Silvia Lasala
Assistant Professor at Université de Lorraine
ENSIC – LRGP
silvia.lasala@univ-lorraine.fr
Silvia Lasala, the principal investigator of the project REACHER, is currently associate professor at University of Lorraine, working as a teacher at the chemical engineering school ENSIC (École Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques) and as a researcher at the laboratory LRGP (Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés) in France.
In 2016, she got her Ph.D. at “Politecnico di Milano” (Italy) with a thesis aiming at improving the thermodynamic modelling of CO2-based streams in CO2-capture-and-storage systems. During her PhD, she also worked on the design and characterization of working fluids for thermodynamic power and refrigeration cycles. Then, she carried out a postdoc at LRGP (France) investigating the kinetics and thermodynamics of liquefying hydrogen and researching over the possible use of inert and – novel – reactive working fluids in power and trigeneration plants.
Philippe Arnoux has been a chemical analysis engineer for 20 years, first for 8 years at the University of Metz and since 2010 at the CNRS (Laboratoire Reactions et Génie des Procédés – LRGP). He first developed skills in chromatography (ion, gaseous and high-performance liquid) as well as spectrometry. His recruitment at the CNRS allowed him to promote these skills and develop new ones, particularly in the field of spectroscopy (absorption, fluorescence, infrared, Raman). Philippe Arnoux is responsible for analytical techniques (static and time-resolved fluorescence, phosphorescence) in photodynamic therapy, a curative treatment modality for small cancerous tumors.
With a team of researchers from the “Kinetics and Thermodynamics for Energy” team of the LRGP (CITHERE), he is strongly involved in the European project evaluating the impact of biofuels on the oxidation stability and combustion of aviation fuels (ERC Consolidator BioSCoPe). This project evaluates the oxidation products of model fuels (alcohols, aldehydes, hydroperoxides, …) by Raman spectrometry.
Within REACHER, his main role is to contribute to the analysis of the results obtained by Raman spectrometry and to the design and assembly of the experimental pilot that will integrate Raman probes at the strategic points of the machine.
Philippe Arnoux
Chemical analysis engineer at CNRS
LRGP
philippe.arnoux@univ-lorraine.fr
Aya Barakat
Ph.D. student at Université de Lorraine
aya.barakat@univ-lorraine.fr
Aya Barakat is a PhD candidate at LRGP where she has been pursuing her research since October 2021. She earned her Bacelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese American University in 2020, followed by a Master’s degree in Energy from Paris Sciences et Lettre (PSL) University in 2021.
Her doctoral research contributes to Work Package 2 of REACHER, focusing on the effects of utilising chemically reactive working fluids in thermodynamic cycles. Specifically, she explores a wide range of theoretical reactive gaseous mixtures based on dissociation/association equilibrated chemical reactions, considering Brayton and Stirling power cycles and heat pumps.
David Brunelllo has been an electronics and instrumentation engineer for over 15 years. He first worked at the Laboratoire de Physique des Solides in Orsay, until 2013, where he designed several original experimental devices, based on microcontroller techniques and their control from a LabVIEW interface. He taught Instrumentation Computing at the IUT of Orsay and at CNRS. Since 2013, he has been working at the Laboratoire Réactions et Génies des Procédés in Nancy, where he is the leader of the laboratory’s electronic instrumentation department (SIEL). His job consists firstly in designing the electronics used to control experiments for all the laboratory’s researchers, secondly in monioring its implementation in SIEL department and finally in creating the control programme in LabVIEW software.
In the project REACHER, his task is to design the pilot control electrical box, by using some devices like a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Variable Frequency Drive (VFD), and by creating the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software.
David Brunello
Leader of the Laboratory Instrumentation and Electronics Department at LRGP
LRGP
david.brunello@univ-lorraine.fr
Julien Joliat
Postdoctoral researcher at University of Lorraine
LRGP
julien.joliat@univ-lorraine.fr
Julien Joliat holds a Master’s degree in Numerical Physics where he developed skills in programming, high-performance computing and theoretical physics. Building on this foundation, he pursued and completed his PhD in Molecular Physics in December 2023 at the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté. His doctoral research focused on using Monte Carlo simulations to model, at the molecular scale, the selective trapping of small molecules at ice surfaces and within clathrate hydrates. Through this work, Julien gained significant expertise in molecular simulations and thermodynamics.
In the REACHER project, Julien’s role involves calculating the thermodynamic properties of the molecules involved in the project’s designed chemical reactions, determining the thermodynamic properties of the reactions themselves, and ensuring that all developed thermodynamic codes are accessible and usable by other researchers.
Rachid Hadjadj is a postdoctoral researcher at the LRGP (Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés) since June 2023. He is working on the ERC REACHER project.
He is a PhD graduate in computational chemistry from the institute of chemistry of the University of Miskolc in Hungary, with a chemical/process engineering background. He successfully defended his PhD thesis in January 2021 as a beneficiary of a scholarship financed by the Hungarian state. His thesis was focused on Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). He had the opportunity to study molecular networks for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to methanol using a computational chemistry approach. Then, he carried out his research at the same institute working on multiple projects related to carbon dioxide reduction, polyurethane chemistry and atmospheric chemistry.
In the project REACHER, his task consists in the definition of a reaction design methodology for the athomatized development of reactive working fluids
Rachid Hadjadj
Postdoctoral researcher at University of Lorraine
LRGP
rachid.hadjadj@univ-lorraine.fr
Olivier Herbinet
Associate Professor at Université de Lorraine
ENSIC – LRGP
olivier.herbinet@univ-lorraine.fr
Olivier Herbinet is Associate Professor at University of Lorraine (Nancy, France) since 2007 and performed research at the Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés. His research activities are in the area of energy management and more especially in the field of biofuels and e-fuels. He is a specialist in the use of continuous flow reactors (e.g., jet-stirred reactors and flow tube reactors) for the study of gas phase reactions (oxidation and pyrolysis) of organic compounds, using a wide range of diagnostics from gas chromatography to mass spectrometry with ionization using synchrotron radiation.
He was involved in the ERC Clean-ICE (Detailed chemical kinetic models for cleaner internal combustion engines) from 2008 to 2013, then in the H2020 European project Improof (improvement of the energy efficiency of steam cracking furnaces fed with bio-oil or biogas) from 2016 to 2020 and in the H2020 European project EHLCATHOL (chemical transformation of enzymatic hydrolysis lignin (EHL) with catalytic solvolysis to fuel commodities under mild conditions) since 2020. These studies led to 96 peer-reviewed publications. He was vice leader of the Working Package 1 of the Cost Action Smartcats from 2015 to 2019.
Within REACHER, his main role is to contribute to the design of reactive fluids and to their kinetic and thermodynamic characterization of the reactive fluids to be discovered in the project.
Luis Pinilla Monsalve is a Ph.D. student at University of Lorraine since March 2024.
He obtained his chemical engineering degree in February 2023 under a double degree agreement between the Universidad Industrial de Santander (Bucaramanga, Colombia) and École Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques (Nancy, France).
After a brief industrial experience as a process design engineer in an oil refinery in the south of France, he started his Ph.D. in the REACHER project with the objective of optimizing the architecture of thermodynamic cycles operating with reactive fluids.
Luis Angel PINILLA MONSALVE
Ph.D. student at Université de Lorraine
luis-angel.pinilla-monsalve@univ-lorraine.fr
Sérgio Vilas Boas
Postdoctoral researcher at University of Lorraine
sergio-antonio.mendes-vilas-boas@univ-lorraine.fr
Sérgio Vilas Boas is a postdoctoral researcher at the LRGP (Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés) since November 2023. He is currently working on the ERC project REACHER.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in September 2023 under the cotutelle regime between the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and the State University of Campinas (Brazil). His Ph.D. work was focused on investigating alternative processes and technologies for separation of terpene mixtures. He has previous experience investigating thermophysical properties and phase equilibria of various systems through experimental and modeling approaches. He also had the opportunity to work with process simulation and design.
In the project REACHER, his main tasks are related to the calculation of thermodynamic properties required to design the reactive fluids as well as their characterization by Raman Spectroscopy.
Konstantin Samukov is a Ph.D. student at University of Lorraine, from the 1st of April 2022.
After specializing in “Fundamental and Applied Chemistry”, at Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), in the period 2015-2021, he started his Ph.D. thesis on the project REACHER. The main objective of the thesis is to develop a computational tool for the prediction of the thermodynamic properties and transformations of inert and reactive multiphase mixtures.
Konstantin Samukov
Ph.D. student at University of Lorraine
konstantin.samukov@univ-lorraine.fr