Started at Topsoe 15 November 2007 Education MSc in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark Personal Julie is 24 years old and now works in the Catalyst Division

Specialised at Topsoe

I wrote my thesis on the hydrometalisation of vacuum gas-oils, which is a way to remove nitrogen, sulphur and other metals from the oil. Specifically I worked with the removal of vanadium, nickel, arsenic, iron and silicium. The purpose of my project was to describe the metal components of the oils and define the kinetics.

Through model analysis I described the way the catalysts distribute metal at different times. I chose to write my paper in co-operation with Topsoe because of a job I had in Oil lab one summer. It was great to be out here, so I asked for some projects to write my thesis about - and fortunately there were several projects which sounded exciting.

Bridge between study and work

My co-operation with Topsoe made it possible for me to achieve concrete results which were used in “real life”. It was highly motivating to know that I didn’t just write for the sake of my supervisor, but that my knowledge was actually useful. I hadn’t been able to write my paper without my supervisors from Topsoe, as there aren’t many from the Technical University who would know a lot about this field.

My paper has built a bridge between student life and the working life. Quite literally, in fact; I have started as a technical service engineer in the Catalyst Division. I chose to continue at Topsoe, because I liked it here while I studied for my paper – the more you are here, the more you want to be here.