Dr. ir. Leon van den Oetelaar is Senior Specialist at Ketjen R&D in Amsterdam.
Ketjen is a subsidiary of Albemarle Catalysts where Leon van den Oetelaar has worked for more than 15 years as a scientist, project leader, and R&D group head to develop catalysts for alternative fuel applications and hydroprocessing. Ketjen is operating globally and provides flexible, performance-based catalysts, technologies, and related services to the refining and petrochemical industries. Production locations including joint ventures are in The Netherlands (Amsterdam), USA (Texas), Brazil and Japan.
He has studied Chemical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and did his Ph.D. in the TU/e Applied Physics department, titled “Surface and interface phenomena in heterogeneous metal catalysis”. Before working in Albemarle, he worked for several years at Akzo Nobel Corporate Research Centre in Arnhem in the field of Microstructure Analysis. His main specialty was Transmission Electron Microscopy.
Leon van den Oetelaar has represented Ketjen as a VIRAN member since 2021 and his aspiration is to stimulate fruitful interactions between academia and industry and to stimulate sustainable solutions in catalysis research.