Moliner, Manuel

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Manuel Moliner was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1979. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Valencia in 2003, and completed his Ph.D. at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), in Chemistry, under the guidance of Prof. Avelino Corma and Dr. Maria J. Díaz in 2008. At UPV he worked on the synthesis of new zeolitic structures for their application as catalysts in industrially-relevant chemical processes by using high-throughput methodologies.

Afterward, he completed a two-year postdoc (2008-2010) with Prof. Mark Davis at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working on the design and synthesis of functional materials with application in different catalytic processes, mainly in biomass transformations.

He joined the ITQ as a “Ramón y Cajal” researcher in 2011, where his research lies at the interface of heterogeneous catalysis and materials design. At the present, he is a Tenured Scientist of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

He has published more than 50 papers in international journals, and is co-inventor of 17 international patents (10 transferred to industry). He has attended more than 30 international and national conferences, presenting several plenary and keynote lectures.

He has received different national and international awards, as the “SUSCHEM-RSEQ” to the best Ph.D. Thesis in chemistry in 2008, “EFCATS Thesis Award” to the best Ph.D. Thesis in the field of catalysis in Europe between 2007-2009, “TR-35 Spain” awarded by MIT in 2011 to young talents in Spain under-35, “Técnicas Reunidas-Chemistry” awarded by the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in 2013 to young scientists under 40, and the “FISOCAT-Junior” awarded by the Iberoamerican Federation of Catalysis Societies in 2014 to young scientists under 40 in Latin America.

Oña Burgos, Pascual

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I studied Chemistry at University of Almería (UAL, Spain), where I earned my PhD (December 2008), receiving the best qualification cum laude, under the supervision of Prof. Fernando López-Ortiz and Prof. Ignacio Fernández. Afterwards, I expanded my horizons through three postdoctoral research opportunities:

  1. a) Firstly, I began in the industry working at Deretil’s in the department of research and development (2009).
  2. b) Secondly, I worked for 2 years and 7 months in the research group of Prof. Frank Breher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, 2010-2012), where I was mainly supported by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
  3. c) Finally, I was at University California of Berkeley with Prof. Don Tilley (2012-2014), supported by an International Outgoing Fellowship of the 7th FP People Marie Curie Actions, following by a returning year with Prof. Fernández at the UAL (2014-2015).

Afterwards, I moved as a Ramón y Cajal researcher at Instituto de Tecnología Químico (ITQ) in Valencia (2015-2019). At the end of 2019 I became Professor at UAL and I was as an Associated Research at ITQ. From 2022 I am a Researcher at ITQ and an Associated Professor at UAL.

From Ramón y Cajal stage my research has been focused on small molecules activation (such as H2O, CO2 and CH4) with heterometallic complexes which are used as building blocks of well-defined materials in the heterogenization processes.

Google scholar profile

 

Prieto, Gonzalo

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Dr. Gonzalo Prieto graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and obtained his PhD degree in 2010 at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ in Valencia, Spain) under the guidance of Prof. Martinez. From 2010-2013 he conducted postdoctoral research in the de Jong(h) group at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University (The Netherlands), as part of the Center for Atomic-Level Catalyst Design research consortium of the US Department of Energy. After a short stay as visiting researcher in the Spivey group at Louisiana State University (USA), in fall 2013, he received an Alexander von Humboldt personal grant and joined the department of Heterogeneous Catalysis led by Prof. Schüth, at the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung (MPI-KOFO, Mülheim, Germany) were he later obtained a Group Leader position. In 2017 he joined the ITQ as a Senior Tenured Researcher of the Spanish Research Council (equivalent to Assoc. Prof.).

His research activities encompass aspects of material synthesis, nanotechnology, tomographic imaging methods and reactivity assessment methods, jointly focused on the design and development of solid catalyst materials and processes for the conversion of unconventional carbon feedstocks into fuels and platform chemicals. Gonzalo has authored around 40 scientific articles and book chapters, with an average impact factor >10 (Thomson Reuters, January 2018), alongside 3 patents (2 of them transferred to industry), and has contributed >50 papers to scientific conferences/workshops and delivered ~20 invited lectures. He has participated in 15 research projects, being a Principal Investigator in 50% of them, and has supervised/currently supervises 5 PhD theses. Awards: DuPont Chemical Engineering Award (2004), National MSc Chemical Engineering Award (2005), the National PhD Thesis Award by the Spanish Catalysis Society (2010), Innovation Proposal Award by the CALCD-EFRC of the US Department of Energy (2012), Honorary Entry (top 3) at the ExxonMobil Chemical European Science and Engineering Award (2017).

Google scholar profile
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BYMRorUAAAAJ&hl=en

E-mail: prieto@itq.upv.es

Primo, Ana

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La Dra. Ana Primo realizó la tesis doctoral bajo la supervisión del Prof. Avelino Corma en el campo de la catálisis heterogénea. Posteriormente, realizó una estancia postdoctoral (2007-2009) en el “Institute Charles Gerhardt” de Montpellier donde se especializó en el uso de polímeros procedentes de la biomasa para su aplicación en catálisis y fotocatálisis.

En el año 2009, se reincorporó al Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC) con diferentes contratos (Prometeo, JAE-Doc y Ramón y Cajal) y desde el año 2020 es científico titular por el CSIC.

Ha publicado más de 100 artículos, que han recibido más de 5000 citas, y su índice H es 38 (2022). Es co-autora de 10 patentes y 5 capítulos de libro. Ha participado en 19 congresos nacionales e internacionales, siendo invitada en alguno de ellos.

Actualmente, su línea de investigación principal se basa en el diseño y síntesis de materiales 2D (grafeno, nitruro de boro, sulfuro de molibdeno y Mxenos) y su aplicación en procesos catalíticos y fotocatalíticos como la reducción de CO2 y la generación de H2 a partir del agua. En estos momentos, la Dra. Primo es IP del proyecto del Plan Nacional 2021 “MAX4CAT” y del proyecto de la Generalitat Valenciana “GVA Materiales 2022_GRAPHICA”.

 

Sabater Picot, Ma. José

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Maria José Sabater is currently a scientific researcher at the Institute of Chemical Technology (UPV-CSIC), Valencia (Spain). She obtained her MSci and PhD degree in Organic Chemistry at the Universidad de Valencia (Spain). After completing her doctorate, she joined the group of Prof. Waldemar Adam at the Würzburg University (Germany) as a post doctoral fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, conducting photochemistry in confined spaces (1993-1994). Thereafter she moved to Poitiers University (France), with a post-doc fellowship from the European Union´s Human Capital and Mobility Program to join one of the world leaders in catalysis, Prof. Michel Guisnet (1995). Her research was focused on heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals.

In early 1996, she was awarded with a very competitive individual contract for research (Program for the Incorporation of Researchers and Technologists from the Ministry of Education and Science), which is a tenure track position (5 years) within the spanish research system. In 2002 she got a permanent position as scientific researcher at the Institute of Chemical Technology (UPV-CSIC). Since then she has adressed the discovery and design of novel multifunctional nanostructured solids for application as catalysts in fine chemical, pharmaceutical and environmental technologies. She is author of publications (including articles, conference proceedings and book chapters) on carbocationic chemistry, photochemistry, new materials and catalysis. On the applied side, she holds several international and national patents and licensed technologies.

Her current research interests include nanocatalysis and new materials.

Sastre Navarro, Germán

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1985-1990, Degree of Chemistry, Department of Physical-Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry (University of Valencia). Physical and Quantum Chemistry.
1995, PhD Chemistry (University of Valencia). Quantum-chemical studies of xylene isomerisation in zeolites (supervisor: Prof. Avelino Corma).
1995-1996, Postdoc Computational Chemistry, Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, London (U.K.). Physico-chemical properties of zeolites and silico-alumino-phosphates, and diffusion of hydrocarbons in zeolites (supervisor: Prof. Richard Catlow).
2000-current, Staff Research Member (Research Scientist), Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ).
Visiting researcher at: University College London, 1999, London (U.K.) (host professor: Dewi W. Lewis); Imperial College of Science, 2002, London (U.K.) (host professor: Julian D. Gale); Nanochemistry Research Institute, 2004, Perth (Australia) (host professor: Julian D. Gale); Department of Materials Science, Tottori University, 2007, 2008 and 2010, Tottori (Japan) (host professor: Miki Niwa).

Main Research Topics:
Computational methods: molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, atomistic forcefields, quantum chemistry, ab-initio methods, density functional theory.
Theory: chemical bonding in microporous materials, electric field in micropores, topology of three dimensional tetracoordinated nets.
Materials: solid state chemistry, zeolites, zeotypes, doped zeotypes, microporous materials, mesoporous materials, proton sponges, fullerenes, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), coordination polymers, organometallic complexes.
Processes: reactivity in zeolites as catalysts (alkylation, acylation, isodewaxing, Knoevenagel condensation, Baeyer-Villiger oxidation), diffusion of hydrocarbons in zeolites, shape-selectivity, acidity (Brønsted and Lewis) in microporous materials, isomorphic substitution in zeolites (Ti, Ge, Sn, Al, P), synthesis of zeolites (effect of templates, synthesis in fluoride media, effect of germanium), physisorption of molecular hydrogen in metal-organic frameworks (hydrogen storage), excited states of organometallic complexes.

More information:

https://gsastre.webs.upv.es

Serra Alfaro, José Manuel

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E-mail: jmserra@itq.upv.es

Website: http://itqmembranes.itq.webs.upv.es

Dr. José M. Serra (1976) did his Ph.D. work at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) directed by Prof. A. Corma in collaboration with the Institute Français du Petrole. The thesis involved the development of new tools for combinatorial catalysis and its application in the discovery and optimization of industrial catalysts. After that, he conducted a 2-year postdoctoral stage at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, working on the development of nanostructured SOFC cathodes as well as ion conducting membranes.

In 2006 he joined again ITQ and leads the Energy Conversion and Storage Group, the Fuel Cells and Ionic Membranes research line. The current activities are principally focused on the application of catalysis and materials science in: (a) the development of solid oxide fuel cells components, paying special attention to the design and characterization of new electrocatalysts (principally, cathode materials); and (b) development of mixed ionic-electronic conducting membranes for oxygen and hydrogen separation and catalytic membrane reactor applications. As a result, several works have been published and different patents have been recently filed. He is co-author of more than 165 scientific articles, 15 book chapters, and 25 patents in the field of catalysis and energy (16 of them licensed to industry).

He was involved in three FP7 EU projects dealing with ionic membranes and proton-conducting fuel cells: EFFIPRO, NASA-OTM, and DEMOYS, and actually he is the coordinator researcher in charge of the European projects GAMER, iCAREPLAST, and eCOCO2 from the Horizon 2020 programme. The main research lines are ordered as follows: Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), lithium batteries and electrochemical reactors: electrocatalysis Ionic membranes, solid state electrochemical devices and catalytic membrane reactors Combinatorial science and catalysis: design and development of processes and equipment for high-throughput screening of materials libraries Heterogeneous catalysis: acid-base, red-ox and multifunctional catalysts Synthesis and characterization of ceramic materials, including mesoporous materials Chemical reactor engineering and process engineering: design and setting-up of chemical reactors and other facilities at bench and pilot scale.

Prof. Serra is the CSIC representative for the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA): Basic Science for Energy Joint Programme (AMPEA), Deputy Coordinator of the subprogram Materials Science in AMPEA. For his contribution to the field, he has received the ExxonMobil Chemical European Science and Engineering Award 2005, the Spanish Catalysis Society Ph.D. Award 2004, the Christian Friedrich Schönbein Medal 2009, European Ceramic Society Young Scientist Award 2015, Medal of the Royal Spanish Engineering Academy 2016 and Air Liquide Scientific Prize 2018. He is the founder of KERIONICS, the Spin-off which develops ceramic membrane systems for the generation of O2.

Palomares Gimeno, Antonio Eduardo

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A. Eduardo Palomares was born in Tavernes de Valldigna (Spain) in 1968. Degree in Chemistry at the University of Valencia in 1990. Ph.D. studies at the Institute of Chemical Technology (Valencia, Spain), during 1990-1994, researching on catalysts for the simultaneous removal of NOx and SO2 in a FCC unit. Ph.D. degree in February 1995 by the University of Valencia. Post doctoral position in the University of Twente (The Netherlands) from 1995 to 1996, working on characterization of catalysts and determination of mechanism reactions by in situ infrared spectroscopy. Part-time position at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia 1996-97. Full-time position in the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia 1997-2000. Lecturer at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Associated professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia since 2002. Teaching actually Environmental Science and Technology for Chemical and Civil Engineers. Member of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) with around 35 articles published in international scientific magazines of recognized prestige (mentioned in the Science Index Citation) and numerous presentations in congresses, all of them related to subjects of Air Pollution, Water pollution and surface characterisation. Four patents related with air pollution and water pollution. Participation in numerous projects funded by national, regional and European organizations. Published three books and a chapter of a book related with Environmental Science and Environmental Technology. His current research fields are: Environmental catalysis, environmental technology, air pollution (catalytic removal of NOx, SOx and Cl-COVs) and water pollution (catalytic removal of nitrates).

Valencia Valencia, Susana

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Susana Valencia obtained the degree in Chemistry from the University of Valencia in 1990, and completed her PhD in 1997 from the Universitat Politècnica de València with a doctoral thesis developed at Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ) about the synthesis of zeolite Beta. In 1997, she joined the ITQ staff as Specialized Technician of CSIC and in 2003 she promoted to Tenured Scientist. Since 2009 she is Research Scientist of CSIC in the ITQ.

Her main research lines are focused on the synthesis, characterization and catalytic applications of zeolitic microporous materials, as well as the study of their adsorption and diffusion properties for the use in separation processes.

During the period 2009 – 2017 she has been a member of the Board of the Spanish Group of Zeolites and, since 2022, she is member of the Board of the Specialized Group of Adsorption of the Royal Spanish Societies of Chemistry and Physics.

From 2016 to 2020 she has been Associate Editor of the journal Adsorption Science & Technology (SAGE journals).

She has teaching experience since 2006 in the subject “Synthesis of Catalysts” of the Master’s Degree in Green Chemistry (Universitat Politècnica de València).

The list of her scientific publications, as well as her h index (h = 46, July 2023), can be seen in the link: Publications in Scopus.

Her scientific production includes articles published in Nature, Science, Nature Materials, Angewandte Chemie and Chemical Reviews, among others. Around 75% of them appear in the first quartile and 40% in the first decile. She has supervised several PhD theses, has participated in numerous projects funded by public and private entities, being co-principal researcher in several of them. She has presented communications and invited conferences at congresses, and is co-inventor of 30 patents related to the synthesis of new microporous materials and their applications in different industrial processes.

 

Relevant publications:

  • A. Tarach, J. Martinez-Triguero, S. Valencia, K. Wojciechowska, F. Rey, K. Góra-Marek, “Hierarchical zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 as the catalysts for cracking processes” Appl. Catal. B Environ. (2023), 338, 123066.
  • Pérez-Botella, S. Valencia, F. Rey, “Zeolites in Adsorption Processes: State of the Art and Future Prospects” Chemical Reviews (2022), 122, 17647–17695.
  • Claessens, G.R. Wittevrongel, F. Rey, S. Valencia, J. Cousin-Saint-Remi, G.V. Baron, J.F.M. Denayer, “Capturing renewable isobutanol from model vapor mixtures using an all-silica beta zeolite”, Chem. Eng. J. (2021), 412, 128658.
  • Sala, E. Pérez-Botella, J.L. Jordá, A. Cantín, F. Rey, S. Valencia, “ITQ-69: A Germanium-Containing Zeolite and its Synthesis, Structure Determination, and Adsorption Properties”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2021), 60, 11745–11750.
  • J. Bereciartua, A. Cantín, A. Corma, J. L. Jordá, M. Palomino, F. Rey, S. Valencia, E. W. Corcoran Jr., P. Kortunov, P. I. Ravikovitch, A. Burton, C. Yoon, Y. Wang, C. Paur, J. Guzman, A. R. Bishop, G. L. Casty, “Control of zeolite framework flexibility and pore topology for separation of ethane and ethylene”, Science (2017), 358, 1068–1071.
  • Palomino, A. Corma, F. Rey, S. Valencia, “New Insights on CO2-Methane Separation Using LTA Zeolites with Different Si/Al Ratios and a First Comparison with MOFs”, Langmuir (2010), 26, 1910–1917.
  • Tagliabue, D. Farrusseng, S. Valencia, S. Aguado, U. Ravon, C. Rizzo, A. Corma, C. Mirodatos, “Natural gas treating by selective adsorption: Material science and chemical engineering interplay”, Chem. Eng. J. (2009), 155, 553–566.
  • Corma, F. Rey, J. Rius, M.J. Sabater, S. Valencia, “Supramolecular self-assembled molecules as organic directing agent for synthesis of zeolites”, Nature (2004), 431, 287–290.
  • Corma, F. Rey, S. Valencia, J.L Jordá, J. Rius, “A zeolite with interconnected 8-, 10- and 12-ring pores and its unique catalytic selectivity”, Nature Materials (2003), 2, 493–497.
  • Corma, L.T. Nemeth, M. Renz, S. Valencia, “Sn-zeolite beta as a heterogeneous chemoselective catalyst for Baeyer-Villiger oxidations”, Nature (2001), 412, 423–425.