Franco Berruti

Professor Berruti graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and achieved a PhD at the University of Waterloo (Canada). He started his career in Canada at the University of Calgary becoming a full professor in 1992 and Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) in 1994. He served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan (1996-2000) and at the University of Western Ontario (2000-2008). He is the Founding Director of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR).

Dr. Berruti is an accomplished and internationally recognized researcher with expertise in chemical reactor technologies, thermal cracking, conversion of heavy oils and biomass residues and organic wastes into value-added fuels and chemicals.

His research, often carried out in collaboration with many national and international industrial organizations, has led to significant academic and industrial contributions.

His publication record includes over 250 articles in many prestigious journals, books and conference proceedings, hundreds of presentations, and several patents. 

With his colleague Dr. Cedric Briens, he has co-founded Agri-Therm, a spin-off organization involving the University and private investors which has been recently licensed in China. More recently, he has contributed to the creation of a second spin-off company, called Bio-Techfar.

Additional contributions of Dr. Berruti include the leadership of large national and international networking initiatives (Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation Network (ABIN), the pyrolysis platform of the BioFuelNet Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE), the Canadian leadership of the UK-Canada Network for Carbon Capture), many international collaborative projects and the organization of several major international conferences all over the world.