SHORT SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC LIFE

Dr. María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda (Caracas, 1975) is chemical engineer (Universidad Simón Bolívar, 1999). She also hold a MSc. in Chemical Engineering (Dissertation with honours: “Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium of Ternary Mixtures of Polar Liquids Using Molecular Simulation”, Universidad Simón Bolívar, 2001) and a PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2006) with the thesis entitled “Catalytic wet air oxidation coupled with an aerobic biological treatment to deal with industrial wastewater” awarded with Cum Laude, European Mention. During her PhD studies, she has also worked with Prof. Ian S. Metcalfe at the University of Manchester (Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences) performing Wet Air Oxidation Studies. Later, she did a post-doctoral stay with Prof. Liu Yu at Nayang Technlogical University (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering) focusing in granular biomass technologies applied for industrial wastewater treatment.

María Eugenia’s research is devoted to the biological treatment of industrial wastewater and to the recovery of valuable materials from wastewater treatment as follows:

• Biological treatment of industrial wastewater, in particular, the one containing toxic and recalcitrant organic compounds using granular biomass.
• Nitrogen removal using two-steps systems based on partial nitrification and Anammox.
• Production of biopolymers using mixed cultures.
• Coupling of chemical oxidation methods and biological treatments.

Moreover, she is currently collaborating with Dr. Gara Villalba (Sostenipra) in the quantification of CH₄, H₂S and N₂O in municipal sewer networks to assess the carbon footprint of these infrastructures into the entire urban water cycle.

As result of her research, she has participated in many national and international projects. She has contributed so far to the publication of 32 international peer-reviewed papers with a high impact factor. According to SCOPUS (22/10/15) she has 362 citations and a Hirsch index of 11 (h=11). She has supervised the PhD theses of Mariángel Martín and Zulkifly Jemaat. Currently, she is supervising 2 PhD students (Gabriela Montiel and Elena Eijo).

TOP TEN PUBLICATIONS

1. Long-term performance and stability of a continuous granular airlift reactor treating a high-strength wastewater containing a mixture of aromatic compounds. Author(s): C Ramos, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Carrera. Source: JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, accepted manuscript.
2. Long-term impact of salinity on the performance and microbial population of an aerobic granular reactor treating a high-strength aromatic wastewater. Author(s): C Ramos, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Carrera. Source: BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, Volume 198, Issue: December 2015, Pages 844-851. 
3. Municipal sewer networks as sources of nitrous oxide, methane and hydrogen sulphide emissions: A review and case studies. Author(s): E Eijo-Río, A Petit-Boix, G Villalba, ME Suárez-Ojeda, D Marin, MJ Amores, X Aldea, J Rieradevall, X Gabarrell. Source: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Volume 3, Issue: 3 (September 2015), Pages 2084-2094. 
4. Inhibition of the anammox activity by aromatic compounds. Author(s): C Ramos, I Fernández, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Carrera. Source: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, Volume 279, 1 Issue: November 2015, Pages 681-688.
5. Sequentially alternating pollutant scenarios of phenolic compounds in a continuous aerobic granular sludge reactor performing simultaneous partial nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation. Author(s): Z Jemaat, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Pérez, J Carrera. Source: BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY. Volume 161, Issue: June 2014, Pages: 354-361 Published: 2014.
6. Partial nitritation and o-cresol removal with aerobic granular biomass in a continuous airlift reactor. Author(s): Z Jemaat, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Pérez, J Carrera. Source: WATER RESEARCH. Volume: 48 Issue: January 2014 Pages: 354-362 Published: 2014.
7. Simultaneous nitritation and p-nitrophenol removal using aerobic granular biomass in a continuous airlift reactor. Author(s): Z Jemaat, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Pérez, J Carrera. Source: BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY. Volume 150 Issue: December 2013, Pages 307–313 Published: 2013.
8. Bioaugmentation for treating transient or continuous p-nitrophenol shock loads in an aerobic sequencing batch reactor. Author(s): M Martín-Hernández, ME Suárez-Ojeda, J Carrera. Source: BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY. Volume: 123 Issue November 2012 Pages 150-156, Published: 2012.
9. Catalytic wet air oxidation of a high strength p-nitrophenol wastewater over Ru and Pt catalysts: Influence of the reaction conditions on biodegradability enhancement. Author(s): M Martín-Hernández, J Carrera, ME Suárez-Ojeda, M Besson, C Descorme. Source: APPLIED CATALYSIS B: ENVIRONMENTAL Volume: 123–124 Issue July 2012 Pages: 141-150, Published: 2012.
10. Enrichment of a K-strategist microbial population able to biodegrade p-nitrophenol in a sequencing batch reactor. Author(s): M Martín-Hernández, J Carrera, J Pérez and ME Suárez-Ojeda. Source: WATER RESEARCH Volume: 43 Issue: 15 Pages: 3871-3883 Published: 2009.

LINKS

Thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/10803/8541

Personal webpage: http://blogs.uab.cat/mesuarezojeda/