Dr. Axel Funke Funke

Dr. Axel Funke

  • Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1
    76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Personal details

Axel Funke studied energy and process engineering at Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) and the Royal Institute of technology (Stockholm/ Sweden) followed by a position as engineer in the quality assurance of power plant and biodiesel plant engineering and construction in 2006. He started his scientific career 2008 in the field of hydrothermal carbonization of waste biomass at the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany). The subsequent postdoctoral research at the Leibniz-Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy Potsdam (Germany) from 2011 onwards focused on biomass conversion to produce biochar according to the ‘terra preta do indio’ phenomenon. In 2013 he started as team leader for fast pyrolysis technology development at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and works within the bioliq® project for the production of liquid fuels from biomass residues. His scientific focus is on engineering wet and dry thermochemical biomass conversion technology.

Memberships
  • Task leader of the IEA Bioenergy Task 34 “Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction” 2019-2021
  • Member of the scientific advisory board of Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) Vienna/ Austria
  • Member of the international editorial board of ‘Biomass and Bioenergy’ (Elsevier ISSN 1873-2909)
Awards
  • PhD scholarship of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)
  • Listed among World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University since 2020
Research
  • Biomass thermochemical conversion process design
  • Design of condensation systems for pyrolysis applications
  • Auger reactor design
  • Heat transfer in moving beds of particles
  • Biochar applications
Projects
  • SUSCI, Sustainable Feedstocks for the Chemical Industry, BMWE national joint project of KIT and Linde GmbH; own role: project management KIT, project duration 10/2025-09/2028
  • PYRAGRAF, Decentralized pyrolytic conversion of agriculture and forestry wastes towards local circular value chains and sustainability, https://www.pyragraf.eu/ HE EU project, 13 partners; own role: scientist KIT, project duration 07/2023-06/2027
  • FLEXI-GREEN FUELS, Flexible and resilient integrated biofuel processes for competitive production of green renewable jet and shipping fuels, H2020 EU project, 13 partners; own role: project management KIT, project duration 01/2021-12/2023
  • IEA Bioenergy Task 34 “Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction”, Own role: Task lead and project management, started 01/ 2019
  • ValProWa, Valorization of process waters from thermochemical biomass conversion by Fermentation, BMBF national joint project; own role: work package lead KIT-IKFT, project duration 11/2018-10/2021
  • BRISK 2 (Biofuels research infrastructure), H2020 EU project, 15 partners; own role: project management KIT/ ExCo board member, brisk2.eu, project duration 05/2017-04/2022
Publications