Ph. D. Miķelis Kirpļuks

Scientific interests and competences

  • Expertise in the development of high-efficiency rigid polyurethane foam thermal insulation from sustainable raw materials, like vegetable oils, tall oil, and recycled PET
  • Experiment design, material testing, result analysis, and data interpretation
  • Funding attraction

More information

Supervisor of PhD thesis: Ralfs Pomilovskis, Natural oil based thermoset foam development (Latvian: Termoreaktīvo polimēru putu izejvielu sintēze no augu izcelsmes eļļām), planned defence on 2024, Riga Technical University

2024 – Organizer of the BTechPro2024 conference, Riga, Latvia https://www.btechpro.lv/organisers

2023 – One of the selected scientists representing the Latvian scientific community in the "Zinātne Latvijai 2024" calendar. Project “Zinātne Latvijai 2024” a part of grant Nr. 1.1.1.5/17/I/002

2022 – One of the five final candidates for “Polymers 2022 Young Investigator Award”, Polymers 2022 - New Trends in Polymer Science: Health of the Planet, Health of the People, 25–27 May 2022, Turin, Italy

2020 – “Golden Pine Cone Award" for the category ”Contribution of science to the development of the forestry industry” for “Wood processing by-products – for the production of polymers”. Recipients: Dr. U.Cabulis, Ph.D. A.Fridrihsone, Ph.D. M.Kirpluks, and Ph.D. A.Ivdre. 

2018 – “Top Achievements in Science” in Latvia in 2017. Applied science category with “Wide range of thermal insulation materials from renewable and recycled raw materials” by Dr, U.Stirna, Dr. U.Cabulis, Dr. V.Yakushin, Mg.sc.ing. M.Kirpluks, Mg.sc.ing. A.Fridrihsone, Latvian Academy of Sciences. 

2017 – Polymer Processing Society Young Researcher Travel Award for 2017 - PPS-33 conference Cancun, Mexico.

 2015 – Travel grant award for BASF Summer Courses for young researchers 

2014 – International Conference on Bio-based Polymers and Composites (BiPoCo-2012) award for the Best poster presentation, the first place with poster "Thermal and Mechanical Properties of High Density Rigid Polyurethane Foams Obtained from Renewable/Recyclable Resources" 

2012 – The World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) young researcher forum “WSED NEXT!” with paper “Renewable resources as raw materials for high efficient, energy saving thermal insulation” invited speakers for „WSED 2012” 

2011 – Acknowledgment of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia for a contribution to supervision of the high school student scientific work which resulted in an award at the 23rd EU Young Researcher Competition in Helsinki, Finland. 

2009 – International Conference Baltic Polymer Symposium award for the Best Poster Award with poster "Influence of resin acid content in tall oil esters on thermal characteristics and flammability of polyurethane foams"

The most important projects

The most important publications

  • Gotkiewicz O.; Kirpluks M.; Walterová Z.; Kočková O.; Abbrent S.; Parcheta-Szwindowska P.; Cabulis U.; Beneš H.
    Biobased Ultralow-Density Polyurethane Foams with Enhanced Recyclability

    ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 2024, 12(4), 1605-1615, doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c06924

  • Olszewski A.; Kosmela P.; Vēvere L.; Kirpluks M.; Cabulis U.; Piszczyk Ł.
    Effect of bio-polyol molecular weight on the structure and properties of polyurethane-polyisocyanurate (PUR-PIR) foams

    Scientific Reports, 2024, 14(1), 812, doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50764-3

  • Qin Z.-H.; Fridrihsone A.; Dong L.; Mou J.-H.; Miao Y.; Zhang L.; Xu C.; Kirpluks M.; Lin C.S.K.
    Environmental benefits of valorising food waste into bio-based polyols for the production of polyurethane rigid foams

    Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2024, 51, 572-583, doi: 10.1016/j.spc.2024.09.029

  • Pomilovskis R.; Kaulina E.; Abolins A.; Mierina I.; Heinmaa I.; Rjabovs V.; Fridrihsone A.; Kirpluks M.
    Fast-curing bio-based thermoset foams produced via the Michael 1,4-addition using fatty acid-based acetoacetate and acrylate

    European Polymer Journal, 2024, 210, 112968, doi: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2024.112968

  • Kirpluks M.; Abolins A.; Eihe D.; Pomilovskis R.; Fridrihsone A.
    Rapeseed Oil as Feedstock for Bio-Based Thermoset Foams Obtained via Michael Addition Reaction

    Polymers, 2024, 16(1), 117, doi: 10.3390/polym16010117

Miķelis Kirpļuks
Ph. D. Miķelis Kirpļuks
Polymer Laboratory
Member of the Scientific Council
Leading Researcher
mikelis.kirpluks@kki.lv
Education
2020 - Doctor of Science (Ph.D.) in Chemical Engineering; Riga Technical University, Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry, Institute of Polymer Materials
2012 - Master of Engineering Sciences in Chemical Engineering (Mg.sc.ing.), Riga Technical University, Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry, Institute of Polymer Materials