1st WEBINAR

28-05-2020 | 12:00

LEPABE: The Present and the Future challenges

Maria Arminda Alves

LEPABE Coordinator

Maria Arminda Alves, Full Professor at FEUP, is the Coordinator of LEPABE and responsible of the Research Group Environmental Sciences and Technologies. Her main research topics include: (i) development and validation of high resolution chromatographic methods; (ii) environmental monitoring of trace organic compounds; (iii) emergent compounds exposure and risk assessment; (iv) processes of degradation of contaminated environmental matrices; and (v) food safety.

Talk summary

In this 1st LEPABE Talks, I will share some ideas about the present and the future challenges of LEPABE and complement with a video of our activities. Increasing our critical mass from 20 in 1998 to more than 200 in 2020, the strengths of our research unit are: (i) people and skills; (ii) collaborative research in emergent themes relevant for society; (iii) capacity of attracting funds and (iii) internationally recognized specific groups. Present conditions and future challenges will be briefly discussed.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

2nd WEBINAR

04-06-2020 | 12:00

Laser nerds at LEPABE: a successful transition

from research to industry!

Ali Emami

PhD Student at LEPABE/PPE

Ali Emami received his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering from Azad University of Tehran - Iran and University of Porto - Portugal, respectively. Currently, he is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at LEPABE under the supervision of Prof. Mendes and Dr. Ivanou, focusing on encapsulation and commercialization of perovskite solar cells. His research interests include laser-processing, up-scaling, and industrialization solutions for photovoltaic applications. He has published 5 articles and 2 patents.

Talk summary

In 2008, Prof. Adélio Mendes begun working on developing a novel laser-assisted glass-glass bonding technology. The plan was to use a laser beam to locally melt a bonding material to join two glass substrates together. Though the idea seemed straightforward, the implementation needed intense multidisciplinary research and development. The first work was published in 2012 and since then, this ongoing research line has been the backbone of 2 EU and 3 national projects. Published studies include more than 8 articles and 4 international patents. This technology has been sold for 5 M€, which is the most expensive patent sold in Portugal.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

3rd WEBINAR

18-06-2020 | 12:00

Exploring Life Cycle Assessment: a tool to quantify

environmental impacts

Belmira Neto

Senior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Belmira Neto holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. She is Assistant Professor at FEUP and Senior Researcher at LEPABE, working in the Research Group Environmental Sciences and Technologies. Her major research topics include: (i) Life Cycle Assessment; (ii) environmental impact assessment; (iii) environmental system analysis; and (iv) sustainable procurement.

Talk summary

Life Cycle Assessment is a tool which allows to assess the environmental impacts of products, processes, technologies by taking a life cycle perspective. By performing the analysis of the full range of impacts occurring throughout the life cycle, a complete picture on the critical environmental spots are provided. This LEPABE talk will go inside the method and will show results obtained from several case studies.

The potentials brought by the use of this tool, to assess environmental sustainability, will be highlighted by showing its wide range of applications.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

4th WEBINAR

25-06-2020 | 12:00

NAM4Covid19 – What if you could know the test results

in less than 1 hour?

Ricardo Oliveira

PhD Student at LEPABE/BIO

Ricardo Bruno da Costa Oliveira, graduated in Biochemistry from FCUP/ICBAS in 2015 and obtained a Master’s in Biotechnology from the University of Minho in 2017. Innovative diagnostic methodologies applied in microbiology have always been his main scientific interest. Since 2018 he is a PhD student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at FEUP (LEPABE) in collaboration with INIAV, IP, dedicating himself to the selection of aptamers for detection of food toxins using nucleic acid mimics (NAMs).

Talk summary

NAM4Covid19 aims to develop a rapid and accurate point-of-care testing (POCT) method for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

NAM4Covid19 will allow a faster detection (<1 hour), when compared with the WHO recommended protocols (more than 6 hours). It will also avoid the need for specialized technicians and equipment (needs only a simple heat block). Hence, it will improve SNS' testing capacity to SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

5th WEBINAR

02-07-2020 | 12:00

Oscillatory Flow Reactors/Crystallizers: From Lab to Market

António Ferreira

Assistant Researcher at LEPABE/SA

António Ferreira is graduated in Industrial Chemistry by the University of Beira Interior and holds a Ph.D in Chemical and Biological Engineering from FEUP. Since 2015, Ferreira is lecturer at FEUP and Research Fellow at LEPABE being responsible for several projects and protocols established with the industry and research groups in the areas of continuous crystallization and multiphase reactors. In 2019, Ferreira co-founded the company OFRTECH.

Talk summary

In this LEPABE Talks, the methodologies adopted to transfer the knowledge obtained at lab scale to the market will be presented. The focus will be on the oscillatory flow reactors/crystallizers (OFRs or OFCs) developed and optimized during the last 12 years at LEPABE - Supramolecular Assemblies Research Group. These devices have been used, with remarkable success, in several fields such as 1) continuous crystallization of APIs, proteins, antibodies, etc.; 2) ozonation water treatment; 3) liquid-liquid extraction; and 4) bioprocess intensification.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

6th WEBINAR

16-07-2020 | 12:00

Chemometrics: From fundamentals

to practical applications

Ana Lacerda Leal

PhD Student at LEPABE/PSE

Ana Lacerda Leal holds a PhD in Refining, Petrochemical and Chemical Engineering and has been a LEPABE member since 2015. Her main research topics include: (i) spectroscopic analysis of petroleum fractions; (ii) development and validation of chemometric methods.

Talk summary

A PhD held in industry gives the students the opportunity to understand the challenges and work on solutions for both academia and industry worlds. The main objective of the project was to find and implement solutions for a faster and cheaper quality control process in the laboratory of Matosinhos refinery. This can be attained by correlating the physical-chemical parameters with spectroscopy-based data. This project encompassed different stages, including (i) database creation (ii) development of a user platform with different chemometric techniques (ii) regression models’ calibration and validation (iv) implementation.

 Webinar Platform: Zoom

7th WEBINAR

23-07-2020 | 12:00

Biomedical applications of graphene

Artur Pinto

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/PPE

Artur M. Pinto PhD work was carried out at LEPABE, supervised by Prof. Fernão Magalhães, INEB-i3S, and U. Washington. Afterwards, he has been a Post-Doc at Eindhoven U. Technology (NL), Chemical Eng. Department, where he worked on graphene for 3D printing of polymeric implants and was a teaching assistant. Currently, Artur is a Junior Researcher at LEPABE, being PI of the FCT project "NovaDerma", which targets the development of pharmaceutical formulations for the treatment of skin diseases and cancer.

Talk summary

The talk will focus on studies on graphene for mechanical reinforcement of polymers, and the improvement of their biocompatibility and antibacterial effect. Also, on the ongoing collaborations, particularly the one with University Medical Center Utrecht, for 3D printing of scaffolds for tissue regeneration. The ongoing project "NovaDerma" in which nanographene is being tested for phototherapy will be introduced. NovaDerma team has implemented a system that allowed the scale-up of water stable nanographene (<200nm) production. Finally, our most recent publications will be mentioned, as the just released chapter on Carbon Biomaterials on the book “Biomaterials Science: an introduction to materials in medicine”.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

8th WEBINAR

30-07-2020 | 12:00

Indoor air pollution in schools: Towards solving the problem

Pedro Branco

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Pedro Branco holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from FEUP, concluded in 2019 with the European Doctorate title. Currently, he works as a Junior Researcher in SENSINAIR project. He has been doing research at LEPABE in the Environmental Sciences and Technologies group since 2012. His major research topics are: i) air quality monitoring and modelling; ii) exposure to air pollution and its health impacts; and iii) low-cost sensing technologies.

Talk summary

This talk will focus on the major results from the characterisation of children’s exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) in nursery and primary schools, at urban and rural sites in Portugal, and its impacts on children’s respiratory health. A special focus will be given to the positive social impact of this research, namely its contribution with better supported preventive and mitigation measures, raising awareness about IAP in schools, strengthening their resilience and adaptive capacity to reduce IAP and associated health burden.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

9th WEBINAR

10-09-2020 | 12:00

The “social” life and “secret language” of bacteria:

New ways to fight antibiotic resistance

Anabela Borges

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Anabela Borges graduated in Biology and has a Master degree in Clinical Laboratory Biology, from UTAD. She obtained a PhD in Chemical and Biological Sciences (2013) at the same University, in collaboration with the Biofilm Engineering Laboratory (BEL) of LEPABE. She started a Post-Doctoral position at LEPABE in 2014 and, since January 2019, she is Junior Researcher, working in the Biotechnology Research Group. Her main research interests focus on the development of new strategies to control bacterial resistance, using phytochemicals/quorum-quenching molecules.

Talk summary

Antibiotic resistance reached now a large scale, threatening the effective prevention/treatment of an ever-increasing range of infectious diseases. The occurrence of sessile bacterial communities (biofilms) is one of the leading reasons and therapeutic options are still limited. It is undoubtable that the development of alternatives becomes crucial. In this way, new perspectives emerged by the elucidation of the mechanisms underlying bacterial pathogenesis and intercellular communication. This LEPABE talk will present a “green and sustainable” approach based on bacterial communication interruption.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

10th WEBINAR

17-09-2020 | 12:00

The world of biosensors towards early detection of  neurodegenerative diseases

Pedro Carneiro

PhD Student at LEPABE/SA

Pedro Carneiro is a PhD student in the Chemical and Biological Engineering doctoral program at LEPABE, FEUP and REQUIMTE-LAQV, ISEP under the supervision of Professor M. Carmo Pereira and Professor Simone Morais. His research interests include the field of biosensors, nanomaterials and neurodegenerative diseases. Received his MSc at the University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering and BSc at the Catholic University of Portugal, Faculty of Biotechnology.

Talk summary

In diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, a based-biomarker diagnosis may improve the possibility of an early diagnosis which can contribute to faster and more informed decisions concerning the course of treatment. Biosensors, particularly electrochemical and optical, usually integrated with nanomaterials have been the focus of a large number of studies, due to their potential to develop platforms capable of performing multiplexed, sensitive, real-time, simple and non-invasive measurements of biomarkers in biological fluids.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

11th WEBINAR

24-09-2020 | 12:00

Environmental applications of microalgae:

From bioremediation to biomass valorisation

Ana Luísa Gonçalves

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Ana Luísa Gonçalves graduated in Bioengineering (Biological Engineering Branch) in 2012 and concluded her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2017, both at FEUP. After concluding her PhD she has worked in a microalgal biomass production company and, since 2019, she is Junior Researcher at LEPABE, working in the PIV4Algae Project. Her main research topics include: (i) microalgal cultivation; (ii) biomass harvesting; (iii) wastewater treatment; (iv) CO2 capture; and (v) biomass valorisation.

Talk summary

Microalgae are known for their ubiquitous presence in nature, diversity, and broad-spectrum applications. Among these, nutrients removal from wastewaters is an important environmental application and a powerful strategy for the reduction of biomass production costs and associated environmental impact. Moreover, the wealth composition of microalgae makes them a valuable resource for different applications, thus improving the economic viability and sustainability of the remediation process. This talk will focus on a recent project that aims at the use of microalgal cultures for the remediation of industrial wastewaters and further valorisation of the produced biomass, towards its integration in the value chain of the envisaged industries.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

12th WEBINAR

01-10-2020 | 12:00

Low toxicity and environmentally friendly

wood-based products

Jorge Santos

Postdoc Researcher at Polytechnic Institute of Viseu|LEPABE/PPE

Jorge Santos Ucha received his Advanced Studies Diploma and PhD degree in chemical engineering from the University of Santiago de Compostela - Spain. His research interests are focused on the valorization of lignocellulosic byproducts to be used in the formulation of bioadhesives for the wood industry. Nowadays he works in the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu as a postdoctoral researcher in the project INNOSURF. The main goal of this project is to find different solutions to improve the surface properties of high-pressure laminates; and within this project his research is focused on the study of the synthesis of melamine-formaldehyde resins and their interaction with additives that provide the desired surface properties.

Talk summary

Nowadays, wood-based products are manufactured mainly with thermosetting synthetic resins based on petroleum, most of them based on formaldehyde. Moreover, the monoculture of fast-growing tree species has an important impact on wildlife habitats and local people and increases the risks of fire and desertification. The talk will focus on the new advances made by the research team led by Prof. Luísa Carvalho on developing new materials with low toxicity and low environmental impact based on lignocellulosic by-products such as: Cardoon, Pinecones, Grape canes, Eucalyptus bark, chestnut bur… with bio-adhesives based on the extractable compounds obtained from pine bark, pine cone, grape canes, eucalyptus bark, cardoon leaves, chestnut shell and bur…

Webinar Platform: Zoom

13th WEBINAR

08-10-2020 | 12:00

Using Proteomics to unravel biofilm’s resistance

Idalina Machado

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Idalina Machado completed the PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2011. In 2014, she joined BEL group as a Post-Doctoral fellow at LEPABE. Since January 2019 she works as Junior Researcher in the project Biocides for Biofilms. Her main research interests focus on Biofilms, Antimicrobials Antimicrobial resistance, Proteomics; Disinfection; Biofilm control.

Talk summary

Biofilms are the preferred mode of growth of microorganisms in nature, being the cause of 65% of all human infections. The most notable and clinically relevant property of biofilms is their greater resistance to antimicrobials compared with their planktonic counterparts. Advances in proteomic techniques have facilitated in-depth analysis of the possible mechanisms underpinning increased drug resistance in biofilms. In this talk strategic uses of novel proteomics technologies to study drug resistance mechanisms of microbial biofilms will be presented.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

14th WEBINAR

15-10-2020 | 12:00

Microencapsulation: chemical engineering applied to the microscale

Berta Estevinho

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/SA

Berta Estevinho graduated in Chemical Engineering (2003), with a Master in Environmental Engineering (2005) and a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering (2010), all from FEUP.

Since 2004, she is working in LEPABE (LEPAE). In 2016, she was visiting researcher at IATA - CSIC, Valencia (3 months).

B. Estevinho is researcher in the field of microencapsulation of active and natural compounds, working with spray-drying and electrospinning techniques. .

Talk summary

This presentation will cover the application of chemical engineering concepts to the microscale. In the microencapsulation processes several chemical phenomena are involved. Two of the most relevant microencapsulation processes will be presented: Spray drying and electrospinning.

Microencapsulation is a promising alternative to improve the stability, controlled release and bioavailability of bioactive ingredients, enabling their incorporation in food products, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, therapeutic formulations and medicines, among others.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

15th WEBINAR

22-10-2020 | 12:00

Shipping emissions modelling - revealing a

black secret of the sea

Rafael Nunes

PhD Student at LEPABE/PSE-ENV

Rafael Nunes is a PhD student currently enrolled in Environmental Engineering doctoral program, at LEPABE FEUP. He has a MSc in Environmental Engineering, concluded in 2014. His main research activities are related to air quality monitoring and modelling, exposure to air pollution, and its health impacts as well as related economic burden. He has been doing research at LEPABE in the Process Systems Engineering and Environmental Sciences and Technologies groups since 2014.

Talk summary

This talk will focus on shipping emissions and their impacts on human health in the Iberian Peninsula. Major results from the air quality and health impacts as well as, their economic valuation will be presented for the Iberian Peninsula for 2015. A special focus will be given to the relevance of the study of shipping emissions and the use of the modelling processes to understand the impacts of the emissions from this sector.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

16th WEBINAR

5-11-2020 | 12:00

Perovskite Solar Cells:the new age of photovoltaics?

Cristina Teixeira

PhD Student at LEPABE/PPE

Cristina Teixeira received his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering from FEUP. Currently, she is a 2nd year PhD student in Chemical Engineering at LEPABE under the supervision of Prof. Luísa Andrade and Prof. Adélio Mendes, focusing on the industrialization challenges of perovskite solar cells, namely stability enhancement and fabrication cost reduction. She has published 2 articles and won 1st price for oral presentation in a European Student Research Conference.

Talk summary

The production of energy through fossil fuels is responsible for the release of green-house and other toxic gases to the atmosphere, which is harmful to the environment and for human health. It is of utmost importance to develop cleaner and safer ways of producing energy. Perovskite Solar cells are a very young photovoltaic technology that has already demonstrated a big potential. In this presentation, an overview of this technology will be made, along with a presentation of the current status of the research work in our group.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

17th WEBINAR

12-11-2020 | 12:00

Defining strategies to enhance microalgae production

Mariana Carneiro

PhD Student at LEPABE/BIO

Mariana Carneiro began her academic career with a degree in Environmental Sciences and Technology (2010) in FCUP and an MSc degree in Marine Biology (2012) in ICBAS.

After working as a researcher in CIIMAR (2013), she started a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in LEPABE’s facilities in FEUP, focusing on the assessment and improvement of microalgal biomass productivity from laboratory to pilot scale.

Talk summary

Industrial production of microalgal biomass is dependent on several biotic and abiotic factors that significantly impact the performance of the photosynthetic apparatus of target strains. In turn, this reflects on biomass productivity and the overall efficiency of the process. Therefore, the determination of the critical limiting factors toward algal growth and the prevention of the bioenergetic shifts of cells from photosynthesis to respiration-only stages is of the utmost importance. To this end, different approaches, including the use of chlorophyll fluorescence and LEDs at lab and pilot scale, were evaluated.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

18th WEBINAR

19-11-2020 | 12:00

Olive Mill Wastewater Valorization through Steam Reforming Reaction in a Sorption-Enhanced Membrane Reactor

Cláudio da Silva Rocha

PhD Student at LEPABE/ENV

Cláudio Rocha (MSc in Chemical Engineering at FEUP) is a PhD student in the Chemical and Biological Engineering doctoral program at LEPABE, FEUP - under the supervision of Professor Miguel Madeira and Doctor Miguel A. Soria - in the Research Group of Environmental Sciences and Technologies. His research is focused on the valorization of the Olive Oil Mill Wastewater (OMW) through the Steam Reforming Reaction in hybrid multifunctional reactors.

Talk summary

The talk will focus on the exhibition of the main topics of the project, as on the major results obtained in this work. For instance, it will be highlighted the several advantages of the utilization of hybrid multifunctional reactors (sorption-enhanced, membrane and sorption-enhanced membrane reactors) in the OMW steam reforming process. Besides that, it will be also shown the characterization and performance of sorbents/catalysts/membranes that will be applied in these hybrid reactors. Finally, the future work will be briefly discussed.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

19th WEBINAR

26-11-2020 | 12:00

Tailoring the crystal size distribution of an active pharmaceutical ingredient

Patrícia Cruz

PhD Student at LEPABE/SA

Patrícia Cruz received her master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from FEUP in 2015. Currently, she is a PhD student from the Doctoral Program in Chemical and Biological Engineering at LEPABE, where she has been developing her research on the continuous crystallization of active pharmaceutical ingredients in oscillatory flow crystallizers, in collaboration with Hovione.

Talk summary

An active pharmaceutical ingredient is currently produced by Hovione in a traditional batch crystallization process. Although well-established, this process lacks flexibility to control the crystal size distribution. In this work, a new process was developed to enable the control of the crystal size distribution according to specific formulation requirements. This new process was transferred from the traditional batch process in a stirred tank crystallizer to a continuous process in a planar oscillatory flow crystallizer.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

20th WEBINAR

03-12-2020 | 12:00

Solar Redox Flow Cells:

the future of solar energy storage

Telmo Lopes

PhD Student at LEPABE/PPE

Telmo Lopes received his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from FEUP in 2018. He is currently a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at LEPABE under the supervision of Prof. Adélio Mendes and Dr. Paula Dias. His research is focused on the development of solutions to bring closer to commercialization photoelectrochemical technologies for solar energy conversion and storage. Special emphasis is given to photoelectrode development and upscale, as well as device modelling and design.

Talk summary

Harvesting solar energy has been proven to be the best approach to meet our energy demands in a carbon-neutral way. However, its intermittent nature calls for the development of solutions that allow its harvest, storage and conversion according to demand. Solar redox flow cells are an emerging technology that stores solar energy in fast-kinetics redox couples photocharged by semiconductor-based photoelectrodes. In this presentation, an overview of the potential and status of this technology will be discussed, as well as the goals currently being chased by our group.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

21st WEBINAR

10-12-2020 | 12:00

Sewage Sludge as a Potential Sustainable Agricultural Fertilizer

Vera Homem

Assistant Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Vera Homem graduated in Chemical Engineering at FEUP in 2007. In 2011, she completed her PhD in Environmental Engineering at LEPABE, with the work entitled “Alternative Technologies for the Removal of Antibiotics from Contaminated Waters”. Then, from 2011-2018 she was Post-Doctoral Researcher with a project entitled “Environmental Risk Assessment of PPCPs in Oporto metropolitan area”. Currently, she is Assistant Researcher and leader of the competitive national research project “AGRONAUT - Agronomic impact of sludge amendment using a comprehensive exposure viewpoint”.

Talk summary

The reuse of sewage sludge in agricultural fields as fertilizers has raised a growing concern, particularly with the possible migration of organic contaminants present in sludge to soil and crops. There are still insufficient studies to prove that there are no real environmental and human health risks. Therefore, the AGRONAUT project intends to contribute to improve the knowledge on the safety use of sewage sludge on cropland. Vera Homem will present the main goals and results of the this project.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

22nd WEBINAR

17-12-2020 | 12:00

APQuímica and the chemical sector: challenges for the next decade and the role of R&D and innovation

Carla Pedro

Director General at APQuímica

Carla Pedro graduated in Business Administration at ISCTE-IUL in 1999. Director General of APQuímica, the Portuguese association for the chemical, petrochemical and refining sector and coordinator of its Competitiveness Cluster. Worked several years for the European Investment Bank and the European Commission. Member of the team responsible for the negotiation of PT 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds. Worked for 7 years in early-stage innovation at Cisco Systems International. Started her career at Deloitte (management consulting).

Talk summary

In the context of the EU Green Deal and post-COVID19 Recovery Plans, the chemical sector is changing at a fast pace and so is the role of its Cluster. Energy transition and decarbonisation, circular economy / industrial symbiosis, new materials and bio-based products are putting the chemical sector value chains at the centre stage of economic transformation, fuelled by R&D and innovation. Carla Pedro will present the current initiatives of APQuímica and how it is expecting to further support the connection between enterprises and universities to meet those challenges.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

23rd WEBINAR

21-01-2021 | 12:00

Nucleic acid mimics delivery into bacteria:

fighting antibiotic resistance

Nuno Guimarães

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Nuno Guimarães obtained his degree in Biochemistry in 2004, at the Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon. In 2011, he completed his PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at University of Minho. He was a Pos-Doctoral Researcher at LEPABE from January of 2012 until December 2017. Currently, he is a Doctoral Researcher at LEPABE since June of 2018.

Talk summary

The emergence of pathogenic bacteria resistant to most currently available antimicrobial agents has become a critical problem in modern medicine, and the development of alternative antibacterial therapies is of utmost importance. The development of a new generation of nucleic acid mimics (NAMs) with promising antisense characteristics has put the antisense technology in the spotlight. The very selective bacterial envelopes constitute an efficient permeability barrier for NAMs, which have hindered their application against bacteria. Our work is based on the development and characterization of different delivery vectors that could transport NAMs into different bacteria.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

24th WEBINAR

28-01-2021 | 12:00

Electrochemical reduction of CO2:

a clean process for carbon recycling

Cátia Azenha

PhD Student at LEPABE/PPE

Cátia Azenha received her BSc and MSc degrees in Biotechnology from the University of Aveiro. She is currently a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at LEPABE under the supervision of Prof. Adélio Mendes. Her research is focused on the development of Cu-based catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2. She has published 9 articles.

Talk summary

The high atmospheric CO2 concentration is recognized as one of the major causes of global warming. Thus, reducing CO2 emissions, mainly associated with fossil fuel combustion, while meeting global energy demands, is one of the greatest challenges facing our society. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (ERCO2) is considered a promising approach to produce value-added chemicals, while allowing energy storage and carbon recycling. In this presentation, an overview of this technology will be presented and the current status of our group's research work.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

25th WEBINAR

11-02-2021 | 12:00

Horizon Europe: the new R&I Framework-Programme (2021-2027)

Pedro Coelho

Head of INOV Unit @ FEUP

PEDRO COELHO has a background in Business Economics and had a long experience working as a business and financial consultant for several companies. Since 2005, he is the Head of Research & Innovation Support at FEUP and the coordinator of the Business & Innovation Network (BIN@TM) since it was created in 2010.

As the Head of INOV Unit, Pedro Coelho has a wide range of activities focusing on the support of the R&I produced at FEUP. It includes: promote/support FEUP’s participation in R&I funding schemes; leverage FEUP’s R&D results by tech transfer and IP licensing; technology assessments; evaluate and support the creation of spin-offs and start-ups; promote events (workshops, seminars, courses, brokerages); international networking; project due diligence (contracts, consortium agreements, NDAs, licensing agreements, subcontracting agreements). Among other things, he has been involved in: (i) several successful IP licensing and tech transfer deals; (ii) the support of +20 spin-offs; (iii) mentoring entrepreneurs; (iv) international innovation events as invited speaker/delegate; (v) tech-based business competitions as a member of the jury; (vi) lecturing about IPR within FEUP’s master and doctoral programmes.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

26th WEBINAR

25-02-2021 | 12:00

Integration of agroindustrial by-products

in the Fenton-like oxidation of olive mill wastewater

Bruno M. Esteves

PhD Student at LEPABE/ENV

Bruno Esteves (MSc in Environmental Engineering, FEUP) is currently a co-tutelle PhD student in the Environmental Engineering (FEUP/LEPABE) and Chemistry (University of Granada, Spain) doctoral programs, under the supervision of Professors Luis M. Madeira and F.J. Maldonado-Hódar. His main research activities are focused in the application of Fenton/Fenton-like processes for wastewater treatment and the development of adsorptive/catalytic materials.

Talk summary

Agroindustrial residues from olive oil extraction still lack proper management solutions. In particular, the highly-loaded and toxic wastewaters generated (olive mill wastewater, OMW) are responsible for several environmental threats. This talk will highlight the application of an integrated management scheme to address this problematic, where solid by-products (such as olive stones and olive tree pruning) were selected as precursors of carbon-based materials for the synthesis of catalysts and used in the heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation of OMW.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

27th WEBINAR

11-03-2021 | 12:00

A Chemical Industry without CO2:

Where to Start

Hermann J. Feise

EFCE President

Dr. Hermann J. Feise serves as the president of EFCE since 1st January 2018. He is also manager for R&D Cooperations with BASF and a member of DECHEMA. Hermann first joined the EFCE Executive Board in 2008, serving as Scientific Vice-President from 2008 to 2012. His technical interests are in the fields of drying, agglomeration, handling of particles, simulation of particle flow with modern numerical methods as well as the transition of the chemical industry to renewable energy and chemical engineering education.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

28th WEBINAR

25-03-2021 | 12:00

The challenge to microencapsulate liposoluble vitamins, for cosmetic and food applications

Marisa Ribeiro

PhD Student at LEPABE/SA

Marisa Ribeiro completed the Integrated Master in Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). Currently, she is a researcher at LEPABE, under the supervision of Dr.ª Berta Estevinho and Prof. Fernando Rocha. Her main research activities are focused on the protection of sensitive active ingredients, for their application into functional products, namely through their microencapsulation by spray-drying, having published 6 articles in this area.

Talk summary

Liposoluble vitamins, namely vitamin A and E, are key bioactive compounds, necessary for human health and well-being, with a large potential market in the food and cosmetic area. However, due to their instability towards some common processing and storage conditions, these vitamins can suffer degradation of their therapeutic properties. In this context, during this presentation, an overview of spray-drying procedure, an encapsulation technique commonly used to protect sensitive active compounds, as well as a brief description of the particles characterization procedures normally performed by our research group, will be made.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

29th WEBINAR

08-04-2021 | 12:00

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for Artificial and Solar Light Conversion

Dzmitry Ivanou

Assistant Researcher at LEPABE/PPE

Dzmitry Ivanou received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus, in 2005. In 2010 Dr Ivanou was awarded the academic degree of Docent in Chemistry. Since 2014, Dr Ivanou is a researcher in LEPABE. Current interests are focused on Dye-sensitized and perovskite photovoltaics, targeting both fundamental and applied targets, aiming ultimately to bring these technologies to mass production.

Talk summary

Merging low manufacturing costs with decent power conversion efficiency, Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are the object of intensive scientific research, which resulted in prototypes close to commercial products. However, problems with scalability and stability are hindering the technology to move easily to the market. Recent scientific results are changing this pattern. Several scientific and technological breakthroughs by UPorto research team on power conversion efficiency, scalability and stability of DSSCs will be presented.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

30th WEBINAR

22-04-2021 | 12:00

Delivery of oligonucleotides to control bacteria

Rita Sobral F. M. Santos

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Rita Sobral Santos graduated in Bioengineering (FEUP) in 2011. She did her PhD in Belgium (3 years), Sweden and FEUP/i3S, establishing the 1st proof-of-concept of oligonucleotides delivery in bacteria by liposomes. In 2017, she obtained a double PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UGhent (Belgium) and in Chemical and Biological Engineering from FEUP. Rita S. Santos is currently a junior researcher at LEPABE, FEUP, in the group led by Professor Nuno Azevedo, and the project manager of the European project “DelNAM”. Rita has also collaborated with Biomode.

Talk summary

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of the most pressing global health problems of our time. Antibiotics resistance calls for alternative drugs and comprehensive diagnostic tools to prolong the lifetime of still valid antibiotics. Oligonucleotides designed to hybridize to selected RNA sequences in bacteria can be used as antisense antibacterial drugs and in vivo diagnostic probes. However, as the bacterial envelope is impermeable to oligonucleotides, they must be delivered by suitable vectors. Several delivery vectors have been studied, including liposomes, peptides, dendrimers and vitamin B12.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

31st WEBINAR

06-05-2021 | 12:00

Optimized Gas Cyclones

Romualdo Salcedo

Senior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Romualdo Salcedo obtained his Chemical Engineering Degree at the University of Porto and his Master and PhD degrees at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He is retired Professor (since 2020), in the Chemical Engineering Department at FEUP, Senior Researcher at LEPABE (in the EST Research Group) and co-founder of Advanced Cyclone Systems, where he is CTO since 2009. His main research interests include (i) the optimization and design of air pollution control equipment, particularly for the capture of very fine particles, using cyclone systems; and (ii) the development of MINLP optimization algorithms. He is the inventor of the Hurricane® and ReCyclone® systems, with 4 international patents.

Talk summary

Talk summary: A new chapter in the design of gas-solids cyclones was opened in 1998 by the application of stochastic numerical optimization techniques to the optimized design of such devices. Previously, empirical development was the established rule. A new comprehensive model was developed to account for particle-particle interaction in the turbulent flow-field of gas cyclones, whereby global and grade-efficiencies can be predicted with increased confidence. These characteristics as well as several examples of full-scale industrial applications will be highlighted during the talk.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

32nd WEBINAR

27-05-2021 | 12:15

Revisiting the LEPABE TALKS

The organizing committee of the LEPABE Talks

The organizing committee of the LEPABE Talks started the activities in April 2020, with the objective for developing periodic meetings of researchers of LEPABE. This committee is composed by Fernando Martins, Ana Alexandra Pereira, Ana Luísa Gonçalves, Joana Angélica Loureiro, Sofia Isabel Sousa and Tânia Sofia Lopes, which are connected with the 5 research groups of LEPABE.

Talk summary

From 28th May 2020, when the 1st LEPABE Talk occurred with our LEPABE coordinator Arminda Alves as speaker, 31 LEPABE Talks have already taken place. During this year, the LEPABE had the opportunity to hear PhD students, researcher fellows, senior researchers and LEPABE external experts in different areas of knowledge. So, the next special LEPABE TALK is oriented for revisiting the LEPABE Talks in different perspectives.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

33rd WEBINAR

17-06-2021 | 12:00

Siloxanes in WWTPs: presence, impact, and challenges in their removal

Nuno Ratola

Principal Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Nuno Ratola has a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering by FEUP. He has a significant experience in advanced analytical chemistry (sampling, trace analysis, high resolution chromatography) and environmental chemistry, namely in the monitoring and behaviour of legacy and emerging pollutants like siloxanes in several environmental matrices. Currently, he is a Principal Researcher at LEPABE, in the Environmental Sciences and Technologies Research Group, and is leading the project LANSILOT - LAunching New SILOxane Treatments: assessing effluent, sludge and air quality and improving biogas production in WWTPs.

Talk summary

Siloxanes are a growing concern for our environment and have a particularly important presence and effect in WWTPs. The domestic and industrial effluents carry a significant load of these widely used chemicals into these facilities, promoting an extended partition between the water line, the sludge line, and the surrounding air, predominantly the latter two. While the release into the atmosphere may affect firstly the workers of the WWTPs and then the neighbouring, the presence in the sludge can affect not only the quality of the composting products used as a soil additive in several crops but especially the efficiency of the biogas production units, essential for the economic and energetic sustainability of WWTPs.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

34th WEBINAR

01-07-2021 | 12:00

From research to business – Amnis Pura, a spinoff dedicated to gas purification

Frederico Moura Relvas

PhD student at LEPABE/PPE and co-founder of AmnisPura

Frederico Relvas received his Msc in Chemical Engineering from University of Aveiro. He is finishing his PhD in Chemical Engineering at LEPABE in the field of gas purification by PSA, under the supervision of Professor Adélio Mendes, accounting with 8 scientific articles. Frederico Relvas is one of the co-founders of Amnis Pura and has been actively participating in various international startup programs, including CleanTech Camp 2021.

Talk summary

The growing interest in decentralized hydrogen production has created the need of more efficient small-scale PSAs. Although this has been recognized within the scientific community, the path from research to business is a long way to run…What are the main challenges for a start-up?

Webinar Platform: Zoom

35th WEBINAR

15-07-2021 | 12:00

Are emerging contaminants affecting drinking water bacteria?

Inês Bezerra Gomes

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Inês B. Gomes graduated in Bioengineering in 2013 at FEUP. She concluded the PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2019, under the supervision of Professor Manuel Simões. Since the beginning of 2021, Inês is Junior Researcher at LEPABE. Her main research interests focus on the impact of emerging contaminants in drinking water microbial communities and on the development of strategies for biofilm control in drinking water and industrial settings.

Talk summary

The presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) in drinking water (DW) is unavoidable and unpredictable. The scientific community has been focused on the impact of ECs on DW consumers’ health and has been disregarding the impact on DW microbial communities and further consequences for DW microbiological quality and safety. Although the lack of information, studies have reported changes on biofilm formation ability, on biofilm susceptibility to disinfection and even on the bacterial interaction with human cell lines, after bacterial exposure to ECs. This talk will focus on the main findings about the impact of several ECs on DW microorganisms.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

36th WEBINAR

09-09-2021 | 12:00

Sustainability: Understanding and Technology Development

Carlos Costa

Emeritus Professor at LEPABE/PPE

Carlos Costa obtained his Chemical Engineering and PhD degrees at the University of Porto. He was Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of FEUP retired in 2010, FEUP’s Director between 2001 and 2010 and Professor Emeritus since 2015. Senior Researcher at LEPABE and 1st Coordinator of LEPAE.

His main research & development interests include (i) sustainability and technology development (ii) Innovation and start-ups

Talk summary

Sustainability is now  a commonly used word must of the time for “green” marketing purposes. This talk, using the most accepted sustainability concept and model,  will show the implications of simplifying a non linear coupled dynamic complex system specially in understanding its evolution and eventual control modes.

 The inclusion of the sustainability concept also creates an opportunity for innovation in technology development and assessment

Webinar Platform: Zoom

37th WEBINAR

23-09-2021 | 12:00

Engineered nanoparticles for targeted brain delivery

Maria João Ramalho

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/SA

Maria João Ramalho holds a PhD in Biological and Chemical Engineering from the University of Porto. Currently, she is a Junior Researcher at LEPABE working in the Research Group of Supramolecular Assemblies. Her research interests focus on (i) nanomaterials for diagnosis and therapeutics applications, (ii) nanoparticles to target the blood-brain barrier, and (iii) biomimetics membrane models for drug-membrane interaction studies.

Talk summary

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents a major challenge for the delivery of drugs to the brain. Despite several drugs exhibiting a potential therapeutic effect for neurological diseases, this barrier is an additional obstacle to therapeutic success. These limitations motivate a search for efficient drug delivery strategies. Tailored nanoparticles able to cross the BBB by receptor-mediated transport have emerged as promising solution. This talk will focus on the new advances made by the research team led by Prof. Maria do Carmo Pereira on developing novel nanosystems to carry different therapeutic compounds into the brain.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

38th WEBINAR

07-10-2021 | 12:00

Cluster Analysis as a Procedure for Categorizing Crude Oils

André Mendes Sancho

PhD student at LEPABE/PSE

André Mendes Sancho received his Msc in Chemical Engineering from University of Lisbon – Instituto Superior Técnico. He is PhD student  in Refining, Petrochemical and Chemical Engineering. His main research topics include: (i) cluster analysis of crude oils (ii) development of performance indicators for cluster analysis (iii) application of classification models for categorizing novel crude oils.

Talk summary

With the margins for refining getting slimer and the legislation stricter, there is growing interest in using novel and cheaper crude oils. However, blending certain crude oils together can cause operational issues during the refining processes. It is therefore important to be able to identify the behavior and categorize existing and novel crude oils based on their main properties and/or  1H NMR spectra.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

39th WEBINAR

21-10-2021 | 12:00

Longe da Vista, Longe do Coração

(Far from the eyes, far from the heart)

Olga C. Nunes

Senior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Olga C. Nunes holds a PhD in Biochemistry/Microbiology from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra. She is Associate Professor at FEUP and Senior Researcher at LEPABE, working in the Environmental Sciences and Technologies Research Group. Her major research topics include: (i) bioremediation; (ii) microbial ecology and biodiversity; (iii) bacterial taxonomy; and (iv) control of microbial development.

Talk summary

This webinar aims at introducing Microbiology to those that never had the opportunity to study this scientific area. What are microorganisms, where they live, how they reproduce and evolve, what they do, are they all harmful, how can we control them, or how can we do benefit from their characteristics are some of the topics discussed in this webinar.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

40th WEBINAR

04-11-2021 | 12:00

Catalytic methane decomposition: A clean pathway for competitive hydrogen production

Luís Alves

PhD student at LEPABE/PPE

Luís Alves received his MSc degree in chemical engineering from FEUP, in 2019. Worked as a research fellow in LEPABE, designing and testing reactors for the electrochemical decomposition of nitrogen oxides. Currently, he is a 1st year PhD student in chemical engineering at LEPABE under the supervision of Professor Adélio Mendes. His work is focused on methane decomposition, specifically in solving the challenges of catalyst deactivation. He has published 2 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Talk summary

Fossil fuels are responsible for most CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, but our high dependency on these energy carriers has made it difficult to abandon them. Methane decomposition presents a unique potential to swiftly eliminate all direct emissions of CO2 while allowing a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels, by decomposing natural gas or biogas into clean hydrogen and solid carbon.

In this presentation, an overview of this technology will be presented, as well as the current state of our group’s research developments.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

41st WEBINAR

18-11-2021 | 12:00

Liposomes as Biomembrane Models for Drug Discovery and Development: The case of Alzheimer's disease

Stéphanie Andrade

PhD student at LEPABE/SA

Stéphanie Andrade is a PhD student in Biological and Chemical Engineering at Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She obtained her master's degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2015. Her main research activity focuses on: i) production and characterization of nanoparticles for pharmaceutical application; ii) effects of bioactive compounds on the aggregation kinetics of peptides; iii) drug-membrane interactions.

Talk summary

The interaction of drugs with biological membranes is a critical factor affecting their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, so understanding how drugs interact with biomembranes is of valuable interest for the pharmaceutical industry. However, such interactions are difficult to investigate due to the complexity of biological membranes, mainly related to their dynamic structure. In this context, liposomes emerged to offer a simple yet useful alternative way of studying drug-membrane interactions.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

42nd WEBINAR

02-12-2021 | 12:00

Food safety: surveillance and diagnostic tools

Carina Almeida

Senior Researcher at INIAV || Recently Integrated Member LEPABE/ BIO

Carina Almeida is a Senior Researcher at INIAV (Vairão campus), PhD in Biomedical Engineering (UM), serves currently as the Head of the Food Safety Unit of INIAV. During her research career she has developed work on molecular diagnostic techniques, with particular focus on foodborne pathogens. She is the author/co-author of 4 patents, 44 articles in international journals and 13 chapters in scientific books.

Talk summary

In this presentation I will start introducing INIAV team, their role in the food safety surveillance programs and the main research topics covered at Vairão. Then, special attention will be given to the projects we have been developing with LEPABE. We will address some epidemiologic studies aiming at understanding the prevalence of relevant pathogens in the Portuguese scene and we will then evolve to molecular diagnostic tools with in loco application potential.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

43rd WEBINAR

16-12-2021 | 12:00

Presence and removal of carcinogenic PAHs from recycled tires used in synthetic football fields

Nikola Kurucová

PhD student at LEPABE/ENV

Nikola Kurucová is a PhD student of the Doctoral Program in Environmental Engineering, under supervision of Vera Homem at LEPABE/FEUP. She has a MSc in Technical Chemistry, with specialization in Analytical Chemistry, from the Slovak University of Technology. Her research has been focused on the development of analytical methods associated with GC-MS for determination of pesticides. Her current work is focused on the quantification of PAHs in rubber crumb and their subsequent removal.

Talk summary

Crumb rubber from end-of-life tires (ELTs) is the most widely used infill in football fields. ELTs may contain potentially harmful chemicals, such as PAHs, which can be released from the pitches. This has been raising environmental and human health concerns, leading to a constant decrease of the MRLs issued by the EU. This webinar will be focus on the latest achievements obtained by the team of the SAFEGOAL project, with special emphasis to the monitoring results and the process of PAHs removal from crumb rubber using hot air fluidisation.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

44th WEBINAR

20-01-2022 | 12:00

About the Future of Research in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Sebastião Feyo de Azevedo

Emeritus Professor at LEPABE/FEUP

Currently: Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering (UP); President of Porto City Council for 2021-2025.

Some main activities in the past: National Diretor of the Institute for Systems and Robotics; Head of the CE Department (FEUP); Director of Studies in CE (FEUP); President of the Working Party on Education, EFCE; Diretor of the Doctoral Program in Refining, Petrochemical and Chemical Engineering (EngIQ);  Dean of FEUP; Rector of the University of Porto

Talk summary

In this conference I will address two topics:

1. Firstly, I’ll give a few brief notes on the future of Research and Development in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.

2. Afterwards, I will present a vision of public policies, thinking of  promoting cooperation with industry.

It is quite clear that there will always be room for free investigation, driven by curiosity, but we must concentrate efforts on the short/medium term valuation of knowledge, linking our research to the (many) problems to be solved in industrial activity.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

45th WEBINAR

03-02-2022 | 12:00

Effect of citric acid on the dimensional stability of solid wood of pinus sylvestris submitted to thermo-mechanical densification

Matheus Couto Crisóstomo

PhD student at LEPABE/PPE

Matheus Couto Crisóstomo is a PhD student of the Doctoral Program in Forest Sciences, under supervision of Luisa Hora de Carvalho at LEPABE/FEUP. He has a MSc in Forest Sciences, with a specialization in wood modification, from the University of Brasília, Brazil. His research has been focused on the evaluation of the effect of citric acid on the densified wood of Pinus sylvestris.

Talk summary

The application of thermo-mechanical treatments to densify solid wood is a process applied to modify wood. However, wood presents a high degree of instability and may return to its original condition due to its hydroscopic character. In this context, the chemical modification with citric acid has been evaluated to reduce the dimensional instability of densified wood. This webinar will be focused on wood modification, with a specific focus on how thermo-mechanical treatment and chemical modification occurs.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

46th WEBINAR

17-02-2022 | 12:00

Drawing Lessons from Nature to Develop Antifouling Surfaces for the Food Industry

Luciana Gomes

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Luciana Gomes is graduated in Bioengineering and concluded her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2016, both at FEUP. She is a Junior Researcher at LEPABE since 2019, working in the Biofilm Engineering Laboratory (BEL) in collaboration with the Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). Her research topics include (i) industrial biofilms, (ii) bacterial adhesion, (iii) surface modification, (iv) biofilm reactors, and (v) productive biofilms.

Talk summary

In critical zones of food processing plants, where biofilm buildup is an issue, surface modification can reduce biological fouling and facilitate the removal of deposits. This approach may guarantee safer and higher quality products to consumers while minimizing cleaning downtimes and thus enabling substantial cost benefits to food processors. This talk will focus on the recent European project “SurfSAFE” which aims to develop tailor-made antifouling, antimicrobial and non-toxic surfaces inspired by nature for industrial application.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

47th WEBINAR

17-03-2022 | 12:00

Controlled delivery systems to improve the chemotherapeutic action of retinoic acid

Antónia Gonçalves

PhD student at LEPABE/SA

Antónia Gonçalves (BSc in Applied Biology, MSc in Bioinformatics and MSc in Bioengineering, all from University of Minho) is a PhD student in Biological and Chemical Engineering at Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Her research is focused on the development of controlled delivery‑based formulations for retinoic acid oral administration in therapeutic applications.

Talk summary

Retinoid acid (RA) is a vitamin A natural derivative that belongs to the first generation of retinoids. It is recognized as a medical agent in the treatment of several types of cancer, including acute promyelocytic leukemia. However, RA efficiency is hampered by physicochemical instability, low absorption in the intestine, short half-life and severe side-effects. The design and development of an appropriate carrier-based system for RA controlled delivery may beneficiate its anticancer activity by increasing RA bioavailability in patients.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

48th WEBINAR

31-03-2022 | 12:00

Hydrogen production through water-gas shift reaction in multifunctional reactors

Miguel Angel Soria

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Miguel Soria is graduated in Chemical Engineering by the University of Salta (Argentina). He holds a PhD in heterogeneous catalysis, from the UCL (Belgium). He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP-CSIC) in Madrid, Spain. Currently, he is research fellow at LEPABE. His main research topics include: (i) Sorption-enhanced reaction process, (ii) Membrane reactor and (iii) Heterogeneous Catalysis.

Talk summary

This talk will focus on high-purity H2 production from the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction. Since the WGS is limited by the equilibrium, different reactor types that allow to separate one or more products from the reaction medium, namely membrane reactor (MR; for H2 separation), sorption-enhanced reactor (SER; for CO2 capture) and sorption-enhanced membrane reactor (SEMR; for simultaneous CO2 and H2 removal), were used and compared with fixed-bed traditional reactor (TR).

Webinar Platform: Zoom

49th WEBINAR

21-04-2022 | 12:00

Prospection of Marine Biocatalisers for Natural Pigments

Joana Assunção

Biotechnology

Joana Assunção is developing her PhD project in Chemical and Biological Engineering from University of Porto – at CIIMAR and LEPABE. Her main focus is the optimization of a bioprocess, namely the biomass and the biocompounds production and downstream processing (metabolite extraction and recovery) of a marine cyanobacteria –Synechocystis salina. She holds a particular interest in pigment extraction methodologies based on green principles (e.g. successive extraction, ultrasound, microwave, etc) envisaging a view of Biorefinery approach.

Talk summary

The market of natural pigments (i.e. phycobiliproteins) is increasing worldwide, particularly in the food and cosmetic industries, owing to their antioxidant and colorant properties. Thus, selection of the adequate biocataliser is a fundamental step towards the optimization of production of target-pigments. This work intended to select a biocataliser from three microorganisms (two cyanobacteria: Chroococciopsis sp. and Synechocystis salina and one dinoflagellate – Karlodinium veneficum) with the best pigment productivities for further potential biotechnological application.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

50th WEBINAR

05-05-2022 | 12:00

The Digitalization and The Chemical Engineering:          A Few Thoughts

Fernando G. Martins

Process Systems Engineering

Fernando G. Martins holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. He is Associate Professor at FEUP and Senior Researcher at LEPABE, leading the Process Systems Engineering Group. His major research topics include: (i) Multivariate Statistical Methods and Models; (ii) Modelling, Simulation, Control and Optimization of Processes; and (iv) Air quality Modelling and Public Health.

Talk summary

This webinar is intended to present some thoughts of the speaker on the link between digitalization and Chemical Engineering. The role of artificial intelligence, namely, machine learning tools, in this subject will be discussed. Some works developed by the speaker and his co-workers in this area will be also presented.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

51st WEBINAR

19-05-2022 | 12:00

Hydrogen and fuel cells  -  A future perspective!

Paulo Ribeirinha

ALiCE-LEPABE/PPE

Paulo Ribeirinha is a junior researcher at LEPABE and co-founded Amnis Pura (www.amnispura.com), a company dedicated to hydrogen technologies. Since 2014 is working in the field of fuel cells, hydrogen production and purification. He authored and co-authored 20 publications, one book chapter, one patent and participated in more than 11 conferences. P. Ribeirinha has been or is supervising of 3 PhD thesis and 4MSc students and is/has been involved in 7 EU/national projects.

Talk summary

Hydrogen is part of the solution for the decarbonisation of the energy sector, and great efforts have been made during the last decade for its implementation. The implementation of a “hydrogen economy”, new applications are emerging in different sectors (i.e. transportation, building heat and power, and power generation buffering). Therefore, a great interest is emerging in decentralized H2 production, including water electrolysis, steam reforming of alcohols, biogas steam reforming, biomass gasification and ammonia cracking. But, despite the potential for transport and electricity generation, H2, is an energy vector, and not an energy source and not necessarily the fuel of the future. This webinar will be focused on H2 production processes, purification and applications.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

52nd WEBINAR

02-06-2022 | 12:00

Scaled-down reactors for crystallization and precipitation processes

Filipa Castro

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/SA

Filipa Castro is a Biological Engineer and is currently a Junior Researcher at LEPABE-FEUP. In 2013, she completed her PhD thesis in Bioengineering at the University of Minho through the MIT-Portugal program. She has been working on the exploitation of oscillatory flow-based reactors and droplet-based microfluidics for the implementation of crystallization and precipitation processes, in particular protein crystallization and hydroxyapatite synthesis.

Talk summary

Micro (microliters) and meso (milliliters) reactors systems offer unequalled experimental conditions to explore crystallization/precipitation processes. Scaling down offers several advantages, namely enhanced heat and mass transfer, better control over the contact mode of the reagents and optical access for in situ characterization. Besides, low consumption of reagents makes them attractive tools for high-throughput experimentation. In this context, we have been exploiting micro droplet-based microfluidics and oscillatory flow-based reactors for protein crystallization and calcium phosphates precipitation.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

53rd WEBINAR

23-06-2022 | 12:00

Finding chemotherapy's fingerprints on hospital surfaces to assess potential health risks for workers

Mónica Santos

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/ENV

Mónica Santos is a Junior Researcher at LEPABE, and she is leading the FCT project CytoStraTech – “Cost-effective approaches for mitigation of risky cytostatics in Portuguese waters”. Her main research activities are focused on cytostatics, pharmaceutical active ingredients used in chemotherapy: (i) study of the contamination of water courses and estimation of risks to aquatic organisms, (ii) the assessment of the occupational exposure to cytostatics and associated risks, and (iii) their degradation by advanced oxidation processes.

Talk summary

Cytostatics’ prescription will increase alongside with cancer incidence. Healthcare workers in charge of the preparation of cytostatics’ formulations are at potential long-term exposure risks. The major route of exposure to cytostatics is dermal absorption through direct contact, contaminated surfaces, or excreta. Therefore, the evaluation of the occupational environment contamination is crucial to ensure the safety of workers. This talk will focus on the results that were obtained for the contamination of surfaces in a Portuguese hospital by cytostatics.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

54th WEBINAR

08-09-2022 | 12:00

The Arrow of Time

Luís F. Melo

ALiCE-LEPABE/BIO

Professor Emeritus at the Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.

Research interests: Biofilm Science and Engineering, Fouling, Biofouling.

Things that sparkle my interest: people with talent and little minds.

Talk summary

What is “time” ? I do not know.

Where did it start and where does it go to ? I do not know.

Science, Art and Life rapid views on the subject.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

55th WEBINAR

22-09-2022 | 12:00

From Portugal to Brussels – the experience of an ex-FEUP at the European Commission (HaDEA)

Susana Xará

About the speaker: Susana Xará is a Project Adviser at the European Commission - HaDEA (the European Health and Digital Executive Agency) in the Raw Materials sector of the Industry unit.

Her main scientific expertise relates to Environmental Protection, Waste Treatment Technologies and Management, Life Cycle Assessment and Packaging.

Susana holds a degree in Chemical Engineering, a Post-Graduation in Packaging and a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Talk summary

In this talk, Susana will introduce HaDEA and will explain the tasks associated to her position including the life cycle of the research and innovation projects funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe (and the former H2020) programme.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

56th WEBINAR

06-10-2022 | 12:00

112CO2 – Low temperature catalytic methane decomposition for COx-free hydrogen production

Tiago Lagarteira

ALiCE-LEPABE/PPE

Tiago Lagarteira is a Project Engineer at LEPABE-FEUP. He received his MSc degree in chemical engineering (processes and products) from UPORTO and his research is focused on electrochemical conversion and storage energy systems. He is currently the Work Package Leader at 112CO2 project; His publications includes 10 research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 1 patent and more than 12 presentations in international conferences.

Talk summary

112CO2 is a FET-Proactive project funded by the EIC that proposes an easy-to-implement technology to swiftly decarbonise the energy sector at competitive prices. The overall objective is to develop science and technology for low temperature methane decomposition reaction, which allows to produce COx-free hydrogen and solid carbon from natural gas or biogas. The 112CO2 project also considers the involvement of third parties to build-up an interdisciplinary community and the creation of an innovative eco-system around catalytic methane decomposition.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

57th WEBINAR

20-10-2022 | 12:00

Advanced Oxidation Processes for Liquid and Gaseous Effluents Treatment

Carmen Rodrigues

ALiCE-LEPABE/ENV

Carmen Rodrigues graduated in Chemical Engineering from the ISEP and has a MSc and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from FEUP. Since 2014, she is a Junior Researcher at LEPABE. Her research work focuses on wastewater and gaseous stream treatment by homogeneous and heterogeneous advanced oxidative processes by itself, or integrated with coagulation/flocculation and biological degradation.

Talk summary

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been widely applied in effluent treatment because they are efficient in the destruction of a large number of dangerous and recalcitrant pollutants.

Of the several AOPs, the Fenton-like oxidation and the activated persulfate stand out because they operate under moderate temperatures and pressures. In such treatment technologies, hydroxyl or persulfate radicals are generated. These radicals oxidize organic matter into mineralized compounds, carbon dioxide, and water.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

58th WEBINAR

03-11-2022 | 12:00

A successful ERC application: writing process and interview preparation

Ana Rita Lado Ribeiro

ALiCE-LSRE-LCM

Ana Rita Lado Ribeiro is a Researcher at ALiCE/LSRE-LCM (FEUP) and is Associate Editor of Chemical Engineering Journal Advances (Elsevier). She has significant expertise in Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering. Recently, she got a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant in the field of environmental chirality. She is/was PI of 3 FCT funded projects at FEUP, has participated in >20 research projects, and has co-authored ca. 80 papers and 10 book chapters (h-index 30, >4500 citations). ARLR she is among the cross-field Highly Cited Researcher (2021) by Clarivate.

Talk summary

Ana Rita Lado Ribeiro will share her experience on developing a successful project proposal. The writing process will be briefly overviewed, as well as its central role to achieve the first crucial outcome in an ERC application: to proceed to the interview. After achieving this outcome, the chances greatly increase! The success of this second step of an ERC application highly depends on many factors that will be emphasized, not only during the preparation for the big day, but also during the interview itself.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

59th WEBINAR

03-11-2022 | 12:00

Bacterial detection using NAM-FISH and spectral imaging

Andreia Azevedo

ALiCE-LEPABE/BIO

Andreia S. Azevedo completed her PhD degree, in June 2016, at Faculty of Engineering (FEUP). Currently, she is a junior researcher at LEPABE/FEUP. Her main research interests include exploring and studying the hybridization properties of nucleic acid mimics (NAMs); and combining NAM-fluorescence in situ hybridization (NAM-FISH) and spectral imaging for multiplex detection/location of microorganisms in multispecies biofilms.

Talk summary

One of the most well-established molecular biology techniques for the spatial location of microorganisms is Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Considering the high potential of spectral imaging and the enhanced properties of NAMs, we are combining these strategies to develop a novel color-coded FISH methodology. Our findings have shown that this new FISH variant is highly suitable for a multiplex, robust and rapid detection of bacteria and it can also be of great use on the study of complex microbial communities, such as biofilms.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

60th WEBINAR

15-12-2022 | 12:00

Nós nos Presépios… as the Christian communities always loved to be actors in Nativity Scenes

Conceição Alvim Ferraz

ALiCE-LEPABE/ENV

Since retirement, Conceição Alvim Ferraz is invited Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department (Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto), Senior Researcher at LEPABE (from its foundation), expert of the European Commission for Environment and of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The main areas of scientific expertise are the impact of atmospheric pollution on health, the assessment and management of soil contamination and the development of new processes for biodiesel production. Author of more than 475 scientific publications, of which more than 155 are in international peer-reviewed journals (h-index 42; 6726 citations; scientist from the top 2% with the highest impact along career, 2021). Deeply involved in sociocultural activities and civic associations, CAF got in 2021 the Municipal Medal of Distinguished Services, unanimously awarded by the Municipality of S. M. da Feira, her hometown. CAF is married and has two daughters and four grandsons, and has been collecting nativity sets for more than forty years.

Talk summary

The history of Jesus’ birth is going to be visited, following the evolution of its artistic representation, to understand the reasons why, for many centuries, local and regional cultures have been integrated into nativity sets. Representations from different remote corners of the world are going to be shown, illustrating how Christian communities definitively assimilated their culture to the nativity sets, simply accepting the anachronic mixtures of characters from Jesus’ time with those of the representations’ time. The train passing through, or the pig-kill celebrated by people dressing in typical costumes of the region, often belong to the nativity sets. Bethlehem grotto transformed into Eskimos’ igloos and shepherds wearing kimonos and obis like in Japan, go on mirroring the world in nativity sets, showing each year Jesus reborning much more like us, as a common little baby from North Pole, Africa, China, Barcelos or Estremoz.

Webinar Platform: Zoom