Olivier Vorlet

École d'ingénieurs et d'architectes de Fribourg · ChemTech

Numerous projects and industrial and academic collaborations benefit from state-of-the-art facilities and expertise in analytical chemistry available at the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences. This review summarizes areas of expertise in analytical sciences at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), the Univ...

The evaluation of the shelf life of, for example, food, pharmaceutical materials, polymers, and energetic materials at room or daily climate fluctuation temperatures requires kinetic analysis in temperature ranges which are as similar as possible to those at which the products will be stored or transported in. A comparison of the results of the eva...

Over the last decade, several distinct research groups tested possible uses of membrane contactors for the wine industry, notably for the management of dissolved gases in wines, adjustment of the CO 2 concentration while reducing the O 2 concentration at the same time. Other experiments were done with partial alcohol reduction and addition of N 2 t...

We have successfully built a low-cost (under 500 CHF) portable Raman spectrometer based on scavenged, consumer electronics. The instrument prototype is designed as a tool to help identify counterfeit medication in low-income countries. As a proof of concept, we confirmed the presence of acetaminophen, a type of analgesic, in over-the-counter drugs...

Three institutes of the Universities of Applied Sciences that are active in Chemistry and Life Sciences present a selection of their activities in the field of environmental sciences. These projects include analytical monitoring, removal of micropollutants, waste reduction and valorization.

This article provides an overview of activities in the fields of continuous processes, flow chemistry and microreactors at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.

The fermentation of yeast in fed-batch mode shows great potential in winemaking because it allows the concentration of sugars to be kept low and constant throughout the process which, in turn, reduces cell stress and leads to a significant decrease in the production of unwanted secondary metabolites. The implementation of this technique requires re...

Ammonia emissions from animal facilities have a negative impact on environment and human health. This study develops an air cleaning system from corn stalk impregnated with phosphoric acid to recover ammonia emissions from poultry facilities and produce nitrogen fertilizer. The prototype tested in a poultry facility showed an abatement of >95% of a...

Many studies designate hematite as a promising material for direct water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen. For a real outdoor application, it is important to consider hourly and seasonal conditions like temperature and sunlight intensity. The performance of an undoped hematite thin-film photoanode was tested in a photoelectrochemical cell under v...

An overview of activities in the field of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland is presented

La spectroscopie infrarouge à transformée de Fourier (IRTF) est fréquemment utilisée pour l’analyse d’échantillons oenologiques en laboratoire. Le but de ce projet était de développer et valider une méthode d’IRTF permettant le dosage automatique des sucres et de l’éthanol en continu, c’est-à-dire directement dans la cuve de fermentation. Pour cela...

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful and non-destructive technique for chemical and structural identification. Based on inelastic scattering of laser light by molecular vibrations, the analysis can be localized on a microscopic area when combined with a microscope. Thus, by moving the sample under the microscope objective and recording a Raman spectrum...

Ionic liquids (ILs) are efficient solvents for the selective removal of CO2 from flue gas. Conventional, offthe-shelf ILs are limited in use to physisorption, which restricts their absorption capacity. After adding a chemical functionality like amines or alcohols, absorption of CO2 occurs mainly by chemisorption. This greatly enhances CO2 absorptio...