Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

Research quality
Overall, the quality of the publications that originate from the evaluated units is good, 
and the publications are published in the relevant journals in their field. The number of 
articles produced is somewhat low, in particular considering the number of PhD 
students and postdoctoral researchers in the groups. An exception is the chemometrics 
group, which in the evaluation period has produced an impressive number of high-
quality publications considering the low number of graduate students. This group is 
also well-recognised internationally in the field of chemometrics.
The groups appear in general to be fairly well connected to relevant industry, 
despite the somewhat low amount of funding obtained directly from industry. 
The work of the Laboratory of Separation Technology is well known in the 
European crystallisation engineering community (in particular in the Working Party 
on Crystallisation of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering). A further 
testimony to the Laboratory’s international standing is the observation that it has a 
double PhD degree with a renowned Chinese university. 
The reports provided to the panel claim that LUT was the originator of process 
intensification in Finland, and that it is leading in this field, especially concerning 
microprocess technology. This is in some contradiction with the titles of the articles 
published (of 15 articles from the relevant unit, only two are concerned with 
microreactors or intensification), and with the relatively small amount of funding 
from industry and from Tekes, even if reactive distillation certainly belongs in the 
field of process intensification. It may be that this field of process intensification is 
treated in other parts of the Department not covered by the evaluation, or that this 
direction of research is still recent.

---

43