NEWS

Front cover of vol.60 of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Journal by Ph.D. student Carlos Vega

March 10, 2021

The contribution of Ph.D. student Carlos Vega-Aguilar was selected to be the front cover art of Volume 60, Issue 9 of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (I&EC) Journal.

The cover image is from the work entitled Effect of Methoxy Substituents on Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Lignin and Lignin Model Compounds: Understanding the Pathway to C4 Dicarboxylic Acids by Carlos A. Vega-Aguilar, M.F. Barreiro and A.E. Rodrigues (2021).

According to I&EC, the cover is about:
"Lignin model compounds (p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, and syringic acid) and hardwood and softwood lignin samples were oxidized using hydrogen peroxide oxidation to evaluate methoxy substituents' effect in C4-DCA production (succinic, maleic, fumaric, malic, and tartaric acids)."

Congratulations Carlos!

More info at https://pubs.acs.org/toc/iecred/60/9

Associate Laboratory status for ALICE approved

March 01, 2021

ALICE, Associate Laboratory for Innovation in Chemical Engineering, has been approved for Associate Laboratory Status. The ALICE consortium, is composed by CEFT, LEPABE and LSRE-LCM, three R&D Units based at the Department of Chemical Engineering at FEUP.

The Associate Laboratory status is attributed to institutions or consortia of scientific institutions that make institutional commitments to carry out the country's scientific and technological policy objectives, in a very competitive call. The status also grants complementary budget.

Congratulations to all ALICE members for achieving this remarkable result!

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

PUBLICATIONS

Almeida C.F., Manrique Y.A., Lopes J.C.B., Martins F.G., Dias M.M.. Recovery of ergosterol from Agaricus bisporus mushrooms via supercritical fluid extraction: A response surface methodology optimisation. Heliyon, 10, e21943, 2024

Lopes J.C., Albero J., Sampaio M.J., Silva C.G., García H., Faria J.L.. Selective oxidative coupling of amines through light-activated bismuth halide perovskites. ChemCatChem, 16, e202301432, 2024

Corrêa I., Faria R.P.V., Rodrigues A.E.. Enhanced simulated moving bed reactor performance for the synthesis of solketal by implementing the ModiCon strategy. Adsorption, 30, 79 - 93, 2024

Paulista L.O., Ferreira A.F.P., Castanheira B., Ðolić M.B., Martins R.J.E., Boaventura R.A.R., Vilar V.J.P., Silva T.F.C.V.. Solar-driven thermo-photocatalytic CO2 methanation over a structured RuO2:TiO2/SBA-15 nanocomposite at low temperature. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 340, 123232, 2024

Fdez-Sanromán A., Torres-Pinto A., Rosales E., Silva C.G., Faria J.L., Pazos M., Silva A.M.T.. Optimisation of a photoelectrochemical system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in water using graphitic carbon nitride. Catalysis Today, 432, 114578, 2024

APPROVED PROJECTS

SWMOF - Water capture from atmospheric humidity using ecological MOFs and integration with intelligent water distribution systems. Reference: Water4All/0003/2022. Funded by: FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Water4All - Water4All Partnership (co-funded by Horizon Europe). Starting Date: 2024/04/01. Duration: 36 months.

ReWateR - Recovery of Wastewater Resources in Agriculture. Reference: 82343. Funded by: “La Caixa” Foundation, INCF - Incoming Fellowship 2023. Starting Date: 2024/04/01. Duration: 36 months.

ERA-ARE - A new ERA for Environmental Risk Assessment: Chirality as a tool towards environmentally safe pharmaceuticals. Reference: ERC - 101039270. Funded by: European Comission, Horizon Europe | ERC | STARTING GRANTS. Starting Date: 2023/12/31. Duration: 60 months.

NEWater - Unconventional, natural and low-energy solutions for managing water sources. Reference: Water4All/0002/2022. Funded by: FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Water4All - Water4All Partnership (co-funded by Horizon Europe). Starting Date: 2023/12/01. Duration: 36 months.

RESURGENCE - Industrial Water Circularity: Reuse, resource recovery and energy efficiency for greener digitised EU process. Reference: 101138097. Funded by: European Comission, Horizonte Europa | Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space. Starting Date: 2023/12/01. Duration: 48 months.

THESIS DEFENSES

Isabel Sofia Oliveira Barbosa
Technologies for Sustainable Ammonia Production: Reactor Design and Prototyping

Maria Amélia Gabriel de Barros
Photoactivated metal-free smart textiles with self-cleaning and antibacterial properties

Vinicius Viena Santana
Cyber-physical oriented chemical process for green and sustainable production

André Tiago Torres Pinto
Optimised 2D Carbon Materials Activated by Artificial Light and Electrical Current for Catalytic Water and Wastewater Treatment

Larissa Oliveira Paulista
Solar-Driven Thermo-Photocatalytic CO2 Valorisation into Value-Added Fuels

Isabel Sousa Fernandes
Multiphase Flow in NETmix: mixing studies and applications