Advances and Applications of Partitioning Bioreactors

Sergio Huerta-Ochoa (PhD, 1993, Reading University, UK) has been part of the Staff of the Biotechnology Department during 35 years at "Autónoma Metropolitana" University in Mexico City. He spent a sabbatical year (2007-2008) as an Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London, UK. His expertise is mainly focused on engineering of bioconversion processes using whole-cells in partitioning bioreactors. He is Co-author of 48 papers in indexed international journals (h index 14, Scopus-Elsevier, May 2017) and supervised up to 13 MSc and 5 PhD theses. One of these PhD theses titled "Study of mass transfer, kinetic and deactivation of a three phase partitioning bioreactor using whole cells" won the Alfredo Sánchez Marroquín 2015 award by the Mexican Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (SMBB). He is awarded with the "Level II" membership of the National Researchers System of Mexico (SNI), and Member of the Mexican Academy of Science since 2014.

Carlos O. Castillo-Araiza is full-time professor joined in 2010 to the Group of Chemical Engineering from the Department of Hydraulic and Process Engineering at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico. Castillo-Araiza previously had a two-year postdoctoral position at the Laboratory for Chemical Technology at Ghent University, Belgium; his research, in collaboration with the Shell Technology Center- Houston, United States, related to a multidisciplinary project applied to understand and describe the performance of industrial reactors for the epoxidation of ethylene. Castillo-Araiza obtained his Master Degree and Doctoral Degree in Chemical Engineering from Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico. During his Postgraduate Education, Castillo-Araiza moved to a research stay at the Department of Chemical Engineering from Penn State University, United States. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering at Ecatepec Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico. Castillo-Araiza also had one-year research stay at Mexican Petroleum Institute, Mexico. Castillo-Araiza has directed since 2013 the Laboratory of Reactor Engineering Applied to Chemical and Biological Systems (LRE). Two postdoctoral fellows, eight Ph.D. students, five master students, and five bachelor students are currently involved in the research carried out in this Laboratory. Activities in the LRE focus on the application of reactor engineering to energetically and environmentally friendly processes. The investigation of catalytic reactor engineering integrating the fundamentals of thermodynamics, kinetics, transport phenomena, and applied mathematics is the core of the research in the LRE. Castillo-Araiza has been a guest scientist in the Imperial College London, KU Leuven, and Papalopan University. He has co-authored around 40 articles published in indexed international journals and around 60 conference papers. He has, besides, been actively involved in the training of undergraduates and postgraduates graduating hitherto 3 Ph.D., 15 MESc and 11 bachelor students. Castillo-Araiza has been guest editor of several volumes of the International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering. He has also been involved in promoting important technical events: the International Energy Conference held in 2015 and 2017. Since 2009, Castillo-Araiza has been part of the National Researchers System of Mexico.

Guillermo Quijano holds an MSc degree in Biotechnology from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico) and a PhD in Biotechnology and Bioengineering from Cinvestav, the center for advanced studies of the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico. Guillermo performed postdoctoral research in the School of Chemistry of Rennes (ENSCR) and the Ecole des mines d'Alès (EMA) in France. From 2011 to 2016, Guillermo performed his lecturing and research activity in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology of the University of Valladolid (Spain). Guillermo is currently a senior researcher at the Engineering Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His research focuses on (i) the treatment of gas, liquid and solid pollutants by means of biotechnologies and (ii) the production, purification and enrichment of gaseous biofuels.