Editorial Cite This: Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2017, 56, 12849-12851
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Preface to the Tapio Salmi Festschrift in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
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Swedish language: Åbo Akademi University in Turku (or Åbo in Swedish). His childhood keen interest in domestic languages somehow grew over the years, strengthened by learning German and French in school, taking English classes at the University of Turku and later learning Danish and Estonian. The writer of this preface is a witness that all of these languages are in active use to an extent that even scientific lectures can be given by Prof. Salmi in at least Finnish, Swedish, English, German, and French. Taking into account the genuine interest in languages, history, culture, and fine arts (excellent quality paintings created by Tapio as a teenager are on display in his home), it might be surprising that he has chosen something completely different for his University studies. The reason probably is that his other
t is always difficult to write about a person whom you have known for several decades, traveled to many conferences and business trips, coauthored hundreds of scientific papers and a couple of monographs, and discussed a variety of topics related to science, history, politics, sports, education, and culture. The question is how to describe the activities of such a person within a very short available journal space. Understanding that some facets of a very colorful personality of my friend and brother in science will be inevitably omitted, I would like to highlight some aspects of the research career of Prof. Tapio Salmi, who turned 60 on October 7, 2017. He is a native of a small town of Pargas located in the archipelago area of the former Finnish capital Turku. Finland is a bilingual country that also has a significant Swedish-speaking community. The birthplace of Tapio is known for its Swedishspeaking majority; thus, starting from childhood, Tapio developed a strong interest in languages. While the language in the family was Finnish, he decided to study in the only university outside Sweden where the education is given in © 2017 American Chemical Society
Special Issue: Tapio Salmi Festschrift Published: November 15, 2017 12849
DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04251 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2017, 56, 12849−12851
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Editorial
conference on chemical reactors, when a colleague from one of the industrial companies active in Latin America asked me if I was from Turku and knew Prof. Salmi. After a positive reply, that person conveyed greetings to Prof. Salmi, saying that an industrial plant with an annual capacity exceeding 100 000 tonnes was built based on the papers of Tapio that described the hydrogenation kinetics of aromatics and rigorously treated mass-transfer effects in this process. Instead of listing all these practically relevant reactions, I would rather take the liberty to mention just a few areas of kinetics, mass, and heat transfer, as well as fluid dynamics, where his theoretical contributions to chemical reaction engineering were of a pioneering nature. Interactions of chemical reactions and diffusion in porous mediaparticularly, the application of the concept to organic reactions (aromatics hydrogenation, fine chemicals, and alimentary production)should be mentioned first. In fact, Prof. Salmi has been always interested in complex organic reactions, being keen on elucidating kinetics and mechanisms of such reactions requiring either homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts. Understanding that there is a need to describe the geometry of adsorbed species more rigorously in the case of heterogeneous catalysis resulted in the development of a novel theoretical approach to catalytic kinetics, namely, a semicompetitive adsorption model. These activities were recognized by the awarding of the Magnus Ehrnrooth Prize to Prof. Salmi in 2011. This national prize, which is administrated by the Finnish Society of Science and Letters (Societas Scientarium Fennica), is given every third year for excellent research in chemistry. Among other seminal contributions related to applied kinetics, I can emphasize the discovery of autocatalytic and self-accelerating processes, such as chlorination of carboxylic acids and hydrolysis of biopolymers. In the recent years, the research activities on the reactivity of solids culminated in the development of a new model for nonideal reactive solid surfaces going beyond the classical models known for every chemical engineer (i.e., shrinking cores and shrinking particles) and taking into account the real particle geometry. One of the favorite topics of Prof. Salmi is the development of a systematic approach and numerical strategies for catalytic processes, taking into account the system dynamics and chemically sound mechanistic models for the surface reactions. This topic was initiated in the doctoral thesis and has continued until today. In the last years, his interest has lied in various aspects of process intensification through the implementation of microreactor and millireactor technologies, as well as the incorporation of ultrasound and microwave technologies. In addition to his scientific achievements, Prof. Salmi can be equally proud of his former (Ph.D.) students. Many of them have obtained national and international prizes and awards for their doctoral work and have now successful careers in industry, holding leading positions. Four of the alumni of the Lab became full professors. Not surprisingly, the first ever Åbo Akademi Chancellor’s Prize for research leadership was given to Prof. Salmi in 2013. His supervision of Ph.D. students is complimented with teaching at the graduate and undergraduate level. His teaching experience at Åbo Akademi University covers courses on chemical reaction engineering, nonideal reactor systems, industrial reactors, computer-aided chemical reaction engineering, and chemical kinetics. The last course I have taught with Tapio over the past two decades and I, myself, have seen how students are inspired by the unorthodox teaching style, which is
strong interests were in mathematics and chemistry; therefore, chemical engineering was a natural choice. After graduating in 1980 from Åbo Akademi, he continued with his studies at the same University, finally earning the doctoral degree in chemical engineering. The Head of the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry Prof. Leif Hummelstedt gave Tapio almost full freedom to develop and pursue his own ideas related to the modeling of chemical reactors. His thesis, entitled “Modelling and Simulation of Chemical Reactions: A Mechanistic Point of View”, was based on five of his papers in international journals, several of them listing him as a single author, and was accepted with honors. Tapio was promoted to Associate Professor in 1991 and eventually to Full Professor in Chemical Reaction Engineering in 1998 becoming the head of Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering in 2000. The laboratory, which is comprised of Chairs of Chemical Technology and Chemical Reaction Engineering, over the years, became one of the largest centers on reaction engineering and catalysis in Nordic countries, having a staff 40−50 strong, with typically 15 researchers having a doctoral degree. Professor Salmi was instrumental in developing the laboratory strategy and contributed essentially to its spirit. A particular challenge of running a large laboratory in a small country with chemical industries active in limited branches is to maintain methodological focus while dealing with apparently different reactions ranging from oil refining to fine chemicals and biomass valorization. The leadership style of Prof. Salmi is characteristic for Nordic countries being, on one hand, demanding to ensure the top international level of science and, on the other hand, very friendly and nonhierarchical. A special feature of the Lab, which started to be expanded by Prof. Lars-Eic Lindfors, the predecessor of Tapio Salmi, is its strong international character, which still is not a typical feature for many Finnish universities. Experience from somewhat longer research stays at the Technical University of Denmark with Prof. John Villadsen and the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences with Prof. Petr Schneider, as well as shorter visits to the United States and Canada, along with visits to various universities in France, Germany, and Portugal, helped to shape his vision regarding how a research laboratory that is competing at the international level and, at the same time, serving the needs of Finnish chemical industry should be structured. Part of the success of Prof. Salmi and the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering is related to the very international atmosphere, with Ph.D. students and postdocs coming from various parts of the world, having different scientific and cultural backgrounds. Tapio also actively promotes international student exchange, and the doors of the laboratory are always open for internship students from different continents. The scientific work of Prof. Salmi has been documented in ca. 500 peer-reviewed journal articles, two textbooks with a strong scientific flavor, and several book chapters. It is clearly impossible to describe here briefly all the scientific achievements accomplished in conjunction with ca. 50 Ph.D. students and more than 70 M.Sc. students. Many of them were related to industrial processes; therefore, it is not surprising that, in addition to scientific papers, he also has several patents. Some of those achievements are difficult to evaluate, because they might be hidden behind companies’ fences. I remember a case ten years ago, while attending a 12850
DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04251 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2017, 56, 12849−12851
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Editorial
Two other scientific communities where Tapio has a strong profile are worth mentioning. He was a board member of the Nordic Catalysis Society, serving as a Chairman in 1996−1998, strongly advocating cooperation between different groups working in Scandinavia. For more than two decades, Tapio has been a member of the Working Party of European Federation of Chemical Engineering on Chemical Reaction Engineering (since 1996), helping to strengthen the European chemical reaction engineering community. The professional career of Tapio, since his student years, has been associated with his alma mater, Åbo Akademi University. Many professors are trying to escape organizational duties in their own university, focusing instead just on research. In contrast, Tapio has always been interested in helping to improve research and education at the departmental level, currently acting as a Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and, at the University level, serving for many years as a University Board member. Interactions with colleagues whose expertise lies outside of natural science and engineering can often be painful, requiring special communication skills. Substantial knowledge in literature, history, culture, and arts helps him to be an advocate of science at all levels. Many colleagues, including myself, appreciate his efforts in the popularization of science, writing dozens of popular articles in newspapers in Swedish and Finnish and, more recently, blogs about science (per se, science policy and history, as well as societal issues); giving interviews; and taking part in societal debate, defending, in particular, internationalization of the Finnish scientific community, democracy in universities, and rights of undergraduates. The high visibility of Prof. Salmi in Finnish society was further strengthened when, from 2009 until 2013, he was appointed by the Academy of Finland as an Academy Professor, which is the highest scientific position in the country, which is an exceptionally high level of recognition in Finland for scientific research. Other important recognitions came by electing Prof. Salmi as a member of two national science academies (Societas Scientiarum Fennica and Finnish Academy of Science and Letters). The last recognition I would like to mention is the knighthood. In 2009, the President of Finland bestowed Tapio with the rank of Knight, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. I, myself, was very fortunate to interact with Tapio over the last 25 years, which has enriched and changed my professional and personal life in many ways. Many people around the world are feeling the same and offer their tribute to our friend, colleague, and mentor by contributing to this Festschrift issue in his honor.
full of in-depth knowledge of the subject, combined with plenty of jokes to spice up difficult mathematical topics. Our joint monograph (D. Murzin and T. Salmi, Catalytic Kinetics, Elsevier, 2005 (second edition, 2016)) has its roots in this course. Tapio was the main author of the textbook, Chemical Reaction Engineering and Reactor Technology (by T. Salmi, J. Warna, and J.-P. Mikkola), which was published by CRC Press in 2010. A special feature of this textbook is its strong emphasis on multiphase reactor technology and numerical solutions of reaction engineering problems. Professor Salmi also has teaching experience outside of Finland, instructing typically intensive courses in European universities (e.g., Université de Normandie INSA-Rouen, Universities of Padova and Valladolid, National Technical University of Athens). His vast teaching experience, entertaining lecturing style, and high-quality science are the reasons for his invitations to give plenary and keynote lectures at international and national conferences on chemical engineering and catalysis. Taking part in conferences not only as a speaker or a member of scientific committees of numerous conferences such ISCRE, ECCE, and CHISA, but also as an organizer, became an important part of professional life, not only for Tapio himself but also for the entire team at the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry. Without the active involvement of many colleagues, it would be impossible to organize many events in Turku and some other Finnish cities (Europacat, Nordic Symposia on Catalysis, Conferences on Catalysis and Multiphase Reactors, Conference on Catalysis and Fine Chemicals, CAFC, Workshops on Novel Reactors, in addition to numerous other events). Tapio has adopted a somewhat unique strategy of combining “do-it-yourself” with a “delegating tasks” approach, which highly motivates colleagues and apparently is one reason for the success of these scientific events. One particular challenge was a boat trip to one of the islands in the Turku archipelago during Europacat in 2007, when 1500 participants were transported in a rainy and stormy weather to a small island capable of hosting maybe 400 people. Since the available capacity of cruising ships in Turku was not sufficient, many ships had to sail to Turku from some other Finnish harbors. Despite all complications during the preparation of this conference excursion, Tapio was very determined to have such an unconventional journey. The efforts apparently paid off, because the trip is vividly remembered and often mentioned by many foreign colleagues. The organizational talent of Prof. Salmi has been recognized at the national and international levels. I would first like to mention his involvement as a board member in Finnish Technology Association, Raisio Research Foundation, Finnish Catalysis Society (Chairman, 1993−1995 and 1999−2002) and Chairman of the National Committee for Selection of Students to Technical Universities and Faculties in Finland (2007− 2014). For many years, starting from his research stay in Prague, Tapio has maintained very close ties with the Czech chemical engineering community, serving as a member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2014, he was elected as an honorary member of the Czech Society of Chemical Engineering. The Helmholtz-Allianz for EnergyEfficient Three-Phase Reactor Systems and TU Delft Process Technology Institute invited Prof. Salmi to act as a member of international advisory boards, leveraging his vast experience in science management.
Dmitry Murzin
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Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland
AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Dmitry Murzin: 0000-0003-0788-2643 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. The author declares no competing financial interest.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04251 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2017, 56, 12849−12851
