Dr Eva Sanchez Fernandez
P.D. Eng, PhD
- Section
- School of Engineering & Physical Sciences
- Department
- Institute of Mechanical, Process & Energy Engineering
About
Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
Biography
Dr. Eva Sanchez Fernandez graduated from Complutense University Madrid with a M. Eng degree in Chemical Engineering. She won a distinction for her final Research Project in “Artificial Neural Networks based pH control”. In 2007 she graduated from Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) with a Professional Doctorate in Biochemical Engineering, for which she developed a new process for Unilever (Netherlands) dealing with the extraction of a novel taste enhancer from a plant extract. Immediately after, she took a role as Research Scientist in TNO (Dutch institution for applied scientific research) in the Netherlands, where she contributed to the development of numerous scientific projects in the field of sustainable process development. Her key expertise is in the design of novel technology, conceptual design, modelling and validation at pilot scale. She was instrumental in the development of numerous processes as reflected in the number of patents that she has co-authored. She held various positions at TNO which enabled her to foster a strong relationship between TNO and the Process and Energy department at the Delft University of Technology which ultimately lead to the completion of her PhD thesis in the development of precipitating amino acid systems for CO2 capture.
Eva has joined Heriot-Watt University in 2017as Assistant Professor. More recently Eva has received funds from the European Union and the UK government to develop advanced dynamic models for amine based CO2 capture and control models that will enable the smooth, effective and safe operation of amine based capture technology.
Research
Dr Sanchez has extensive expertise in novel process development, process integration and sustainable process systems design. She has worked in both industry and academia with the focus of transforming technological innovations into commercial processes. Within the gas separation field, Dr. Sanchez’s research has developed novel CO2 capture processes based on greener solvents, such as amino acid salts, that are less toxic and less environmentally hazardous than the current state-of-the art amines. Her research also looks at the integration of alternative energy sources to drive chemical processes, such as the modelling and design of Photo-reactors for various applications. One of these applications is the photo-reduction of CO2 into solar fuels.
Dr. Sanchez’s research also contributes to enabling the large scale implementation of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, by developing advanced modelling tools to ensure smooth and safe operation of amine based capture plants and investigating the integration and techno-economics of capture plants into CCUS networks to decarbonise industrial clusters. More recently, Dr. Sanchez is investigating the development of processes for in-situ conversion CO2 from amine solvents to decrease CO2 capture costs and enabling direct transformation into useful products.
Funded projects: ALIGN-CCUS (c.a. £400k )
ALIGN-CCUS is a chain integration project that unites the leading European experts in Carbon Capture, utilization and Storage with the aim of accelerating technology implementation. Industrial sites, such as, Grangemouth in Scotland are faced with very strict carbon target reductions that need a portfolio of technological solutions to provide energy security. One of these options is capturing CO2 form flue gases and to transform it into useful fuels. Dr. Sanchez’s role in the project is to investigate and develop accurate emission models to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of carbon capture plans. The project will investigate relevant operational scenarios for capture plans and advanced dynamic modelling and process control will be developed to ensure low emissions.