What I do
Since October 2006 I am a doctoral research fellow at the Division Forest, Nature and landscape (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium) on a scholarship of VLIR-UOS and in collaboration with the World Agroforesty Centre (ICRAF) – India.
My strong interest in the overall environmental impact of tropical bio-energy crops drove me to write a PhD project that focuses on the life cycle assessment of bio-diesel production from Jatropha curcas L., not only covering the energy and greenhouse gas balance but also the land use impact. Since only few is known on this so-called ‘wonderplant’, we also look into its plant physiology, root architecture and land suitability.
The Jatropha Archives – DOWNLOADS
- Blog:
- Walrus Tales
Affiliations
Current affiliations
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- Position
- Doctoral research fellow
- Company
- Division Forest, Nature and Landscape, K.U.Leuven
- Further information
Location
- City:
- Leuven, Provincie Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
- Hub:
- Brussels
Interests
° Tropical energy trees ° Bio-fuel ° Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ° Land Use Impact Assessment ° Socio-economic drivers ° The tropics
Discussion interest goes to Land use issues: land competition, right land use on right place, land degradation, effect of land use change on global change, …
Projects
BIOTROPHA (2006 – 2010)
Publications
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Achten WMJ, Mathijs E, Muys B. Proposing a life cycle land use impact calculation methodology in: Nemecek T & Gaillard G (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on LCA in the Agri-Food Sector - Towards a sustainable management of the Food chain. November 12-14, 2008, Zurich, Switzerland. Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station , 22-33 (2009)
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Maes W, Achten W, Reubens B, Raes D, Samson R, Muys B. Plant–water relationships and growth strategies of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings under different levels of drought stress Journal of Arid Environments (2009) doi: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.04.013
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Achten W. Science journals have been slow to make themselves audible Nature (7213) , 590 - 590 (2008) doi: 10.1038/455590a
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Achten W, Dondeyne S, Mugogo S, Kafiriti E, Poesen J, Deckers J, Muys B. Gully erosion in South Eastern Tanzania: spatial distribution and topographic thresholds Zeit fur Geo (2) , 225 - 235 (2008) doi: 10.1127/0372-8854/2008/0052-0225
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ACHTEN W, VERCHOT L, FRANKEN Y, MATHIJS E, SINGH V, AERTS R, MUYS B. Jatropha bio-diesel production and use Biomass and Bioenergy (2008) doi: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2008.03.003
