Chica Lara, Antonio

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Antonio Chica Lara native from Fuensanta (Jaén), studied Chemistry at University of Granada (1987-1992) and received the Ph. D. “with honours” at the Chemical Department at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in 2008. From September 2002 to September 2004 he was working in U.C. Berkeley as Fulbright Fellowship Postdoc under the supervision of Prof. Enrique Iglesia. The development of new catalysts and processes for clean fuels production was the focus of his postdoctoral research. Recently he has got a permanent position in the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) as Tenured Scientific of CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), where he is working on different projects related to hydrogen production from biomass derived compounds.

He has been involved in the study for novel catalyst isomerization of light and long paraffin and the details modeling of kinetic and transports processes in this reaction. He has also studied catalytic reforming, alkylation and cracking reactions. His last works include combinatorial catalysis, neuronal network and genetic algorithm applied to chemical reactions. He has collaborated with enterprises like UOP, EXXON-Mobil, IFP, ENI, BP-Amoco, Johnson Matthey PLC and CEPSA, and he has contributed with more than a thirty publications in international journals. He is also co-author of 17 world patents, two of them in industrial exploitation. He is member of SECAT (Spanish Catalysis Society), ACS (American Chemical Society), HeA (Hydrogen Spanish Society) and PEHPC (Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Spanish Platform).

Main research areas:
Hydrogen production from biomass derived compounds. Revalorization of industrial wastes. Sulfur removal from liquid fuels and natural gas. Development of catalytic materials and their application in reactions of industrial interest (isomerization, steam reforming, autothermal reforming, liquid phase reforming, water gas shift, methanation, desulfurization, etc)

He has been awarded with the Extraordinary UPV Thesis Award 2002 and the First Valencia Idea Award 2009 (Energy and Environment)

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).

García Alfonso, Inmaculada

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