Jouni Havukainen

Jouni Havukainen
Associate Professor (Tenure Track)
Sustainability Science
LUT School of Energy Systems
Lappeenranta
+358 40 584 8385
Research areas
Environmental Engineering
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Waste Management and Disposal

Biography

I have been working for the Sustainability Science department at the LUT University in conducting and managing research projects and participated in teaching since 2008. Currently my research focuses on environmental sustainability of energy systems.

The aim of this field of research is to ensure that environmental aspects will be taken into consideration during the systemic changes taking place in the energy sector. One example of this is the Power-to-X (P2X) project, Hygcel, where I am part of a team focusing on the environmental sustainability aspects of the project. This means assessing the environmental performance of the studied technologies and system changes. The need behind this project is to assess what would be the possible ways forward for Finland in steering towards a decarbonized energy system.

During my time in LUT University, I finished my Ph.D. in Environmental engineering in December 2014, and during my Ph.D. studies, I was also working for Helsinki Region Environmental Services (HSY), in supporting the development of biogas utilization in the transport sector in the capital region of Finland and northern regions in Estonia. After a four-year period as a post-doctoral researcher, I was given a position as an associate professor (non-tenure) starting from January 2019 and the research work continued to involve circular economy issues. In 2022 I was selected for Associate professor tenure position which I started in the beginning of April 2022.

During my career thus far, I have been participating in teaching and supervising undergraduate, post graduate students, and Ph.D. Students. I teach the basics of waste management to undergraduate students in the course of Solid Waste Management Technology 2008-2021. I have established biological cycle in circular economy course for our circular economy master program in 2019 and have been teaching it since. I have been guiding and supervising several bachelor and master thesis.

I have conducted research in three continents during the research exchanges during Ph.D. studies and as a postdoctoral researcher. As a Ph.D. student, I investigated energy recovery potential from biodegradable waste in Lithuania at the Kaunas University of Technology and environmental impacts of renewable biofuels production at the Energy Biosciences Institute in Berkeley, California. In addition, during the postdoctoral research visit to Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, I conducted research related to improving the environmental impacts of Municipal solid waste management in Hangzhou.

I have participated in and managed research projects including the ARVI-material value chain project to which the research exchange to ZJU was related. I am a project manager in a seven-year EU Life IP project called Circwaste (ending in 2023) and an Academy of Finland project called NITRO – advanced nitrogen recovery (ending in 2021). Related to the Nitro project I made a research visit to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2019 related to LCA modeling of dewatered sewage sludge utilization.

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