Wolter Prins got his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Groningen and his doctor degree from the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands. In 1984 he was appointed as an assistant professor in Department of Chemical Technology of the University of Twente. Since 1992 he combined his work at the University of Twente with a position as head of R&D in BTG Biomass Technology Group BV in Enschede. In 2008 Wolter Prins was appointed as a professor for Bioresources Processing in the Bioscience Engineering faculty of the University of Ghent.
Since 2010 he has been an associate and guest editor of the Elsevier journal “Biomass & Bioenergy”.
As an expert in biomass thermochemical conversion processes, Wolter Prins is frequently invited to evaluate research proposals, for the European Commission, as well as for the national science foundations of various European countries.