SHORT SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC LIFE

Aloia Barreiro López (Noia, A Coruña, 1992) is a chemical engineer (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela,2014) and MSc in Biological and Environmental Engineering (UAB, 2016). Her Master Thesis is focused on the design, construction, start-up and operation of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to remove organic matter at low solids retention time (SRT). This research is included in a global project (DESDEMONA) about the development of an energy self-sufficient Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) through the implementation of autotrophic nitrogen removal in the mainstream and of phosphorus recovery. The carbon removal at low SRT increases the biodegradable organic matter contained in the sludge with the aim to improve biogas production, leading to a successful energy recovery. Moreover, this operation generates an effluent with nitrogen and without organic matter, which constitutes a good affluent for the autotrophic biological nitrogen removal (BNR).

Aloia’s current research interests are:

• Organic matter removal at low SRT in urban wastewater treatment plants
• Energy self-sufficient Waste Water Treatment Plant
• Improvement of the organic matter content in surplus sludge and increase of its anaerobic biodegradability
• Increase of the production of biogas