Description of the institution
Since its foundation in 1928, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso has established itself as one of the most prestigious institutions of the Chilean higher educational system. Its alumni body is characterized by the institutional seal: excellent academic and professional education, solid human values and strong commitment to public service.
With its 9 Schools and 53 academic programs, the P. Universidad Católica de Valparaíso seeks diversity within campus, generating communication spaces that enrich students´ academic life. The university is located in Valparaíso,
Chile´s second largest city, which is characterized by its natural and urban beauty, and by the rich cultural environment provided by a great number of higher education institutions located here.
Role in the project
The team has a wide experience in biogas and biofuel field, with more than 50 refereed ISI papers, experience with EC projects, and fluent relationship with industry and contracts research. It is also available the infrastructure of the Biochemical Engineering School, including an anaerobic digestion pilot plant for solid residues, several reactors and more than 100 m2 lab. Specifically on hydrogen production has 9 years of experience working in continuous systems, use membranes to reduce the partial pressure and inoculum pretreatment for different types of substrate like glycerol.
Key personnel
Gonzalo Ruiz is an Professor of the Biochemical Engineering School at PUCV and currently is the Chilean National Contact Point (NCP) for FAFB of the 7FP, Head of the Division for Environmental Engineering Education of the Interamerican association form environmental and sanitary engineering (AIDIS). His research topics include nitrogen removal, modelling and automatic control of processes, anaerobic digestion of waste and wastewater and fermentation for hydrogen production.
Estela Tapia is a student’s last semester of PhD in Biochemistry School of Engineering. His research in the PhD is hydrogen production via anaerobic digestion as his master’s thesis. The PhD thesis is titled “Increasing glycerol hydrogen production by anaerobic sludge biokinetic Control”. Her research topics include fermentation for hydrogen production, anaerobic digestion of waste, wastewater and soil biorremediation.