Si l@s estudiantes universitari@s no eligen ingenierías que las ingenierías vayan al colegio

La pandemia provocada por el virus SARS-CoV-2 ha puesto de manifiesto la imperiosa necesidad de construir una sociedad basada en el conocimiento. Otros grandes retos sociales como son revertir el cambio climático y la conservación y/o recuperación del entorno natural hacen énfasis en la necesidad de un desarrollo sostenible e igualitario. En este sentido es necesario concienciar a las nuevas generaciones del papel primordial que deben jugar las ingenieras e ingenieros en el desarrollo futuro como motores de ese cambio necesario. Sin embargo, el número de estudiantes de ingenierías disminuye paulatinamente, siendo además profesiones copadas mayoritariamente por hombres. En el presente proyecto se plantea ir a colegios e institutos de la Comunidad de Madrid a realizar actividades que pongan de manifiesto lo que la ingeniería puede hacer por la sociedad, presentado por los y las estudiantes de ingeniería química de la UCM que servirán de referentes tanto femeninos como masculinos para las generaciones venideras

TFG en Ingeniería Química: Un trampolín al mercado laboral

En este proyecto de innovación docente, se pretende mejorar la empleabilidad de los estudiantes tras la realización del Trabajo Fin de Grado e incrementar la motivación de los mismos por el emprendimiento. Para ello, han realizado actividades por parte de agentes provenientes de la Industria Química y expertos en emprendimiento y herramientas digitales

Lab at home: prácticas de Ingeniería Química en tiempos de confinamiento

En este proyecto de innovación docente se han desarrollado prácticas de laboratorio de dos asignaturas del Grado en Ingeniería Química, Ingeniería Térmica y Operaciones de Separación, para así garantizar la experimentalidad en situaciones de docencia no presencial empleando materiales cotidianos e instalaciones confeccionadas por impresión 3D, que podrán ser empleadas por los estudiantes en situación de confinamiento

Practicando Ingeniería Química: Prácticas colaborativas de bajo coste para grupos numerosos

Elaboración de un catálogo de prácticas de laboratorio de bajo coste para trabajar los fundamentos de ingeniería química con grupos numerosos, usando metodologías activas de aprendizaje para incrementar la motivación de los estudiantes.Depto. de Ingeniería Química y de MaterialesFac. de Ciencias QuímicasFALSEsubmitte

A Review of the Use of Eutectic Solvents, Terpenes and Terpenoids in Liquid–liquid Extraction Processes

Diverse and abundant applications of the eutectic solvents have appeared in the last years. Their promising tunable properties, eco-friendly character and the possibility of being prepared from numerous compounds have led to the publication of numerous papers addressing their use in different areas. Terpenes and terpenoids have been employed in the formulation of eutectic solvents, though they also have been applied as solvents in extraction processes. For their hydrophobic nature, renewable character, low environmental impact, cost and being non-hazardous, they have also been proposed as possible substitutes of conventional solvents in the separation of organic compounds from aqueous streams, similarly to hydrophobic eutectic solvents. The present work reviews the application of eutectic solvents in liquid–liquid extraction and terpenes and terpenoids in extraction processes. It has been made a research in the current state-of-the-art in these fields, describing the proposed applications of the solvents. It has been highlighted the scale-up feasibility, solvent regeneration and reuse procedures and the comparison of the performance of eutectic solvents, terpenes and terpenoids in extraction with conventional organic solvents or ionic liquids. Ultimately, it has been also discussed the employ of predictive methods in extraction, the reliability of thermodynamic models in correlation of liquid–liquid equilibria and simulation of liquid–liquid extraction processes

Sustainable Production of Furfural in Biphasic Reactors Using Terpenoids and Hydrophobic Eutectic Solvents

Furfural comes from lignocellulosic biomass that, together with its derived products, has many useful applications in several industries. Furfural is usually obtained via pentose dehydration using a biphasic reactor to extract furfural in situ from its reaction medium. However, the conventional solvents used so far, mainly toluene and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), are harmful to health and the environment. Therefore, hydrophobic natural solvents have been successfully tested in this work to improve the performance of the process from a sustainable point of view. First, 30 natural solvents were screened using the conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) method to select solvents with high affinity to furfural. From the results obtained in the screening, 14 natural and 2 conventional solvents were selected for experimentation, including thymol, eugenol, toluene, MIBK, and several hydrophobic eutectic solvents formed by thymol. Then, the liquid−liquid extraction of furfural was carried out both in vials and in a reactor, simulating the usual temperature and pH conditions for obtaining furfural. Thymol and eugenol showed extraction yields of 95 and 91%, significantly higher than those of conventional solvents MIBK and toluene, which were 85 and 81%, respectively. Finally, the in situ reaction and extraction of furfural from xylose were performed using the natural solvents eugenol and thymol and the conventional solvent MIBK. Under operating conditions, namely, microwave heating to 443.2 K, 10 min of reaction, and a solvent-to-feed ratio of 1.00, xylose conversion of 96.7%, furfural selectivity of 75.3%, and a furfural production yield of 72.8% from xylose were obtained using eugenol as the organic solvent, with improved outcomes over MIBK and thymol cases, pointing an adequate approach to improve both the effectiveness and the sustainability of the process

Lab at home: prácticas experimentales de Ingeniería Química en tiempos de pandemia

Depto. de Ingeniería Química y de MaterialesFac. de Ciencias QuímicasFALSEsubmitte