Prof. Raquel Ibáñez and Dr. Nazely Diban participated as members of the evaluation committee of the PhD. thesis of Mr. Pablo Rodríguez Vega. The thesis entitled “Experimental Development and modeling of a membrane reactor for the direct synthesis of DME with CO2 valorization”, was developed in the University of the Basque Country, where the academic event of defense took place last September 27th, 2019.
Estela Abascal, Master in Chemical Engineering has joined the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department to work in the project “TÉCNICO DE ANÁLISIS EN CROMATOGRAFÍA GC/MS”, in which Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz is the main researcher.
On September 27th, 2019 researchers of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department participated in the event “European Researchers´Night”, organized by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Cantabria in Pombo Square, Santander. A total of 29 members of the four research groups (DEPRO, PAS, TAB and IPS) performed science shows and several activities aimed at making chemical engineering science closer to the general public, and the relevance of R&D in daily life.
Sarra Jomaa, PhD student at the National Engineering School of Monastir, Tunisia is currently developing a research stay at Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department (UC) from September 20th until December 20th, 2019. During this period, she will work on the modelling RED/ED hybrid systems for desalination, under the supervision of Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz and Dr. Lucía Gómez.
Nahum Hernández Perez from Electrochemistry and Corrosion Laboratory that belongs to National Polytechnic Institute (Ciudad de México), is currently developing a master research stay at the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department, from September 2nd, 2019 until January 30th, 2020. During his stay, he will work in the field of reversal electrodialysis technology to extract salinity gradient energy, under the supervision of Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz and Dr. Lucía Gómez.
On September 24 – 25, 2019 the fourth follow-up meeting of the European Project “Atlantic Network for Renewable Generation and Supply of Hydrogen to promote high energy efficiency – HYLANTIC” was held in Bristol (UK), hosted by Mr. Jas Singh from Auriga Energy. Alfredo Ortiz, coordinator of HYLANTIC project, accompanied by Rafael Ortiz and Gema Pérez attended the meeting on behalf of the UC. During the meeting, all partners presented their progresses and discussed about the future actions. The next meeting will take place in Porto, next June 2020 during the celebration of the International Summer School in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technology.
During the second day, Jas organized a sight-seeing trip on-board the Hydrogenesis, the hydrogen powered ship developed in the frame of the project.
Several members of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department of the University of Cantabria attended the 12th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, celebrated in Florence last September 15-19, 2019.
Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz delivered the plenary conference of the ECCE12 congress entitled “Separation Challenges in the Quest for Sustainability”. In her talk, she presented the upmost forefront developments in advanced separation processes with challenging applications such as for reduction of energy consumption, new energy sources and devices, biomedical applications.
The oral presentations delivered were:
Nazely Diban: Comparison of functional membranes of PCL doped with different graphene-based nanomaterials to modulate neural differentiation
Arantza Basauri: Design of high performance micro-devices for endotoxins removal from biological fluids. protein-lipid a binding step
Cristina González: Novel design of magnetophoretic microdevices for extracorporeal sepsis treatment
Marta Rumayor: Climate change mitigation: A techno-economic assessment of the formic acid production by electrochemical reduction of CO2
Sophie Schröder: Aqueous electrochemical oxidation of TRICLOSAN: the potential formation of PCDD/Fs
The poster contributions were:
Ane Urtiaga: Nanofiltration removal of perfluorohexanpic acid; The role of salts and concentration pH.
Eugenio Bringas: Selective recovery of nickel and copper from spent acids by chelating resins
Guillermo Díaz: Electroreduction of CO2 to formate using carbon-supported Bi nanoparticles in gas diffusion electrodes in a continuous mode.
Lucía Gómez: Long-term assessment of Energy Recovery from Salinity gradients
Daniel Gorri: Nanofiltration removal of perfluorohexanoic acid: the role of salts concentration and pH; and Selective separation of n-butanol from ABE solutions with polymeric inclusion membranes
Fernando Pardo: Towards the recovery of refrigerant gases from end-of-life equipment: study of the separation performance of polymer membranes; and Simulation of a two-stage membrane system for the recovery of hydrogen from a flue gas stream
Marta Romay: Addressing limitations to implement ternary phase diagrams into the systematic prediction of membrane morphology by phase inversion
María Fresnedo San Román: Potential formation of PCDD/FS during the electrochemical oxidation: Influence of the operation variables
Carolina Tristán: Environmental benefits of SGE-RED energy recovery using LCA
Last September 25th, the members of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department took part in the election for the Head of Department. Ane Urtiaga received the confidence of the board and she has been nominated to the Rector of the UC for a four years period as Head of the Department.
On September 24th, three students of the Degree in Chemical Engineering (Anibal Bringas Mirayes, Carlos Díaz Ceballos and Javier Fernández González), presented their firnal degree projects. The defense took place in the ETSIIT of the University of Cantabria, and the evalution committe was formed by Eugenio Bringas, Guillermo Díaz and Gabriel Zarca.
Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz and Dr. Alfredo Ortiz attended the kick-off meeting of the European project “SUDOE EFFICIENT ENERGY FOR PUBLIC SOCIAL HOUSING”, in which they are involved. The meeting took place last September 11-12, 2019 in Santander (Spain). Representatives of all partners participated in the meeting.
