Fadhel Ben Chaabane works at IFP énergies nouvelles
Our first question: What three words would your colleagues use to describe you?
I hope they would say nice, competent and helpful.
Where and how did you spend your last vacation?
I spent my last vacation in Tunisia where one part of my family live. I love this country: Hammamet's beach, Sidi Bou Said, La Marsa,... I especially appreciated the excellent concert of Eros Ramazzotti that I saw in the Roman amphitheatre of Carthage. It was great.
What do you especially like about your job?
I enjoy working into the field of sustainable energies and on applied research. I like the organization of my company IFP énergies nouvelles because generally I can find all kind of skills that I need when I try to solve a problem. I am also happy to work with a friendly team.
How did you come to know DASGIP?
It was one former colleague from INSA Toulouse, a School of Engineering in France, where I made my Ph. D on a new process for producing bioethanol. This colleague recommended to me the DASGIP Parallel Bioreactor system.
In your opinion, what is the biofuels industry's most exciting challenge at the moment?
The most exciting challenge is to make the second generation biofuels industry economically viable. The utilization of renewable lignocellulosic resource, such as agricultural residues, for bioethanol production provides a promising means to decrease the greenhouse effect since the carbon dioxide emitted during ethanol combustion is assimilated when new biomass is produced. The cost of the enzymes used in the process is the main bottleneck of this process and must be reduced.
Fadhel Ben Chaabane was interviewed by DASGIP on 31 August, 2010.
