Helena Passos earned her MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Aveiro (UA) in 2012. With a PhD grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, she completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at UA in 2017. From 2017 to 2019, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher in a European Research Council (ERC) project focusing on the use of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) for purifying egg yolk antibodies as alternative biopharmaceuticals, and in an international ERA-MIN project dedicated to the recovery of cobalt and rare earth elements from nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. In 2019, she was awarded a Junior Researcher position by FCT (Scientific Employment Stimulus - Individual Call 2017) to develop novel and sustainable processes using alternative solvents for recovering and recycling critical raw materials from electronic waste. Since 2023, Helena Passos is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Alternative Solvents
Extraction and Separation Processes
Waste Recycling and Valorization

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A.R.F. Carreira, H. Passos, J.A.P. Coutinho. Metal biosorption onto non-living algae: a critical review on metal recovery from wastewater. Green Chemistry, 25, 775-5788, 2023 A.R.F. Carreira, A. Nogueira, A.P.S. Crema, H. Passos, N. Schaeffer, J.A.P. Coutinho. Super concentrated HCl in a deep eutectic solvent as media for the integrated leaching and separation of metals from endof- life lithium-ion batteries. Chemical Engineering Journal, 475, 146374, 2023 A.R.F. Carreira, H. Passos, N. Schaeffer, L. Svecova, N. Papaiconomou, I. Billard, J.A.P. Coutinho. Factors driving metal partition in ionic liquid-based acidic aqueous biphasic systems. Separation and Purification Technology, 299, 121720, 2022 H. Passos, B. Cruz, N. Schaeffer, C. Patinha, E.F. da Silva, J.A.P. Coutinho. Selective sequential recovery of zinc and copper from acid mine drainage. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 9, 3647-3657, 2021 H. Passos, S.H. Costa, A.M. Fernandes, M.G. Freire, R.D. Rogers, J.A.P. Coutinho. A triple salting-out effect is required for the formation of ionic-liquid-based aqueous multiphase systems. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56, 15058-15062, 2017
Helena Passos
Professor Auxiliar
hpassos@fe.up.pt