Charles Lardinois

Pharmaceutical Engineering Research Group

Ottergemsesteenweg 460

B-9000 Gent(Belgium)

Education: Chemical Engineering

Biography

Holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering in Chemistry from the Institut Supérieur Industriel de Bruxelles (ISIB). He completed his master’s thesis at KU Leuven within the framework of the European FIREFLY project, which aims at the sustainable evolution of the catalyst-based chemical industry. His thesis focused on the design, simulation, and techno-economic assessment of a hydrometallurgical process for the recycling of spent SCR catalysts.

Summary of Research Project

PhD research conducted as part of the European PHARMECO project, which promotes the integration of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The work focuses on the flowsheet modelling of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. This system-level approach enables the virtual representation and simulation of integrated processes by linking unit operations through material and energy streams. It allows process performance to be predicted and compared while reducing reliance on resource-intensive experimentation.

The unit operation models are implemented within a process simulation platform. Beyond steady-state analysis, the framework enables bottleneck identification, equipment occupancy evaluation, and time-resolved assessment of resource demands. By quantifying raw material and utility consumption, the approach supports sustainability evaluation (e.g., Process Mass Intensity, water and energy footprints) and techno-economic assessment (CAPEX, OPEX). Sensitivity, scenario, and uncertainty analyses further enhance model robustness and support data-driven decision-making toward sustainable process intensification.