Jaap Kiel holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and completed a PhD study at the same university on simultaneous SOx/NOx removal from flue gases of coal fired boilers.
In 1989, he joined ECN and became involved in the execution, and later organisation and management of a broad range of R&D projects in the field of thermal conversion of solid fuels.
Jaap Kiel currently is the development manager of the Biomass Programme at ECN, covering R&D on various thermochemical biomass conversion technologies including dry and wet torrefaction, combustion and gasification and biorefinery concepts for lignocellulosic biomass and seaweed.
He also is a part-time professor in Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass at Delft University of Technology and the coordinator of the subprogramme on Thermochemical Processing within EERA Bioenergy, an alliance of European energy R&D centres.