Board Organisation Study Associations
Internship in Germany
Triple-A Ski Trip
Dear reader,
Since it is the second edition of the CaT, it’s finally our turn to give you an update on the current situation of the association. A lot has happened since the previous edition of the CaT.
At the moment of writing, we have just had the half-yearly General Members Assembly. So the past few months we've been pretty busy with preparing our documents for this. Luckily everything went well.
To tell you something about ourselves and what keeps us busy during our board year, I (Joep) am maintaining as much contact with companies as possible in order to set up events based on career orientation. Thus far, I’ve seen lots of different and interesting companies all over the Netherlands. Together with these companies, I’m trying to set up as many events as possible, such as lunch lectures, excursions, trainings and networking events. An example of such a networking event is the Chemical Engineering Branch Day, for which 3 companies are invited, 2 lectures and 1 real-life case are presented to our master students. At the end we will close off with a networking drink where the students and companies can get to know each other. Unfortunately, due to a lockdown, the event had to be postponed but I’m thrilled to have it continued at a later time. And for now, I’d love to give the word to Charlotte.
I (Charlotte) have been really busy with our finances and making sure that everything is up-to-date and booked in correctly. Before the GMA I’ve been mainly busy with working on the half-yearly financial report, but now that the GMA is over I have more time to focus on other things, for example planning activities to celebrate the dies.
The past couple of months, the corona measures have been stricter again for a while. At one point, physical lectures couldn’t even continue. Luckily, we’ve been allowed to stay open as an association to work as the board and serve coffee and tea during the entirety of this lockdown. Even though some planned activities couldn’t continue during this time, we have still maintained close contact with our sister associations. We’ve been able to have some physical, but unfortunately mostly online meetings with them and have played an epic game of mail hangman. Hopefully we’ll soon meet more of our sister associations at the ONCS!
Right now, the corona measures are virtually gone, so let’s hope for the best for the remainder of this year! Now that physical activities can continue again, we have a lot in store for our students and alumni. We’ve already been able to hold a big party to celebrate the reopening of the TAP and are working on organizing a prom. These are going to be a very busy, but fun couple of months!
Good to see you here again! The second edition of this year has arrived. Now that half a year has already passed, we actually get see again what Alembic can show in its blooming season. Many activities have been and are coming up, and a lot of other things are also possible again. The TAP has re-opened and we are getting ready to restart life at its regular pace, which in terms of Alembic’s activity is high.
By this time, an entire dies week filled with activities has passed, many things have happened and the enrolment lists on the website are still booming in record-high amounts! We hope to entertain you a little about what has been going on with another authentic edition of the CaT.
Get comfortable and take some time to read about all the amazing things that have been going on such as the ski trip and the symposium, go by some articles to learn about the process of making coffee or use your creative skills with an arts-and-crafts tutorial!
Casper van Dongen Editor-in-Chief
By: Esli Diepenbroek
Time has proven again and again that mankind remains fascinated by the seemingly perfected processes and intricate designs in nature. Especially in the last few decades, biomimetic, bio-inspired or bio-based systems are being reported extensively in scientific literature, from the fields of sensing, optics to smart coatings and hydrocarbon fuel generation. And why not use nature’s expertise in the field of heat transport and conversion as well? That is exactly what researchers from the Zhejiang A & F University did, as they developed a mini steam generator with the use of bamboo and a widely accessible renewable source: solar energy [1].Steam is a commonly used component in industrial processes, and is typically fueled by (fossil fuel) gasses or electrical power. Photothermal conversion, on the other hand, is the process of converting light or photonic energy to heat.
As solar energy is needed for the heating process, it makes for a rather sustainable technique and a ‘greener’ alternative to most existing steam generators. In light of this upcoming process, Zhang and colleagues designed a novel steam generator that absorbs its light through polypyrrole (PPy), [1] a well-known conducting polymer. The novelty of the steam generator is in the use of bamboo, which is – with its porous and hydrophilic nature – extremely suited as carrier material of PPy and for the transport of fluidic and gaseous water and steam, respectively. As promising efficiencies and evaporation rates were reached, the quest for a scale-up prototype has started, which can eventually and potentially be used best in the seawater desalination and sewage treatment sectors [1].
By: Esli Diepenbroek
When we ask your typical chemical engineer what would be an all-encompassing subfield within their expertise, combining both aspects of process and materials engineering, membranes are mentioned plenty. The general principle of a membrane is well-known: separations based on a physical boundary and through a difference in size, affinity, or both. In the current membrane engineering field, a widespread range of materials are used and investigated, both of organic and inorganic nature. What is a common factor, however, is that the separations are mostly passive and with separation characteristics determined upon production. This exact aspect is being thrown out the window by Andrew Livingston, Andrew Cooper and colleagues from the University of Liverpool, who were driven to achieve the far opposite [1].
In their recently published paper, they report a tunable membrane that consists of CC3 porous organic cages (POCs) ordered on a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) substrate [2]. The CC3 cages have two different configurations, referred to as the alpha and gamma phase, which differ in both crystalline orientation as well as the pore aperture size. Reversible switching between the two states is possible through exposure to either water (αCC3) or methanol (γCC3).
The dynamic nature of the membranes was demonstrated with the use of dyes with different cut-off sizes. In the alpha configuration, all dyes larger than 600 g/mol were rejected, whereas the gamma configuration showed an increased cut-off value of 1400 g/mol [2]. While the proof of concept does not hold any strong application field(s), the work of Livingston and Cooper provides a hopeful glimpse towards the rise of active membrane separations, which could tremendously ease the separation of complex liquids [1].
by Chakhsu
“Be grateful for every opportunity you get in life. Do not fear when the time comes to take a leap of faith. If you can move to a different country and start from scratch, you can do anything in life.”
~Tufail KaladiaThe University of Twente in Enschede has a lot of scholarship students annually. There is an opening for these scholarships at the start of every year and only a select few receive it. In this edition, we will get to know a 23-year-old student from Mumbai, India. His name is Tufail Kaladia and currently he is pursuing his Masters in Chemical and Process engineering. Tufail had received admission in 3 countries: Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands. However, only the University of Twente had offered him a scholarship. Moreover, the not-so cold weather compared to the two Nordic countries and the cycling infrastructure lured him to this institution.
During the orientation phase for where to do his Masters, Tufail visited the University of Twente’s well-maintained website which had multiple types of scholarships available for different students. The scholarship he was offered is called ‘University of Twente Scholarship (UTS)’ and all students around the world are eligible to apply. However, there are some criteria that must be met in order to receive it and these vary depending on your study program. For the latest updates regarding the aforementioned criteria, you can visit: https://www.utwente.nl/en/education/ scholarship-finder/university-of-twente-scholarship/ The scholarship amount varies between 3000 and 22,000 Euros per year.
Studying a graduate program in Chemical and Process engineering can be difficult and stressful, so in order to avoid the stress some free time is necessary. In his free time, Tufail likes to watch anime, socialize with friends, go for walks and simply enjoy nature. Since consistency is a major part of the scholarship, spending time doing different things helps in focusing. Students must maintain an average grade of 7 during the first year of their studies in order to keep the scholarship. To ensure consistency in his grades, Tufail prefers having study sessions with his friends as they keep him motivated to study longer.
Some tips might help students that plan to apply for scholarships in the future. According to Tufail, preparing a strong letter of motivation is key, in which you highlight your reasons for choosing the UT, what you want to achieve in life and how studying at the UT will fulfill that goal. The University of Twente Scholarship intake takes place in 2 rounds and each round has a different application deadline. In order to maximize your chances of receiving the scholarship, Tufail suggests submitting your application well before the deadline for the 1st application round may increase your chances.
Can you tell us something about yourself?
Hi I am Reinder Kersten, 23 years old and currently doing my internship in Germany. I am a second year master student of the Chemical Process Engineering track, and you may know me for my role as Commissioner of Educational Affairs in the 55th board of Alembic.
Why did you want to do your internship abroad?
I am not sure if I want to stay in the Netherlands after graduation, and I figured doing an internship abroad is an easy, early step to take in order to know if it would be something I would enjoy. Next to broadening my horizons and learning about a different culture, I also wanted to experience a more international setting. In Enschede I mostly socialized with my fellow Dutch students, I lived in an allDutch student house and even though the master programme is in English, due to Corona I had not much contact with international students as all education was done online. And of course, if I would end up disliking living abroad, it is only for six months.
Where and at what company are you working?
I am doing my internship at the department of Materials Synthesis and Processing at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, near the city of Aachen.
Why did you decide to do your internship there?
I wanted to do my internship abroad, but due to Corona I figured it might be best to do it near
home, so I ended up in Germany. During my internship I wanted to broaden my horizons, and learn about different cultures and I also wanted to learn a new language. Due to the combination of these things, Germany seemed to be the best option. Via the connections of the research group of Prof. Arian Nijmeijer I finally ended up in Jülich.
Can you tell us something about the company?
The research center itself is huge, with many different research departments. Ranging from development in quantum computing to botanical research and of course chemistry. Everything is located on a campus site in Jülich, which is larger than
the University of Twente campus. The closest university is in Aachen, and many PhD students here are connected to that university.
How is Jülich?
It’s a typical small German town, about forty minutes driving from the Dutch border. You can immediately notice it’s very German. Everyone only speaks German here, so that does feel quite foreign.
Can you tell us about your internship assignment?
As I’m studying process engineering, and the Forschungszentrum mainly focuses on materials research, the initial plan was for me to merge both worlds. I was about to design and validate a computer model on the drying liquid of the tape casting fabrication process of a semipermeable membrane for alkene synthesis. With that idea I set off for Germany, but very soon I found
out that it was difficult to model as thick membranes break during drying. So, the research center wanted to find out exactly why the material breaks and they wanted a computer model wherein they could enter parameter values to predict fracture of the material upon a set thickness. I began with a literature study to learn more about my material and the tape casting procedure, but quickly realized designing a model and studying all the parameters would be impossible to do during an internship of six months. Hence, my assignment shifted towards doing more experimental research, studying the influence of different slurry solutions on the fracture chance of the casted tape. So, I’m basically conducting material science experiments in the lab all day. This is actually also nice, as you learn something about the other chemical engineering track and you’re not sitting behind a laptop all day.
What are your daily duties?
As all of my experiments take quite a bit of time, I often only perform one experiment per day. The experiments take about 24 hours to be completed, so after initiation I spend the rest of the day cleaning and writing. In the lab I mostly conduct solid state reactions between two powder materials, particle sintering or tape casting my material. For characterization of the slurries I use rheology experiments to determine its viscosity.
How do the Corona measurements affect your internship?
A lot of activities have been canceled. For instance seminars and the planned visit to the University of Twente. Initially it was planned that my supervisor and I would present my research in Twente for the master course Advanced Ceramics, but due to Corona this was done online. Furthermore, we are expected to work from home if you do not need the lab, and there’s not much fun socializing activities going on.
Where are you living?
I live in the underground basement of a students’ home. I often spend my evenings in my room and with my roommates as well. I got here via the research center who are in contact with the landlord. It’s quite near the Forschungszentrum - only about ten minutes by bike.
How’s your German coming along?
At highschool I graduated with German as one of my courses, so after five years of lessons I could already understand it pretty well. However, we did not really practice everyday use. Since most of the meetings with the staff here are in German, I have learned to understand it much better already, but speaking is still quite hard, as I always reply in English.
When are you done?
I will be busy until the end of March. I already started in October, so I chose for an internship of six months. I think for shorter internships it is difficult to do real research, as it took me some time to learn everything and settle in. Also, for the going abroad experience, I figured a longer internship might be more interesting.
With this newly gained experience, do you already know if you’ll be staying in the Netherlands after graduation? Well… although it is true that I am abroad, due to the current measures it does not really feel like another country. Just like in the Netherlands, there’s not much going on here and when I’m not at the lab, I’m working from home. My house here is not the best working environment, so I often go back to my parents on Thursdays and spend the weekends there as everything’s closed down here.
Have you already found a graduation assignment?
Not yet, as I plan on just doing it in Enschede. Maybe I’ll start at the research group of Inorganic Membranes or Soft matter, Fluidics and Interfaces, but I have not really
The symposium committee of the Chemical Science and Engineering study association C.T.S.G. Alembic has organised a symposium on the 10th of May, 2021 at our beautiful university. The theme of this event was “Road to the future” which emphasised energy sustainability and challenges. In recent years, the energy demand has been increasing along with its obstacles that are not easily solvable. However, the symposium explored some of these concepts and challenges from different points of view to get a better understanding of the most sustainable way to the future.
The organisation has been busy setting up the whole event for over a year. Somewhere in April 2021 the organisation came together and after this day the symposium committee was set, consisting of Tim Schuttevaer, Niels Hakkert, Jelle van Beek, Jane Glenza, Maarten de Groot and Gerard Groot Obbink. During the first brainstorm session, we made the drawings for the day. Quickly after we thought of the theme ‘Road to the Future’. To explore the different routes for the future all aspects have to be considered, which is why we tried to get as many as different perspectives on the energy demand such as policies, energy storage and energy carriers. To cover these topics, we came to four different speakers: Prof. Dr. Kornelis Blok, Prof. Dr. Sascha Kersten, Dr. Ir. Evert Leijenhorst and Prof. Dr. Frederik Wurm. With these speakers, we had a nice mix of people from our university, other universities and companies.
After finding the speakers it was time for the next step in the preparations, which was not without road bumps. On multiple occasions, we were afraid the day would end up being awful. For example, a year in advance we made reservations for the college rooms, but when the moment came the office booking screwed us over by saying they did not have rooms for us. Through a lot of pushing and complaining they found rooms for us during the day to give the workshops. It was a tough fight but we made it!
Another fight which had to be fought was to get the schedule of the bachelor students free. Our request to schedule the symposium was sent out a year in advance as well. Logically, we hoped our request was granted to clear a free day for the bachelor students such that they can go to the symposium. However, when the schedule of the module came we discovered something different. After talking to the lecturers we managed to get most of the lectures free. For this, we should also especially thank Evert Houwman as he offered to pay for the symposium and make it mandatory for his students.
At this point, we had most of the arrangements set. The speakers were ready. The schedule is free. The rooms are set. But the workshops still had to be found, which was again a major road bump. Maarten had sent a lot of mails trying to find companies which were interested in providing an interesting workshop. In the end, we found four organizations interested in giving workshops during the symposium: DSM, Convergence, the Green Team Twente and Zeton. Unfortunately due to personal reasons, the DSM workshop was cancelled a day before
the symposium. Therefore, the division of the workshops had to be remade so it would fit everyone. Although one workshop was cancelled last-minute, everyone fitted nicely in the remaining three.
The schedule eventually was filled with four talks and two rounds of workshops. To even get more initiatives on the road to the future, we wanted to give smaller organisations and companies a place during the lunch break. So we found three organisations that were enthusiastic about the stands: Torwash, Greenhub Twente and Looptas. Looptas could also be recognised at the start of the event from the goodie bags received at the start.
After going over the symposium’s preparation, it is time to look back at the day itself. I remember walking into Hal B that morning with a loud alarm going off, not knowing
where it was coming from. Eventually, I found people working on the alarm system. So my day started well, thoroughly being stressed out and thinking the alarm could go off anytime that day. Luckily, the tests were only taking place before the official opening hours of the building. During setting up everything the first guests already walked in and with that also the first complaints, since there was no coffee in the morning for the reception. At 9.00 the symposium officially started with the first words of the day chairman Guido Mul.
Looking back, I think we can conclude the symposium was a great success considering the only complaint was the absence of coffee at the start. This could not have happened without my fellow committee members, the speakers, the participants and everyone else involved in setting up the day.
So, a special thanks again to everyone!!
The academic year had not begun yet, I was still a ‘kandi’, and everything was still new. Yet, many questions arose: “Is there going to be one this year?”, “Is there already a committee?” and “Will it be together with the Triple-A again?” All those questions I was unable to answer. I had heard tales and rumours of past ski trips, but organising one? That is a different story.
Not that long ago, the Triple-A associations decided it would be an innovative idea to merge forces and create what would be known as the CommiSki (red: not such an impressive name, I know, but we will get back to that later). At the beginning of the year, we assembled the mightiest people of all associations again and sat down to start the negotiations. After one long, inefficient talk with some random board members, the committee was formed.
Members from Astatine and Alembic quickly joined, and yes, without Arago. They decided that ‘too many trips’ was a thing. To this day I happily disagree, as would they, later. However, we successfully put together a seemingly capable committee and started working; the EscalaSki (red: see, a lot better) was established. Due to the relatively late start, a travel agent was our only option to decrease the workload. Slight panic occurred within the committee when people started dropping out last minute and the search for new people had to be revamped. Giving external people the opportunity to enrol would get us some seats, but unfortunately not enough. And that is when they came: the long lost Aragonauten. Via a personal connection, they decided, one by one, to participate. It was a nice sight to see spots being filled and now we could finally say that it was in fact a trip with the Triple-A. The glory of organising the trip would of course not be lost to another association and the name would still bear only the first two.
Some drama and trouble later, it was time to go on the trip. A bus filled with students, presumably all carrying a form of entertainment for the road. The foresight was troubling and seemed challenging. Making sure the bus drivers were not mad at arrival looked like a good boundary to set. It was made clear that alcohol would not be permitted on the bus which made the committee quite nervous. It was when we had the first conversation with the driver that we were more than happily surprised they were not estranged to students. Just after the drivers switched they told us they had a fridge and sold beer. Many of the well-behaved participants that did not bring any alcoholic beverages saw their chance and took it. I believe the driver was not yet finished talking and there was a row long enough to sell out the beer instantly.
At arrival one would assume people were quite tired. It was 10:30 in the morning and sleeping on the bus is not a skill everyone possesses, although I was one of the lucky few. The excitement and adrenaline gave everyone enough energy to make it a busy morning by arranging for everyone to go to the slopes. There were also problems with the deposits, and we had to efficiently make everything happen, from room division to ski rental. It all went fairly quickly, and it made myself and some others excited enough to grab a day pass which I do not think anyone regretted. The first day was great: the weather was good, there was snow and nobody had an accident. We even made a reservation for dinner together with the Alembic members at the local restaurant: L’ Alambix (Foto 2). Yes, I kid you not. The food was also great, as the name would raise that expectation. A good first day with, however, a prospect of bad weather. Weather worse than everyone’s nightmares…
It was morning, and a happy roommate had already got breakfast at the bakery. It was early but the idea of another day of skiing made it easy to get out. Waking everyone up was easily done by opening the curtains, but the sight was nothing I had expected. Nothing could be seen. Just white, with some cars visible below the balcony. Interesting to say the least. As naïve students we simply had breakfast and did not think about what this weather would mean for the skiing. Everyone grabbed their gear and jumped towards the lifts. These turned out to be closed… The weather was so bad, not a single seated lift in the entire region was opened. Especially the people that had not gone skiing the first day were quite disappointed. That day became game-day as you would probably expect. Closing such a day full of games can only be done with a game of Centurion.
The next morning was, well, filled with headache. The sky had, luckily, cleared completely. The difference was astonishing. Incredibly sunny and snow everywhere. It was on the fresh slopes you really got to experience the amount of snow.
The next day everyone woke up in fear of sore muscles as the bumpy slopes had taken their toll. It was a tough morning to get up, but then again, we were there to go skiing, so skiing we did. There was still a lot of snow, and the slopes were prepared nicely at the start of the day. So, a good day for skiing, but not a good day for stories. For that, we go a day further.
This gave the not-that-well-experienced skiers the confidence to try the black slopes. The metre-thick snow made falling much more pleasant which was required on some, maybe quite some occasions. It was also good for having a well-deserved tea break on the slope because you could comfortably sit back and fall in a perfectly fitted snow chair (Foto 3). Quite the contrast compared to the day before. Later on, the slopes became quite bumpy and it was very much the opposite of what a decent minded man would call comfortable skiing.
This day of drama starts with several inexperienced ski enthusiasts wanting to join the rest of the group. Everybody was excited to go on a vast exploration to the other valley and see what we could find. Already at the top of the pass, one person decided to follow the wrong person and do a descent on their own, which was not an amazing 25-minute wait. After a little high-speed chase to find the rest, we had to wait again because they decided they could do a quick descent as well. Here I was, waiting 40 minutes while having skied maybe half of that time. I was pumped to get going and as the rest of the group closed in and descended towards the lift, it happened. A big crash occured between one of our inexperienced skiers and a random French girl. Just as they both decided to brake, they steered into each other. Our member was luckily fine and seemed to be without injuries, but we could not say the same of the girl for whom we again needed to wait. 40 minutes quickly turned into an hour, which not so quickly became one and a half hours. As a scooter arrived, our optimism grew, but unjustly. She was treated a little but as we saw a snow groomer approach, we knew this meant no good. Our member was finally released from his duty of I-am-not-sure what exactly, but he was released, and we were relieved. Just as we decided to take the lift back, we heard the blasting sounds of a helicopter approaching, and yes, it was for her. She had to be carried away via air transport. Not a good day for our inexperienced participants. Such moments give no man energy. We happily continued our trip, but it was noticeable that it had stricken fear in some. The rest of the day was very pleasant but was partly overshadowed by the poor man’s incident.
"The weather was so bad, not a single lift in the entire region was opened."
"we heard the blasting sounds of a helicopter approaching"
This day revolved around the enterprise of pizza. In terms of integration between associations, nothing works better than free pizza. Getting 41 pizza’s, however, is a challenge. There was a nice pizzeria just next to our accommodation and we thought they would be able to arrange this for us. We were correct about their capabilities, though it took quite a while to find this out. Our French has seen better days and the people at the pizzeria spoke no English at all. However, we made it work. 41 pizzas within an hour, happily given to all people. We were very proud of that accomplishment and next to some good skiing that was the most interesting thing that happened on day 6.
The last day of our trip had arrived and although everybody was excited to go up the mountain again, cleaning had to happen as well. It was unclear whether we had to clean in the morning or afternoon but as good clean students we decided to do it at the latest. This meant we had time to take a nice group picture, for which Astatine of course was not on time (Foto 4). After some emotional last skiing, it was time to prepare for the ride back, both mentally and physically. All leftover food and drinks had to go on board which made some people very excited for the way back and some people a little less. People were not as shy with the consumptions as they were on the first trip we quickly found out. Music, games, talking and a lot of different beverages were passed through the corridor. It was a lot of fun and ended up with only one seat that had to be cleaned, or at least, for which the cleaning costs had to be paid. I call that a success. With some final singing when we arrived in Enschede, people were very excited and satisfied with the week-long trip. It was so much fun to hang out with
people from all different associations and further. It made quite some Alembic members even excited for next year’s trip. It so happens there have been talks about a next ski trip and a committee already being made. There are rumours of one possibly bigger, with more associations, more people, and more fun than ever before….
"In term of integration, nothing works better than free pizza."
"only one seat for which cleaning costs had to be paid"
readers, welcome back to cooking with Greetje, with your host, me, Greetje
have returned after being gone for a very long time, but now I am back to teach you many tips and tricks you can do with your children. This time I will teach you how to make balloons in a pinch!!!!!
Imagine, your third kiddo turns three finally, and you are having a birthday party but OH NO! - you forget to buy the ballooooonnns. And now your kid is crying and is very sad, so I thought to myself, Greetje, why not make balloons myself? So I went to our bedroom to get some condoms that my husband keeps buying but those are full of chemicals so I don’t want to use them. So, that third kiddo I was talking about is the middle kiddo I tell you hahaha. So I, I mean you take the condom and stretch them out so it is flexible. Clear? Super, now onto the second part!!!!
Now we will paint the condom heppy peppy colors because we only have the white ones, and that is boring for a kids’ birthday party. So search your kiddos’ stuff, and there is probably some fingerpaint that you have bought, since your kid is three and all. Now, your kind can help with the next step. Have them blow up the ‘balloon’ and have another paint it with their little
fingers - oh, so cute - and in the end you will find a happy pattern. Last but not least, let the paint dry. Each kiddo can hold two balloons at once and - if you want - you also have them hold another one in their mouth: hahahah. Then they cannot talk and you can have some rest and maybe make the cake already haha.
Okayyy, now these are all pretty good (hurray), but they are missing that special - excuse my French - I-don’tknow-what. Yes, you should have them fly in the air; that will make everything better! Then again, you did not have balloons so why would you have helium gas? Now helium, or He as the smart people write it, is not the only light gass. If you remove the ‘e’ from two He’s you will get H2 gas, and that we can make with only household items. So, first prepare some alkaline drain cleaner in water, and a lot of aluminum foil. Now, you should start to see bubbles so you know it is good and then you start removing de ‘O’ from water. Where is the
O in water you ask??? Uhm… it is in H2O which is what smart people call water, so there you remove it from and you will get H2!
So one time I did this trick and then my neighbor lady was like: “No don’t, that is dangerous!!”, but she did not know that it is just water without de O hahahah. I told her that and then she was like “yes that is what makes it dangereux” and she started droning on about things like health and safety and occupational hazards and like h-numbers and p-numbers. But I don’t care about numbers except the number of her husband’s private nummer because I would like to have a talk with him about her behavior. Anyways, she kept going on and on about how she knows what she is talking about and stuff like that and that she works with the stuff on a daily basis but I am like “but I also work with this every time there is a birthday”. So yeah, these annoying neighbors I have... but I sure showed her hahahah.
Anyway, when your little experiment is making nice bubbles, you can put the stuff in your balloons. You do this by first sucking the H2 air into your lungs and then blowing it into the balloons and it will be super nice!! This is also a task your kids can help with easily! So now you have these balloons and luckily this means that it is possible to have a party (hurray again). Now just make sure to invite only fun people; not like the neighbor lady hahahah. Also when making photos of the party make sure to get a shot of the balloons with the cake and the candles close together. It will look very good!!!
This is how I transformed the boring condom into a fun balloon: look, first you give it a smiling face because I want my kids to smile a lot at their birthday party. But then I accidentally swiped over it and the paint got sad! I don’t want that - sad is bad - but it rhymes so it is true. So I put more paint on it
I hope your party will be an explosive success, ‘cause mine for sure was hahahah! I should invite the neighbor lady next time, then she will also know what fun is for once. Well, that was it voor todayyyy! I wish you lots of success with all your parties, and me and my two kids wave you goodbye; until next time!
Goodbyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
! I
by: Dr. Sissi de Beer
Hi! My name is Sissi de Beer and I am an associate professor in the Sustainable Polymer Chemistry (SPC) group supervising the team working on Functional Polymer Surfaces. You might know me as a bachelor-student mentor or as a teacher of the master courses Statistical Thermodynamics, Polymer Physics and Molecular Modeling. What you might not know is that, besides these roles, I am also the program manager of a project ReCoVR (Recovery and Circularity of Valuable Resources), in which we want to make the Dutch Chemical and Food Industry more circular.
In our current way of consuming, we extract resources from the earth, make products out of them and discard these products when they lost its function (to us). This linear way of consuming is not sustainable and eventually we will run out of resources, especially considering that the world population keeps growing. Therefore, the Netherlands, and many countries with us, have set itself the goal to become a circular economy in 2050 in which all resources can be reused. Moreover, in that year the CO2 emissions must be reduced by 95% and this has to be accompanied by strong reductions in the energy consumption.
Extracting materials for reusage from a complex waste stream is not straightforward. The molecules of interest are ‘hidden’ in low concentrations between many other molecules, and one has to fight entropy to extract them from the mixture. By bringing the mixture in contact with a material that is strongly attractive for the target molecules, one could capture these molecules. However, once they are strongly adsorbed on / in the material, it will cost a lot of energy to get them off again. Therefore, we in ReCoVR want to develop a new class of separation technologies in which we can switch the adhesion of our target molecules ON and OFF by applying an electric field. The advantage of utilizing electric fields is that it is more energy-efficient compared to temperature or pressure swings, because the energy is locally applied. Moreover, electrical energy can be made available via renewable energy sources.
To develop these new e-driven separation technologies, we need to combine the expertise from different kinds of materialsand process- scientists with knowledge of researchers that can bring the ideas to applications. Therefore, we have set up a large consortium of Dutch scientists from
the University of Twente (UT), TU Delft, TU/e, Wageningen University, TNO, Saxion and many different companies (such as Avebe, Corbion, Dow etc.). All of the ReCoVR scientists from the UT are part of Chemical Science and Engineering: Mark Hempenius, Boelo Schuur, Bastian Mei, André ten Elshof, Marie-Alix Pizzoccaro and myself will work together to develop these new technologies.
We have partnered up with many companies from the Dutch Chemical and Food industry, because there we can make the largest impact. In 2018, these industries were responsible for 40% of the total Dutch energy consumption, for 31% of the total CO2 emissions in the Netherlands and for 60% of the total Dutch water consumption.
"in 2050 the CO2 emissions must be reduced by 95%"
"All of the ReCoVR scientists from the UT are part of Chemical Science and Engineering"
Moreover, the companies will also benefit financially, because currently 50% of their current costs are spent on separations based on pressure and temperature swing.
Together with our partners, we identified 5 target molecules on which we will focus first: proteins, (clean) water, sugar salts and carboxylic acid, carbon monoxide and flavor molecules. They are of interest to the Dutch chemical and food industry and represent different types of molecules with different properties and interactions in an electric field such that we can test the separation technology on a broad range of molecule types. Moreover, these molecules represent important societal challenges. For example, recovered proteins can be utilized in artificial meat, which will help the protein transition.
In the last months, the first PhD students have started working on ReCoVR. In the SPC group Leon Smook and Erik Postma are working with Mark Hempenius, Karin Schroën and myself of the design and synthesis of polymer coatings a switchable adhesive interaction with proteins and flavor molecules. Moreover, in the Sustainable Process Technology (SPT) group, Kim Zijderveld has started her project on the separation of carboxylic acid. She is working together with Boelo Schuur. The first interesting results are coming in and we hope to update you soon on ReCoVR again.
Figures:
[1] Electrically driven separations.
[2] Leon Smook, Mark Hempenius, Erik Postma and Kieke de Boer working on ReCoVR in the chemical lab of SPC.
[3] Photograph by Y. Singh via Pexels
"companies from the Dutch Chemical and Food industry are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption"
A controversial win which had all the drama and spice to it. To level this up, it was disputed by Mercedes that Mad Max was given an unfair advantage.
The controversy was centred around the fact that in the 53rd lap, Nicholas Latifi had an accident which led to the safety car being summoned for 4 laps. This allowed Max, who was second at that time, to quickly stop by his pit for fresher tires therefore leading to a huge advantage against Lewis’s worn-out tires. After changing tires, Max immediately was able to tail Lewis Hamilton until the end of the 57th lap and that’s where all the dissension began.
The rule in case of an accident states that “lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake”, however, during the delay in which
Max changed his tires, there were five lapped cars between the defending world champion and the Dutch man. Michael Masi, the race director came up with a decision that only those five cars must unlap themselves according to the usual regulat ions instead of all lapped cars. Mercedes contested that Michael Masi’s actions violated the sporting protocols, however, the appeal was canned by the stewards.
At the end of the 57th lap, the final lap began which would determine the world champion. Hamilton, who led for almost the entire race, was overtaken in the final lap as Max stunned the seven-time world
We all have seen the memes at Alembic. In the Horst, but now still in Carré, there are plenty of memes hanging around the coffee machine. These memes try to reach all chemistry students, but we also know who they are really aimed for. When the coffee can is empty, we do not always know who exactly to blame, but we all know for sure that one of the sjaarzen is the imposter. If you have been around for longer than a year, you know that whenever a group of sjaarzen came by to collect coffee, the pot would be left empty. They leave before you notice that they did not make a new pot of coffee and so the endless cycle was born in which sjaarzen were always to blame whenever we ran out of coffee. Quite harsh to target this one group so proportionally more than the other students, but on the other hand, as all students once start as a sjaars, you might say it targets all students evenly.
We have asked the opinion of a few old board members on sjaarzen and their relation to coffee-making. The interview itself was quite harsh, as the relation was denied whatsoever. There might have been some swearing, but overall they complimented the current board for providing the majority of our caffeine.
The first years have not been through enough to have built up a proper caffeine addiction. That’s where the main issue is. They do not realise the harm they do to the other students. Every stressed out student, following the same cycl every year, who hasn’t had a proper sleep in ages, knows that coffee is the only source of energy that you can actually rely on. It all starts off so innocent, going for the occasional coffee with a friend. Just like in the movies, you say at first, not knowing that over time, it will stop being occasional.
Maybe I generalise a bit too much, stating that all older students have a caffeine addiction and the first years do not. If you are not sure for yourself whether you have this addiction, below are some common symptoms of a caffeine addiction:
- The board mentions you visit Alembic a lot of times each day.
- You drink multiple cups of coffee before leaving your bed in the morning.
- You are a second year student or older.
- You chug an entire pot of coffee once in a while.
With the QR-code, all uneducated students can teach themselves how to make this delicious pot of coffee and hopefully, I have reached enough (first year) students to put an end to this vicious circle and maybe, just maybe, all students can drink coffee together in harmony again.
champion by winning his maiden F1 title. This prevented Hamilton from winning his record-breaking eighth title.
After the race, Mercedes planned to appeal and needed to notify the International Automobile Federations (FIA) whether they were going to take it to the international court of appeal. FIA said they would conduct “detailed analysis and clarification exercise” which reached no conclusion. As for Max, who showed his grit through out the season got his well-deserved title, leading to high expectations with the 2022 season approaching.
Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Jens, I’m 22 years old and I’m from Enschede. I’m currently in my third year of studying chemical engineering at Saxion. In my first year of studying I was introduced to Convergence by a fourthyear student who worked there and I’ve been working here ever since, so almost three years now.
What kind of company is Convergence?
That’s a pretty difficult question, since you could ask it to so many different employees and will receive just as many different answers. Convergence is a company to which you can go when you have a problem regarding membrane technology and want a mini pilot to test it out. It’s really customer oriented and makes machines to test membranes based on the specific demands and questions of the customer. It’s also a really unique company, probably because it’s a spin-off company from the university.
What does the function Assembly Assistant mean?
As an assembly assistant (AA) you have two main tasks:
Like the name already suggests, assisting with assembly: you help assembling systems for customers. There are a couple of systems that are completely built by AA’s. Since I’m the only AA that has worked here continuously for the past three years, all of these first go by me to check. As an AA you can also assist in the workshop, where you mainly get to work with your hands.
Usually AA’s also have to do small tasks like sweeping the floor, unloading the dishwasher etc. especially when you first start working here. You quickly get to prove yourself by working with your hands though, so if you do well, you can
easily get bigger responsibilities.
systems, which you will also learn from. Moreover, you’re given a lot of freedom to find solutions for things you may encounter during the work you’re given here.
What I like a bit less is the documentation, since our documentation will be used all over the world, the rules for documentation are pretty strict.
What were your expectations when you first started working here?
I didn’t really have any expectations, to be honest. I always liked working with my hands when I was younger, so I thought I’d try it out as a job. In my time here I’ve made a lot of different instructions on how to assemble certain machines and I got more responsibilities within the company pretty quickly. It started out a bit chaotically, but this has gotten a lot better over time.
How would you describe the work environment?
The work environment is really nice in general. There’s always music being played on the work floor and you can even listen to your own music, if you want. All of my colleagues are nice and each Friday afternoon we have a drink with beer and frikandellen. On Wednesdays we often eat fries with everyone and people bring treats and desserts from home. There’s also room for jokes. Before Covid-19 there used to be employee parties, trips and Christmas drinks etc. which were organised really well, since there’s even a committee to organise these kinds of activities.
What are some of the things that you really like, and maybe like a bit less, about this job?
I really like working with my hands, so that’s a big pro for me. You need some spatial awareness to properly assemble
What is the learning curve like at this job?
In the beginning you have to learn a lot of things pretty quickly, but after a while the curve gets a lot less steep. You do this by joining a more experienced worker on the job and learning things from them that way.
It’s possible to start working here pretty early; there’s even someone that started working here when they were only 17 years old. Convergence believes that it is good to have students working at the work floor in order for them to start gaining relevant experience earlier, since there’s a lot to learn here.
Do you have any advice for our readers?
If you think you might like something as a job, just apply and see where you end up. You shouldn’t worry too much and should just try it. I ended up working here myself by just asking about it when I was interested. We have a one month trial period here, so if it turns out you don’t like it, you can always still leave then. So why wouldn’t you try to apply?
“I
Fun fact: Since they’re mostly students, a commonly used nickname for AA’s is “brigabiers”
Organisation of Study Associations, or Overleg Studieverenigingen (OS) in Dutch, is the umbrella association for all study associations. We represent the study associations towards higher organisations, for example, the Student Union and the municipality. However, we mainly focus on issues all study associations are dealing with and help the different associations and their boards integrate with each other. The latter can be both in a more serious way, like meetings in which we discuss educational subjects or policy making, or in fun ways like drinks with all the current board members and a gala for (former) board members. Furthermore, we are quite busy with the distribution of grants over different committees and students.
Within OS we have three different kinds of functions. Friso is the chairman; the leader of the pack as Maarten calls it. Furthermore, we have a secretary-treasurer, combining the two tasks as both of these roles are
somewhat smaller compared to a study association. The third kind of function, of which we have four, is the faculty representative, which represents a certain faculty. This year, Maarten is the representative for S&T (formerly TNW). This means we not only have two board members from the S&T faculty, but also two from the previous Alembic board.
Each board member has various committees and responsibilities to keep him/herself busy. We are involved in the Kick-In and with the study trips of the study associations. As mentioned before, we distribute grants, have meetings for educational and external affairs and we host discussion sessions on various topics including CoViD-19 policy and measures. This year we are also working on a new book contract for all the associations but also meet with various people working at the university concerning EROs, student news and have regular contact with the Student Union concerning all kinds of topics.
As an OS board member you need to know your way around the University, which organisations to talk to about what and how all the different associations work. Friso has already put more effort into learning all the study associations last year and had a lot more contact with higher organs. But this isn’t a requirement as Maarten has proven himself that being in the position gets you up to speed soon enough. In the OS you get introduced to a lot of people you
can contact for any kinds of issues and you will pick up soon enough on how the university actually works and how the different organs relate to each other. Now still, we sometimes do not know where to go, as some areas remain vague, and in that case it is mostly a matter of confidence. It is better to contact the wrong organ confidently, than to wait around for a better fit to appear magically and get nothing done in the meantime.
Each OS board member has been in a study association board, so each board member will have quite some experience in how things work at OS. When six experienced board members come together, it is also important that they are able to work together, so the potency we showed as a group had quite some influence on whether we were chosen and this will also be of importance when we will be selecting our successors.
First of all, we really enjoyed our board year at Alembic and wanted to continue putting effort in helping our students. But besides the chemical engineers, we now have the amazing opportunity to help all students, often via their study associations. A thing Maarten really enjoyed last year was working on problems that were bigger than just one association and those are the main issues you can work on at OS.
For Friso it was more about wanting to connect more study associations with each other since not every study association realises that they are dealing with similar problems. Besides this, Friso also noticed during his time working for CES that a lot of instances at the UT don’t know what study associations do and how they can help each other.
Besides this, we have a lot more
freedom at OS, which we really enjoy. At OS we still have GMAs, statutes and a HR, but nothing is set as strict, which leaves us with more space to deal with issues the way we want to. This results in the responsibility being a lot bigger and so far, we are loving it.
We did not intend to do another board year together, but we did know that the odds were very likely when applying and wouldn’t mind at all if it became a reality. We have worked together quite a lot in the past years in various committees, project groups and even two board years (of which one might have not been real). In these years we both really enjoyed working together and each other’s company. After our board year at Alembic we knew what we could expect from the other, which really benefits our teamwork.
For Maarten it is the influence we have on CoViD measures on the university. In collaboration with the Student Union we started doing CoViD input sessions with all the study associations on the day of a press conference. In these discussion sessions we discuss how new measures and relaxations should, in our opinion, be applied to the students and the study associations. We have noticed that our opinions are actually heard and often all of our suggestions are applied to the university. It has not really been the most fun to do, but to notice that you are actually making a difference at the university, is very rewarding and has been my best experience so far.
For Friso it is seeing people from different associations being able to work together so well. Even though we knew each other a little bit from
before doing our OS board year together (us aside), it is still quite hard to make everybody work together on the same level since everybody is used to a different way of doing things. Besides this, a big part is the influence that we have on the policy of the UT, especially when it comes to corona as Maarten mentioned.
In the end almost everything during this year is something to remember and it all is a great experience. Working together for another year is also great fun in the end and we really enjoy it. OS itself is very interesting and awesome to do and we would advise everyone to do a board year at OS (after doing one at Alembic of course).
In January, the Gamecie organized the Alembic chess tournament. Due to the coronavirus, most of the matches had to be played online but this didn’t hinder us from having a great competition. We started out with twenty players split into four brackets based on perceived ranking for fair competition. Two pools for the strong and two for the beginners.
We all played four matches in which many queens were taken, pawns were pushed and pieces were hung. The first bracket, with all the best players, was on a completely different level than the lowest brackets. The highest bracket had an average rating of 1800 while the lower brackets were still struggling to make a coherent attack. Mario, Max, Tijke, and Jordi all came first in their respective pools while Tim and Chakshu came second in the highest two pools and also moved on to the finals. Mario fended off a Danish gambit and was ultimately victorious while Tim won an open Sicilian and Tijke with the London system.
The winners all got special prizes; Mario got a trophy as the grand winner while Tim and Tijke won a bubble blowing set, chocolate, and car cooling liquid as a consolation prize.
We as the Gamecie want to thank all participants for playing in the tournament. We got a lot of positive responses from the tournament participants which makes us think we could definitely do a chess tournament again in the future, with even higher stakes and even greater prizes.
As the Commissioner of Educational Affairs it is your goal to inform the students about the educational possibilities of the University. In the broadest sense this means letting them know where they can leave their critique to further develop the education, as well as helping them with information to finish their studies. For the latter, the Commissioner of Educational Affairs has to plan two very important activities around the third module, as both second and third year students are nearing important decisions in their studies.
The second years have arrived at the point where they need to choose their minor: a part of the study in which you can choose a completely different path or use it to be able to choose a different path later in your Masters. So, together with the program staff a mini minor market was organised, where older students could share their experiences about certain minors along with information for the second-year students about this decision process.
Then, a year later, you’re a third year student and you have to choose what Bachelor’s assignment you want to do and maybe more importantly: where you want to do it. So, together with the module coordinator of MOD11 all research groups were invited to give a small presentation about their research and working atmosphere during the Research Group Information Sessions.
As the Commissioner of Educational Affairs, I really enjoyed organising these activities and think that both second and third years were glad with the presentations. Organising this provides students with opportunities for both formal and informal advice, along with the opportunity for me to get to know the research groups and program staff better, all in all two important activities for the Commissioner of Educational Affairs.
In the first week of March, some Alembicers’ phones were bombarded with notifications throughout the day. This was because the GameCie’s first round of WhatsApp werewolves was going on at the time. We essentially played a classic game of werewolves that we’re all familiar with, but through the comfort of our phones.
Already during the first day, some players, without any interference from our side, set up a dedicated meme chat. This was surely a surprise, but a welcome one, as it led to some truly hilarious memes. Funnily enough, this meme chat also led to uncovering one of the werewolves on the first day, through a deleted message.
Throughout the week wild accusations were thrown, theories and speculations were made, and mayors were elected and shot on the same day. Talk about an eventful week. Eventually, after 8 days of hard struggle, the villagers were victorious as they sent the last werewolf off to the pyre.
Overall it was an entertaining, sometimes confusing, but most of all enjoyable week, wherein lots of fun was had. So much so that after our first round, a lot of people were still up for a second round and even people that didn’t participate in the first one, wanted to join in on the fun.
By: Sam WolbersTwo indispensable players in the treatment of millions of cancer patients worldwide
The ultracentrifuges that Urenco uses for the production of medical isotopes are developed and manufactured by Enrichment Technology Company (ETC), the world leader in enrichment technology. Last year, the latest installation, the Leonardo da Vinci cascade, was put into operation. This cascade is extremely versatile. Many different products can be made with it, for both medical and industrial applications.
The demand for medical isotopes has grown considerably in recent years, says Arjan Bos, who heads Urenco’s Stable Isotopes department. “Research is constantly being done to find new opportunities to use nuclear medicine. To meet the increasing demand, Urenco will need even more centrifuges in the future.” In addition, Stable Isotopes is the only western producer of stable isotopes. “We can now enrich isotopes of about ten different elements. We need to increase this in the future so that we can better serve Europe. As Urenco, we want to continue to play that leading role. That won’t be possible without ETC.
When the stable isotopes leave the site in Almelo, they are not yet radioactive. This happens, for example, in the reactor in Petten. From there, they are ‘radioisotopes’ that go to hospitals and are used for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The isotopes are then introduced into the body, Bos explains. The isotope stops at the place where the tumour is and this is then irradiated at close range. In this way, the patient receives treatment at exactly the right spot and no healthy tissue around the tumour is destroyed by radiation.
In addition to making highly efficient ultra centrifuges to meet the world’s energy needs, ETC has also been producing ultra centrifuges for the production of medical isotopes since the 1970s. To help treat millions of cancer patients worldwide, a small number of ultracentrifuges is enough. Leon Lagendijk, Director at ETC Nederland, explains that for enriching isotopes basically the same technology is used as for enriching uranium. The centrifuge and the process are adjusted to each isotope to be enriched.
“People find working at Urenco and ETC Nederland special. We offer challenging work, continue to innovate, are committed to the environment and help sick people with their treatment. And the fact that, in addition to the nuclear and medical markets, ETC is also active in the aerospace, semiconductor and packaging & printing industries makes us an attractive employer in the Netherlands,” says Leon.
And then Marie Antoinette said let them eat cake! Baking is a fun hobby, which often can result in some delicious cakes. But there’s a lot of chemistry involved in baking as well. We will take a look at all of the different ingredients most commonly used in baking recipes and their roles.
Flour
The first ingredient that is used for baking delicious pastries and other types of baked goods is flour. Even though many different types of flour can be used, wheat flour is the most commonly used type of flour for baking breads. This is due to the fact that wheat flour contains a higher percentage (8-14%) of a protein called gluten, which is activated after being wetted and kneaded. When bread dough is kneaded with gluten present in it, the gluten will stretch out and form longer and longer chains. This causes the dough to be elastic after it has been thoroughly kneaded. Because of this gluten complex that is built, gases expelled by yeast stay inside the dough, which causes it to rise. Then after it has been baked, it results in a light texture. The best type of flour that can be used for baking tender cakes is a slightly lower percentage of gluten containing flour (7-9%). The flour should also be clean and not contain any bran or wheat germ.
Sugar is mostly known as a sweetener, but other than making the baked goods sweeter, sugar also influences other properties of cakes. During the baking process sugar undergoes many different browning reactions (also known as Maillard reactions) when the cake is baked at a temperature above 160 degrees Celcius. These browning reactions result in a brown crust being formed around your pastries. During a browning reaction, a sugar aldehyde or ketone is converted to an unsaturated ketone or aldehyde using an amino acid based catalyst.
Adding sugar also helps the fermentation process in baking bread, since the yeast in bread has more sugars to work with. The most commonly used sugars for baking are sugars such as sucrose, 1A sugar, castor sugar or icing sugar. Using less pure forms of sugar such as brown sugar or honey are used to give baked goods a more unique and deep flavour.
Another type of reactions that can occur within sugar molecules during the baking process are caramelization reactions. These reactions occur at a temperature of 180 degrees Celcius. Caramelization reactions are chemical reactions where sugar molecules break down and release a water molecule. The sugars that are broken down form new compounds that influence the flavour of baked goods. One example is Diacetyl, which gives caramel a butterscotch-like flavour, and is produced in the very first stages of caramelization. Then there are also esters and lactones, which give a rum-like flavour. And lastly the molecules furan and maltol are produced, which give a nutty and toasty flavour respectively. Because of the different stages of caramelization, you can influence the flavour of your food, by adjusting the baking time.
Fat plays four major roles in the baking process of different baked goods: shortening, creaming, layering and flavour.
Fat shortens the dough by weakening the gluten network in the dough. This results in the cake to be softer and feeling more tender when you eat it.
Not only does it soften the cake, it also helps the cake to be more aerated. This is due to the fact that fat droplets trap air bubbles during the mixing process. These air bubbles expand during the baking process and give the cake its airy structure.
Furthermore, fat can also be used to layer cakes. Fats can be placed between cake layers, then during the baking process these layers stay separated instead of sticking together. This is for instance used in pastries such as croissants. Lastly, fat does not generally add a lot of flavour to the cake. But in certain baking goods, special types of fat can be used to influence the flavour as well. Such as in meat pie, where lard is used.
Salt is mainly used to enhance the flavour of the other ingredients. This is only partly due to the taste of salt. It also enhances for instance the flavour in bread, by regulating the yeast action on the other ingredients. By improving the palatability of baked goods, it also leads to better digestibility of food. Not only does salt enhance the flavour, it is also used to strengthen your dough, since salt has a strengthening effect on gluten as well. This leads to gluten being able to hold gases and water better and prevents the dough from being soft and sticky.
Baking soda, baking powder or yeast?
When it comes to using a leavening agent for your baked goods, there are multiple options. Which of these is the best choice depends on what you’re baking. The first option which can be used as a leavening agent is baking soda, when combined with an acidic ingredient and heated it releases carbon dioxide via the following reaction 2NaHCO3 reacts to Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2. It is cheap and easy to store, however it also has some disadvantages. First of all, as can be seen in the equation, only half of the present carbon dioxide can be released. Also the sodium carbonate that is produced in this reaction is strongly alkaline, which can result in a bitter or soap-like taste.
The second option is baking powder, which is baking soda with a powdered acid added to it. Baking powder is able to release twice as much CO2 as baking soda, because it is double-acting, it reacts once when moisture is added to it and a second time when it is heated. Since only one third of the baking powder consists of baking soda, more baking powder is needed to achieve the same result as when using baking soda.
The final option is yeast, which is composed of single-celled organisms which convert sugar to CO2 and alcohol through fermentation. Yeast needs a lot of time to let the dough rise before putting it into the oven, which makes the process a lot slower than with baking soda or baking powder. Yeast also leaves a more intense flavour.
Eggs are one of the most important ingredients used in baking and have many functions. Like flour, eggs influence the structure and texture of your baked goods. Eggs help with linking the flour to the rest of the ingredients in order to allow your product to have a good structure.
The fat from egg yolks can shorten the gluten strands in flour, resulting in a more tender and delicate product. Proteins in both egg yolks and whites hold moisture, which improves the texture as well. Because of several emulsifiers present within eggs, for example lecithin in the yolks and albumin in the whites, eggs help with mixing your batter or dough and achieving your desired texture.
Like leavening agents, eggs also help with creating an airy texture, this can be done by beating air into egg whites, which unfolds the proteins present within the whites and allows them to bind with each other. The steam created from the moisture within eggs when baking your goods also helps with creating this texture.
Not only do eggs influence the structure and texture of your baked goods, they also help with looks, flavour and nutritional value. Xanthophyll, which gives egg yolks their distinctively bright yellow colour is a very stable pigment, because of this the yellow colour of egg yolks can still be found in your goods, even after baking them. Additionally, eggs facilitate the Maillard reaction, resulting in a browned exterior for your baked goods. Washing the top of your bread or pastries with eggs, results in a shiny exterior and allows toppings to adhere to the surface of your products.
Because of the richness of the egg yolks and the way the fats within the yolks work together with other ingredients, eggs contribute to a rich flavour with a distinctive mouthfeel that’s not easily replicated.
Eggs contain a lot of different nutrients, for example choline, which improves cell functioning, as well as monounsaturated
fats and polyunsaturated fats. They also contain a lot of proteins, which include all nine essential amino acids. Lastly they contain vitamins like vitamin D and lutein and zeaxanthin, which are good for your eyes.
1 Smith, Brett. “Chemical Reactions That Occur during Baking.” Sciencing, 29 Apr. 2019, https://sciencing. com/chemical-reactions-that-occur-during-baking-12731635.html.
2 “New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (NZIC).” NZ Institute of Chemistry, https://nzic.org.nz/app/uploads/2017/10/6D.pdf.
3 Committee, The BC Cook Articulation. “Functions of Salt in Baking.” Understanding Ingredients for the Canadian Baker, BCcampus, 24 Oct. 2015, https://opentextbc.ca/ ingredients/chapter/functions-of-salt-in-baking/.
4 Alfaro, Danilo. “Learn How 3 Types of Leavening Agents Work in Baking.” The Spruce Eats, The Spruce Eats, 8 Aug. 2020, https://www.thespruceeats.com/main-types-ofleavening-agents-and-how-they-work-4125705.
5 “What Are the Functions of Eggs?: Using Eggs to Bake & Cook.” Sauder’s Eggs, 15 May 2019, https://www. saudereggs.com/blog/what-are-the-functions-of-eggs/.
Bachelor
Gert-Jan Aardema
Temitope Atunbi
Anneloes Berghuis
Lotte Berkelaar
Elmar Boorsma
Thijs Engelen
Olaf van Ginkel
By: Maarten JagerIn 2017, the Enschede city council proposed its new slogan: ‘Enschede Stad van Nu’ (City of Now). You only have to take a walk through the city to know time has frozen here for several decades, and is at its best ‘Stad van Toen’. With this statement I am not referring to the picturesque Oude Markt with its beautiful medieval church or the refined architecture of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, but rather to the seemingly solidified mindset of the city. During your little hike you might notice you are in fact watching your feet more than your surroundings, to avoid the ever present dog faeces on the pavement, smeared out in lightbrown footprints by inattentive other travellers. Truthfully, watching your surroundings might not be an unnecessary luxury as next to the apparent traffic anarchy created by cyclists in the city centre, the unexpecting traveller should be wary of powered-up Volkswagen Golf cars, complete with drivers wearing baseball caps, or German day trippers who seem to think the Netherlands is devoid of any traffic rules. Frankly, travelling alone through town might be even worse if you happen to be female (admittedly most Utwente students are male, but for the sake of this article let us imagine this from the female view). There does not seem to be a single street downtown not having at least one coffeeshop, which is on its own not a big issue, but does come with agglomerations of shabby-looking customers ready to bother and call out to passing female wanderers. If you were celebrating New Year’s eve in Enschede, you may have noticed the overall neglect of the national fireworks ban, resulting in an all-out war zone. For students living on the campus this was more visible than normally but for students living in the city, fireworks can be observed during the entire year. I would expect the lighting of fireworks to be adding insult to injury for a certain fireworks problem in late 2000, but this apparently does not hold sway over its denizens.
You might think, at least we have the University of Twente, that evens it out right? Well, I might argue conservatism is
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the spirit of the executive board (EB). Sure, we might be doing fine in terms of research but what have you seen in terms of sustainability development on campus, other than waterless urinals? For instance, the construction of solar panels on campus building roofs - except for the Oosthorst and the Technohal all roofs remain empty[1]. Furthermore, in the GreenMetric world ranking of the 1000 most sustainable universities, where Wageningen is ranked first, Groningen third and Leiden seventh, Twente is completely absent[2], which is at least a bit embarrassing for a university from the world’s fourth richest country[3]. Even though technical universities are getting more government money at the expense of classical universities[4], and the large profits the university makes with doing research for companies[5], the Utwente is yet to see any progression.
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Arthur van der Sar
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mention sustainability as the last point on their agenda, and do recognize the absence of a central sustainability policy and advocate for more sustainable campus housings, but beyond that do not promote any plan other than to ‘increase awareness among students and staff’, what they conveniently shove to associations to arrange for. UReka has one paragraph in their policy plan of in total 83 words where they declare sustainability to be of paramount importance and believe it should be encouraged in every way possible, without providing any kind of own initiative.
Luckily, there is also some hope. In late November 2021, Scientists4Future-Twente sent an open letter on climate action, with over 600 signatories, to the executive board of the UT. Led by a large number of researchers, the letter advocates for the radical reduction of CO2 emissions by the university. Of course, the executive board reacted excitedly, made a big show out of the acceptance of the letter, and the societal involvement of its scientific staff. Unsurprisingly, no further updates about implementation of any of the proposed plans was given at a later stage.
rudimentary view on the ‘Stad van Nu’, but surely the students try to improve the situation, right? When looking at the policy plans of the Student Union (SU) and the largest two student parties in the URaad (DAS and UReka), it does not get much better. The word sustainability (and anything related) is completely missing from the strategic plan of the SU for the years 20202023, but is mentioned in the annual report for 2022. Here, they state ‘Sustainability remains so important that we have decided to include it again in the 2022 annual plan’, and list some goals to ‘provide information and solutions to live more sustainably’, but are furthermore devoid of any concrete ideas. Reading on progression made in the past two years is also not possible, as the annual reports of 2020 and 2021 are still missing. De Ambitieuze Student (DAS)
To conclude, the designation Enschede, Stad van Nu, is laughably ridiculous, considering both the city and the university mentality. However, the rudimentary view of some dignitaries is challenged by a number of ambitious scientists, who just might achieve something.
References:
[1] https://www.utwente.nl/en/sustainability/sustainability-oncampus/themes/energy/#energy-generation-on-campus.
[2] https://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/rankings/overall-rankings-2021
[3] https://nos.nl/artikel/2401433-nederlanders-wereldwijd-op-4deplek-rijkste-burgers
[4] https://decorrespondent.nl/10324/meer-geld-voor-detechnische-universiteiten-betekent-minder-geld-voor-de-rest-endie-komt-in-actie/5335001188264-e4b00921
[5] Jaarverslag Universiteit Twente 2020.
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I was so nervous for my oral exam that I forgot to take my jacket off even though I put on my best clothes. I stood waiting outside: running all the facts and figures in my head, trying to recall all the information, deciding I had helped in the report enough to wing it, remembering that it was a group report so there was no way I could wing it, and simply reducing into a bundle of nerves again.
I entered the exam room. “What’s your last name?” the teacher asked.
“Taboada.”
“Are you Filipino?”
I wondered why my teacher would ask about my nationality, though I kept quiet and simply said yes. After a moment, he said, “Wow, I mentored a Filipino student before in Delft with the same last name.”
“Was his first name Jerome?” I knew the answer before I even asked the question.
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Suddenly, the exam took quite an interesting turn. I had come to study in the Netherlands partly because I knew my parents obtained their PhD at TU Delft, and they were all the better for it. In hindsight, I should have known I would run into someone they knew sooner rather than later. But honestly, I thought it was not the best way to have met my father’s mentor. I was already nervous coming in; now, I felt like I was melting. I gripped my jacket tightly like I hoped it would keep me together.
They asked me various questions. Sometimes, the answer was ready on my tongue. Other times, it was stuck in my throat. In the worst of times, I had no answer at all. As the exam continued, however, I became more aware of myself. I stopped looking at my teacher’s faces, trying to guess their expressions, and simply began to look inward.
What do I know? In what areas am I still lacking? My own questions began to take form, and at the end of the exam, I took the opportunity to ask them and began finding answers for myself.
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Entering the oral exam felt like stepping into a storm. When I was standing in the midst of it, I realised the importance of self-assessment. Because no one can control the weather, but one can always ask, “Do I have a coat or umbrella? How do I act so I avoid the worst of it?”
So, maybe I was more nervous than I should have been. Maybe it was a bad week or a bad time. Maybe all the elements were not in my favour. But I could have always looked up to the sky and basked in the rain.
I could have taken off my jacket.
