SHORT SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC LIFE
Julián Carrera Muyo (Barcelona, 1972) is a chemical engineer (UAB, 1995) and PhD in Environmental Technology with the thesis entitled “Biological nitrogen removal of a high-strength industrial wastewater: Study of the operational parameters and design of an industrial wastewater treatment plant” awarded with Cum Laude and UAB Honors.
The topic of his research was to develop new biological treatments for urban and industrial wastewaters. This development is carried out through an engineering approach based on experimental assays at lab- and pilot-scales and mathematical modeling. After his PhD thesis, he moved to the Environmental Biotechnology research group (Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile) on a postdoctoral contract with Dr. Rolando Chamy. He studied the use of biofilms for treating high-strength ammonium wastewaters. Since 2002, he is senior researcher on the GENOCOV research group. In 2006, he won an associate professor position in the Department of Chemical Engineering of UAB. Together with Dr. Julio Pérez, he started in 2006, a new research line on Aerobic granular biomass applied for treating urban and industrial wastewaters. Moreover, together with Dr. María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, he started in 2008, another new research line on Biological treatment for complex industrial wastewaters.
As a result of his research, he has participated in many national and international projects, some of them as principal investigator (REMOVALS-European Union EC-Contract FP6-018525; TOGRANSYS-CTQ2008-06792-C02-02; ONLYBIO-CTQ2011-24745). He is currently in charge of a LIFE+ project: SAVING-E (LIFE14 ENV/ES/000633) devoted to demonstrate, in a relevant environment at pilot scale, the feasibility, applicability, replicability and transferability of a two-stage autotrophic N-removal technology for mainstream sewage treatment. He is also the coordinator of the TRITON network of the CYTED program with participation of research groups and companies from 8 different countries.
He has contributed so far to the publication of 70 international peer-reviewed papers with a high impact factor, being Water Research, Chemical Engineering Journal and Bioresource Technology the target journals (32 publications). He has also published in national journals and other for a broader diffusion of his results. According to ResearcherID (10/02/17) he has 1471 citations and a Hirsch index (h=24). He has supervised 9 PhD theses and is currently supervising several PhD students and postdocs.
Julián’s current research interests are:
- Design, building and operation of novel configurations for an efficient treatment of urban and/or industrial wastewaters based on granular biomass.
- Understanding and modelling the partial nitrification process in aerobic granular reactors.
- Development of a partial nitritation process able to work at low temperatures (up to 10ºC) using aerobic granular biomass and an airlft reactor.
- Development of an anammox process able to work at low temperatures (up to 10ºC) using granular biomass and an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor.
- Development of a new generation of energy-producing urban WWTPs through the application of autotrophic biological nitrogen removal in the mainstream.
- Development of biological process based on granular biomass for treating complex industrial wastewaters.
- Application of the bioaugmentation process to develop biological treatments with specific characteristics.
- Development of denitrification processes based on the use of granular biomass and phenolics as organic carbon source.
- Application of anammox process for treating complex industrial wastewaters.
- Understanding the formation and stability of the aerobic granular biomass.
- Advanced microbiological tools to gain understanding on the previous biological processes
- Scaling-up of granular reactors for treating urban and/or industrial wastewaters.
TOP TEN PUBLICATIONS
1. J. Carrera, J.A. Baeza, T. Vicent, J. Lafuente (2003). Biological nitrogen removal of high-strength ammonium industrial wastewater with two sludge system. Water Research 37, 4211-4221.
2. J. Carrera, T. Vicent, J. Lafuente (2004). Effect of influent COD/N ratio on biological nitrogen removal (BNR) from high-strength ammonium industrial wastewater. Process Biochemistry 39, 2035-2041.
3. I. Jubany, J.A. Baeza, J. Carrera, J. Lafuente (2005). Respirometric calibration and validation of a biological nitrite oxidation model including biomass growth and substrate inhibition. Water Research 39, 4574-4584.
4. A. Guisasola, S. Petzet, J.A. Baeza, J. Carrera, J. Lafuente (2007). Inorganic carbon limitations on nitrification: experimental assessment and modeling. Water Research 41, 277-286.
5. M. Martín-Hernández, J. Carrera, J. Pérez, M.E. Súarez-Ojeda (2009). Enrichment of a K-strategist microbial population able to biodegrade p-nitrophenol in a sequencing batch reactor. Water Research 43, 3871-3883.
6. I. Jubany, J. Lafuente, J.A. Baeza, J. Carrera (2009). Total and stable washout of nitrite oxidizing bacteria from a nitrifying continuous activated sludge system using automatic control based on Oxygen Uptake Rate measurements. Water Research 43, 2761-2772.
7. A. Bartrolí, J. Pérez, J. Carrera (2010). Applying ratio control in a continuous granular reactor to achieve full nitritation under stable operating conditions. Environmental Science & Technology 44, 8930-8935.
8. Z. Jemaat, M.E. Suárez-Ojeda, J. Perez, J. Carrera (2014). Partial nitritation and o-cresol removal with aerobic granular biomass in a continuous airlift reactor. Water Research 48, 354-362.
9. E. Isanta, C. Reino, J. Carrera, J. Pérez (2015). Stable partial nitritation for low-strength wastewater at low temperature in an aerobic granular reactor. Water Research 80, 149-158.
10. C. Reino, M.E. Suárez-Ojeda, J. Pérez, J. Carrera (2016). Kinetic and microbiological characterization of aerobic granules performing partial nitritation of a low-strength wastewater at 10 ºC. Water Research 101, 147-156.
LINKS
Thesis:http://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/5299