Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Valladolid

After my Bachelor´s degree in Chemical Science, I have devoted all my research activity to the field of thermodynamics and process energy, starting with the experimental determination of liquid-vapor equilibria of industrial application, and then moving on to the development of phase equilibrium correlation models and heat capacities at constant pressure. This stage occupied the development of my doctoral thesis and an annual post-doctoral stay at the Aix-Marseille Université and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques in Nancy. Since then, I have focused my research on the energy associated with chemical processes, in particular on high-pressure processes and supercritical technologies, within the framework of the Pressure Technologies Group (PressTech), now the Bioeconomy Institute of the University of Valladolid.

• Thermodynamics and process energy of high pressure fluids
• Chemical processes models

Related publications include: Supercritical water oxidation with hydrothermal flame as internal heat source: Efficient and clean energy production from waste, The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 2015, 96, 103 – 113 ((DOI: 10.1016/j.supflu.2014.09.018) and Energetic approach of biomass hydrolysis in supercritical water, Bioresource Technology, 2015, 179, 136 – 143 (DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.12.006). This line included participation in numerous research projects, and in particular in the EU project SHYMAN (Sustainable Hydrothermal Manufacturing of Nanomaterials), which led to the construction and commissioning of a demonstration plant dedicated to nanomaterials manufacturing and to publications such as: Understanding bottom-up continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles using empirical measurement and computational simulation, Nano Research, 2016, 9, 3377-3387 (DOI: 10. 1007/s12274-016-1215-6) , Prediction of residence time distributions in supercritical hydrothermal reactors working at low Reynolds numbers, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2016, 373-385 (DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2016 .04.073) and A techno-economic assessment of the potential for combining supercritical water oxidation with ‘in-situ’ hydrothermal synthesis of nanocatalysts using a counter current mixing reactor, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2018, 344, 431 – 440 (DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2018.03.058).

The application of supercritical water oxidation techniques to traditionally biological processes, such as enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane and urban wastewater treatment and their analysis using an approach based on energy integration techniques has been my most recent activity, leading to publications such as: Thermo-economic and environmental comparison of supercritical water and enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse in a biorefinery concept, Energy, 2017, 141, 139 – 148 (DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017 .09.075) and Analysis of the Energy Flow in a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Based on a Supercritical Water Oxidation Reactor Coupled to a Gas Turbine, Processes, 2021, 9 (DOI: 10.3390/pr9071237).

Currently, I continue working on processes under high pressure conditions in the framework of the national project SIPHONY (Super-Foaming of polymers by combination of carbon dioxide and water in sub and supercritical state) and, with results still unpublished, in the field of energy optimization of Natural Gas liquefaction processes.