Esteban A. Brignole Award

University of São Paulo

Pedro de Alcântara Pessoa Filho is professor at the Chemical Engineering Department in the Engineering School of the University of São Paulo (USP) since 2003. He graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Campinas (1995), where he also completed his master's degree (1998) and doctorate (2002). In 2011 he became Associate Professor in Chemical Thermodynamics at USP, and in 2014 he was appointed full professor at the same university. In 2007-2008, he held a postdoctoral internship at the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany, in the group of Professor Gerd Maurer, and in 2013-2014 he was visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in the group of Professor John Prausnitz. His current main area of research is Phase Equilibrium Thermodynamics, with emphasis in the study of biomolecule purification processes and applications in other fields of knowledge, such as Petroleum and Food Engineering.

University of Aveiro

João Manuel Costa de Araújo Pereira Coutinho is a full professor at the Chemistry Department of University of Aveiro (UA) since 1997, and currently is the vice-director of CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials. He graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Porto (1992) and got his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (1995);  he was also a researcher at the Institut Français du Petrole, France (1996). He leads a multidisciplinary research group focused on the development of green solvents and novel separation processes for biorefinery and circular economy. His research areas include the exploration and fossil fuel transport, the production and formulation of biofuels, the characterization of non-conventional solvents for the development of new products and chemical processes, the characterization of biodegradable polymers, and biotechnology. Professor Coutinho is also interested in the production of biosurfactants.

National South University

Dr. Selva Pereda is Principal Researcher at the Argentinean National Research Council (CONICET) and Associate Professor at National South University. Her research field of interest is the thermodynamic modeling of complex systems and its application to process and product conceptual design for the development of biorefineries. In particular, her contributions are focused on the systematic application of thermodynamic tools to develop pressure-intensified technologies Her research activities fall into three main areas:

1. Conceptual design of products and processes for biorefinery development,

2. Phase equilibrium engineering, and

3. Pressure-intensified technologies (reactors, extraction, and fractionation) with noncontaminant condensed gases (supercritical fluids).

Her contributions to the calculation and prediction of thermodynamic properties of systems close to supercritical conditions and of mixtures related to biorefinery processes are significant and recognized worldwide.