Humanity will neither change its 'spending attitude' nor restrict its exponential growth in time and therefore, we need to create a safety net. 
Jan Van Breugel.
Science & Technology Director.
Refreeze the Arctic Foundation is made up
of a highly accomplished team, bringing together top scientists, experienced leadership and a world-class advisory board to cool down the designated areas, and eventually the Arctic, helping to buy us
some time.
Our Board of Directors have over 50 years of experience across biotechnology and chemical engineering; combining knowledge, expertise and passion to tackle the biggest environmental challenge we have faced to date.
Board of Directors
Jan studied chemical engineering at Delft University, with a Master’s in biotechnology. Jan also has a PhD in system dynamics and advanced control engineering.
After working for a short period of time for Royal Dutch Shell, in distillation design and refinery energy conservation, he worked for 25 years at Corbion; a biochemicals company.
Since 2013 Jan has been working as an independent advisor in the field of sustainability and innovation. He believes that the only sustainable footprint is zero in size, no matter if that concerns energy or materials. Man is lucky to start with a negative energy balance thanks to solar irradiation.
Attempts to retire have failed so far. Jan is now working as a volunteer for the Refreeze the Arctic Foundation.
Humanity will neither change its 'spending attitude' nor restrict its exponential growth in time and therefore, we need to create a safety net.
Frans has a background as a chartered accountant and has been registered with The Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1991. After working for more than 15 years as an auditor for one of the big four audit firms, Frans spent 19 years working for an international commodity trading company in various roles, as group controller, director compliance and statutory reporting.
Since 2018 Frans has been managing director of a Dutch holding company with subsidiaries in Germany, Greece and Cyprus. Next to his professional occupation he is volunteer for the Refreeze the Arctic Foundation as treasurer.
Buying time is one thing, but let’s not waste time in the meantime, CO2 reduction is the only solution.
Frans Vendeloo.
Director.
Barbara has a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the University Delft (TUD) and specialised in bioprocess technology.
After working for 6 years at Corbion, she started two professional trainings and qualified both as a Dutch, and European, Patent Attorney.
She has been heading the IP Intellectual Property Department of Corbion since 2009.
In her spare time, she participates as board member of the Refreeze the Arctic Foundation to contribute to finding a solution to restore the climate to healthier levels.
MCB will help make the future brighter, and keep the planet cooler, when used in addition to us improving our daily habits and behaviours, by reducing pollution and respecting the world around us.
Barbara Veldhuis.
Director.
Mission &
Objectives
RAF’s mission is to fast-track the development of MCB. We will begin by refreezing targeted areas, before implementing this at a much larger scale. Eventually, this will lead to refreezing the Arctic. The proof is in the pudding; both theoretical modelling and field experiments must show that MCB is functioning at a relatively low cost, without creating unforeseen collateral damage.
By refreezing the Arctic, we gain time to tackle the climate crisis from where it all started. We must reduce society’s greenhouse gas emissions to virtually nothing. We must remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. We must refreeze the Arctic. Reduce, remove, refreeze.
Before the end of this decade, MCB could be ready for application to protect vulnerable areas.
How
We Work
RAF will bring together world-class research institutes who are already engaged in investigating MCB. The combination of ideas and techniques will turbocharge advances in the field. The core consortium has been created between RAF, the Technical University of Delft Climate Institute (TUDCI), and the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge (CCRC). The consortium intends to expand the MCB alliance within the coming years, making the results publicly available, on a non-profit basis.
Our
Timeline
RAF and its partners have laid out a challenging path to bring MCB to its demonstration stage. In early January 2023, two PhD students will start their research activities, accompanied by two postdocs, under the supervision of highly qualified scientific staff. The first two years of research will be focused on spraying systems, cloud models and analytics. By the end of 2024 we aim to show proof of the concept in a model environment. Over the course of 2025, we expect to move to multiple plume experiments and validate the corresponding cloud and atmospheric models. In 2026 and 2027, this knowledge base will be used to make the engineering designs for full scale demonstration facilities.