Group members

Group leaders

Alexandre Paiva

Assistant Researcher 


Alexandre Paiva obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal in 2001 and a PhD in Chemical Engineering – Thermodynamics and Biocatalysis from the Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg in Germany in 2008. From 2008 to 2016 he was a Post-doc researcher at REQUIMTE, a non-profit scientific organization, working on the “Biodiesel production from green sources using supercritical technology” project. Since 2016 he is a senior researcher and assistant lecturer at LAQV@REQUIMTE – FCT-NOVA. His main areas of expertise are sub-, supercritical fluids, biocatalysis and deep eutectic solvents. 


https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0328-999X

Pedro Simões

Assistant Professor


Assistant Professor on Chemical Engineering (Unit Operations and Transfer Phenomena) at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia - Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (FCT-UNL) and member of the Research Unit LAQV-REQUIMTE. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1963; Portuguese nationality; PhD (1993) in Chemical Engineering – FCT/UNL. His research interests are focused on the development of integrated and sustainable processes involving alternative green solvents such as fluids at sub- and super-critical conditions, divided in several key topics: High pressure phase equilibria, Mass transfer kinetics and dynamic modelling of countercurrent packed columns, Valorisation of biomass resources  


http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5295-8905

Susana Barreiros

Associate Professor with Habilitation


Susana Barreiros obtained a degree in Chemical Engineeering from Instituto Superior Técnico, a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia - Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (FCT-UNL), and “Agregação” (Habilitation) in Sustainable Chemistry/Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from FCT/UNL. She is a member of the Research Unit LAQV-REQUIMTE. Her research interests include biocatalysis, nonaqueous media, green chemistry, structure-function relationships for enzymes in nonconventional media, functional materials, CO2 utilization, valorisation of biomass resources.


Researcher ID A-7892-2012

Sites:

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-5892  

https://www.dq.fct.unl.pt/pessoas/docentes/susana-filipe-barreiros

http://www.requimte.pt/laqv/people/sfb

Research Assistants

Rita Craveiro

Postdoctoral Associate


Rita Craveiro was born in 1983 in Covilhã. She graduated in chemistry in 2008 from Universidade de Coimbra and received her MSc in 2010 from the Universidade de Aveiro. She obtained her PhD in Sustainable Chemistry in 2015 from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in alternative processes for bio-based polymer processing, under the supervision of Dr. Alexandre Paiva, Dr. Ana Rita Duarte and Professor Susana Barreiros. She is currently a Post-Doc at the Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and associated laboratory LAQV@Requimte, and is involved in various projects and in the supervision of master students. Her main research interests are focused on the area of green chemistry and in the development, characterization and application of deep eutectic solvents in areas that range from polymer processing, biomass processing to biocatalysis and enantiomeric separations. She also works in areas such as supercritical fluids and their applications with eutectic solvents. Currently, she is the author and co-author of several scientific papers, mainly in the area of eutectic solvents, polymer processing and characterization.


https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6540-4055

 

PhD Students

Francisca Mano


Francisca Mano was born in Coimbra, Portugal in 1990. She has a MSc degree in Biotechnology obtained at Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT-UNL), in 2014. Her master thesis relied on the production of electrospun fibres in order to impregnate deep eutectic solvents (DES). After, in collaboration with Amorim Cortiçeira, she developed a greener and more sustainable method capable of removing contaminants from cork. Later, she started to work with subcritical water in order to valorise fish residues. Here, the main goal was recovering fish proteins, due to their vast applications in many industries. Until now, Francisca has 5 papers in international scientific peer-reviewed journals. Currently, Francisca is performing her research on Deep Eutectic Solvents area, at LAQV-REQUIMTE. She is evaluating the potential of DES in extracting bioactive compounds (phytochemical compounds) from agro-industrial residues. Among that, she will also study the physic-chemical properties of the DES used and the influence that properties, such as viscosity and polarity, will have on dissolving / extracting the compounds of interest.


https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5074-5535

Bruno Pedras


Title of PhD Thesis project: Fractionation and Application of Red Wine Grape Pomace

Mónica Cunha


Title of PhD Thesis project: 


Junior Researchers

Liane Meneses

Research Fellow


Title of research project: Enzymatic Kinetic Resolution of (+/-)-Menthol in Deep Eutectic Solvents 

Liane Meneses was born in 1993 in Terceira island, Azores. She graduated in Biomedical Sciences by Universidade de Aveiro in 2015 and obtained her MSc in Biotechnology by Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2017. Her master thesis was developed under the supervision of Doctor Alexandre Paiva and Doctor Filomena Freitas and was entitled “Evaluation of sub-, supercritical fluids as solvents for extraction and impregnation of polyhydroxyalkanoates”. Currently she is working with menthol based Deep Eutectic Solvents for the enzymatic kinetic resolution of racemic menthol. Her research interests involve alternative solvents, such as supercritical solvents and deep eutectic solvents, and alternative materials, such as biopolymers derived from biomass.

 

Marta Marques


Title of research project: 


MSc Students

João Patrício


Title of MSc project:  (with Prof. João Paulo Borges)


Jorge Santos


Title of MSc project: (with Prof. João Paulo Borges)


Rui Matos


Title of MSc project: White Wine Grape Pomace as a Carbon Source for Fermentation by S. bombicola towards the Production of Sophorolipids


Rui Matos was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1995. He graduated in Biochemistry by Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2017 and is currently attending his MSc in Biotechnology in Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. His master thesis is being developed under supervision of Doctor Susana Barreiros, LAQV-REQUIMTE and Doctor Madalena Oom, UCIBIO-REQUIMTE. His research interests involve biological and green applications of residues for increased market value as well as the usage of alternative solvents, e.g. supercritical CO2 and subcritical H2O, and retrieval of substrates and biochemical compounds with bioactive capability (therapeutic, bioremediating, etc.) from unused residues.