UNIDAD DE APLICACIONES SOLARES TÉRMICAS

Research interest

Lidia Roca scientific career is focused on modelling, control and optimization of systems powered by solar thermal energy, especially solar thermal desalination such as multi-effect distillation and membrane distillation. Her scientific interest is to make the solar thermal applications more competitive by applying appropriate control techniques and provide scientific culture to society.

Track record

She received the academic degree in Electronic Engineering by the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Granada (2004), Master's in Solar Energy by the University of Almería (2007) and the PhD. degree in the University of Almería (2009), granted by the Extraordinary Doctorate Award in Engineering. Currently she belongs to the Solar Thermal Applications Unit at the Plataforma Solar de Almería. She has published 41 papers in scientific journals with impact index, 43 contributions to international conferences and 2 books. She has been involved in 17 national and international R&D projects.

Research interest

Her main research lines are: the Modelling and Simulation of Concentrated Solar Power and Desalination (CSP+D) plants, high-efficient MED plants coupled with pretreatments that remove bivalent ions to increase the operation temperature of MED, integration of MED plants with thermal-vapor compression into high temperature power cycles of solar central towers and water saving in CSP plants by the use of hybrid cooling methods. She has participated as a researcher in 17 international projects, 3 national projects and 8 reserach contracts.

Track record

Since 2014 she works as postdoctoral researcher at the Solar Thermal Applications Unit at PSA. She is author of 2 books and of 3 book chapters. She is co-author of 42 papers in SCI journals and 4 publications in technical journals and she has presented 50 contributions to different International Conferences. She has directed 2 doctoral thesis and has 1 currently ongoing. She has directed 3 Master Thesis and 1 Degree Final Project. H-index (June 2022): 20.

Research interest

Alba Ruiz-Aguirre has developed her research activity in the line Solar Treatment of Water with Cutting Edge Technologies, specifically: i) membrane distillation for decentralized desalination; ii) applications of solar-powered membrane technology to the recovery of valuable compounds iii) production of sustainable fuels and chemical compounds from wastewater in reduction photocatalytic atmospheres.

Track record

Alba Ruiz-Aguirre completed her PhD (extraordinary award) (2017) at University of Almería (UAL) with a predoctoral contract UAL-PSA. She was subsequently hired by the University of Palermo (2017-2019). Since 2020, she has been working as a researcher at PSA thanks to obtaining several competitive contracts (JdC, PAIDI and permanent position). A date of 2024, she has participated in a total of 5 national and 10 international R&D projects. The transfer of her knowledge has been done by publishing 25 articles in indexed articles, 1 book and 4 book chapters. She is currently supervising 1 PhD Dissertation (2021-2025).

Research interest

Alejandro Bueso Sánchez graduated in Industrial Chemical Engineering from the University of Almeria in 2016. He then obtained a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Universities of Almeria, Cadiz and Malaga in 2018. Between 2019 and 2020 he was hired by Sacyr to support the R&D department. In 2022, he obtained his Master's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Almeria.

Track record

Since 2022 he has started his research activity at CIEMAT-Plataforma Solar de Almería, where he is currently a PhD student in Biotechnology and Industrial Bioprocesses, researching desalination systems using solar membrane distillation for brine treatment.

Research interest

The scientific activity he performs is related with the start-up, operation, modelling, and energy optimization of pilot-scale solar desalination systems based on membrane distillation for obtaining fresh water and valuable brines. As PhD student, he has participated in the R+D European projects ReWaCEM, REDHtP, ZCR, STAGE-STE and SFERA-II. Since 2020, as postdoctoral researcher, he is part of the scientific team of the H2020 projects INDIA-H2O, WaterMining, and SFERA-III, and also participates in Subtask A (“Thermally driven water separation technologies and recovery of valuable resources”) of the International Energy Agency Task 62 (“Solar Energy in Industrial Water & Wastewater”).

Track record

Since 2014, he is part of the Solar Thermal Applications Unit at CIEMAT-PSA. He has published 14 papers and 2 book chapters, with 317 citations registered in Scopus, and H-index = 8 (June 2022). He has taken part in 29 contributions to international conferences and is currently one of the main authors worldwide in his field of study, according to Scopus.

Research interest

With a background in Mechanical Engineering (BSc, 2019) and Industrial Engineering (MSc, 2024), he is currently pursuing a PhD at CIEMAT – Plataforma Solar de Almería, focusing on advanced control strategies for solar thermal applications and water desalination systems. His previous research experience includes indoor drone navigation using SLAM and particle filters, Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) for energy consumption analysis, and the enhancement of sensor systems for sports performance, including the development of a patented force measurement platform.

Track record

Research interest

Robinson Ramírez studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technological University of Pereira in Colombia (2022) and a Master in Solar Energy at the University of Almería (2024) with a scholarship from the Carolina Foundation. He recently obtained a pre-doctoral contract at CIEMAT-PSA to study different desalination technologies, focusing on the characterisation of membrane distillation pilot plants for brine concentration and zero liquid discharge.

Track record