainability projects (biodiesel production, bio-waste-to-energy, offshore wind power, chemothermical depolymerization). He oversaw the first successfully implemented approval process for an end-of-life tire pyrolysis project in Austria. Claus has been working with the Weibold team since 2021 and is responsible for assessing the feasibility of technical implementation projects for waste tires and plastic, approval issues and chemical registrations.
- Mr. Musaio has been working at Bridgestone since ‘95.
- He has 18 years in R&D - Head of compounding & materials development.
- Also, he has 8 years in Procurement - Head BSEMIA Direct/ Indirect Procurement.
-Since Jan’21 Mr. Musaio is undertaking the role of Head of End of Life Tires & Circular Economy (BSEMIA).
Dr Hallett has worked in the polymer industry for over 25 years, including 15 years with Birla Carbon. He has held a number of roles including product design, research and development and customer support. For the past three years he has been part of the core team introducing circular materials to Birla Carbon and is now the technical lead for Birla Carbon’s Continua™ SCM product range.
Sander joined Michelin in 1993, upon his graduation from the Polytechnic School of Automobile Technics in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
He started his career at Michelin in the Netherlands where he held several commercial assignments.
Since 1998, Sander held various positions in Sales, Marketing, Business Development as well as Purchasing roles. He has been based in Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai and in France at the Michelin Group’s French headquarters.
At present he is Vice President – End-of-Life Rubber Products Recycling Business. In this role he has been developing the Strategic Roadmap for End-of-Life-Tire valorisation for the Michelin Group.
Pieter ter Haar is an expert in recovered carbon black (rCB), pyrolysis, and is a former rubber compounder. He has extensive expertise managing R&D for rCB companies in Europe and North America. After obtaining his Chemistry degree from the Hanze University (Groningen, the Netherlands) he worked as a Rubber Compounder for Fenner Dunlop Conveyor Belting in the Netherlands, where he was in charge of sustainability development of rubber compounds. Pieter joined Pyrolyx/cct Stegelitz in 2015 to develop, build, and manage the first R&D competence center fully dedicated to rCB research. He is one of the founding members of ASTM committee D36 on recovered carbon black, and in his current role as Vice Chair, he leads various task groups within the committee. Pieter is currently president of Terhaar Consulting Inc. in Ontario Canada and consults internationally on various topics related to sustainability, pyrolysis and recovered Carbon Black and is part of the advisory committee for “Recovered Carbon Black World”.
Chris has over 25 years of experience as a materials scientist and joined ARTIS after gaining a PhD in the area of self-healing composites from the University of Bristol in 2012. At ARTIS, Chris leads a team of eleven scientists and technicians who have developed a detailed understanding of materials recovery processes from waste rubber goods and have made major contributions to the fundamental knowledge of the behaviour of recovered fillers.
Cristiana Maganinho completed the master degree in Chemical Engineering in 2020 at University of Aveiro. Since then, her research has been focused on the adsorption of volatile organic compounds, and the thermochemical valorisation of plastic residues. Presently, she is a Chemical Engineering PhD student investigating new treatments to improve the quality and polymer compatibility of recovered carbon black (rCB), aiming to reinforce its performance in tires manufacture. The work is being developed in a partnership with University Aveiro/CICECO and BB&G-AWES.
Kees van Oostenrijk is founder and CEO of RecyBEM, founded in 2004 as an ELT-management company within the framework of ETRMA and (extended) producers’ responsibility. It is one of the 25 national operating ELT-producer systems in Europe. Kees is a graduate of the Free University in Amsterdam in Business Economics and Marketing and has had senior executive positions in the manufacturing of textiles, plastics and rubber/ELTs. He has contributed to raising awareness of environmental affairs to a level of commitment to sustainable circular materials/ circular economy: savings on CO2 and costs, savings on the use of virgin materials, making re-usable, recycled, bio-materials.
Nick White is Vice President of Business Development, Process Oils at Ergon, Inc., and has 20 years of experience providing technical and commercial solutions to the polymer and process oil industries. Starting his career as a technical salesperson for Process Oils Inc., Nick has helped customers to incorporate process oils into various process oil applications over the years. Nick has been particularly active in the past 10 years, helping process oil customers find a fit for plant-based and recycled molecules.
Mr. Sorella is currently Chairman and CEO of Ecolomondo, a publicly listed green tech company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under ticker symbol ECM, that specializes in the processing of hydrocarbon waste. He has also been the CEO of Futurplast Extrusions for the last 20 years, and CEO of the Sorella Group of Companies since 1995.
Mr. Sorella holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Accounting from Loyola College.