LAURA NATHALIA MORA
Laura Nathalia has been an ITPS member since February 2026. She is currently a PhD candidate at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, where she has been developing her doctoral work since 2023 within the SLUDGE4MAT&WATER project. She carries out her PhD as a member of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Research Group (GIQA). Her academic background in Chemistry has allowed her to gain experience in fields such as environmental chemistry, waste valorisation, materials science and chemical Technology. In 2023, she also contributed as a research assistant in the Electrochar project, working on the evaluation of hydrochar-based materials for their electrochemical application in carbon inks.
Her PhD research focuses on the integral valorisation of the refinery sludge through the synthesis of hydrochar-derived materials for their application in catalytic wet oxidation (CWAO) processes for industrial wastewater treatment. By studying different hydrothermal carbonization conditions, her work aims to identify the key parameters affecting hydrochar production and functionalization. These materials, obtained from hydrochar, have the potential to replace conventional catalysts and promote internal resource reuse, contributing to circular economic strategies and reducing the generation of hazardous waste. As part of her scientific achievements, Laura Nathalia is the first author of the recently published article "A Sustainable Approach to Waste Treatment: Activated Hydrochars for Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation of Hydrothermal Carbonisation Effluent", coauthored with M.I. Pariente, Y. Segura, J.L. Díaz de Tuesta, R. Molina and F. Martínez.
Previously, Laura Nathalia worked in the industrial sector, first as a laboratory analyst in Palma Industry (Colombia), performing quality control in palm oil extraction processes and monitoring key parameters in industrial wastewater treatment systems, including the operation of oxidation lagoons. Later, she joined Dura Europe in Spain, where she worked as a laboratory analyst managing product quality and coordinating sample logistics across Europe. She subsequently transitioned to the R&D department of the same company, where she formulated and optimized new metallic catalyst driers for paints and supported their industrial scale-up.
Regarding her academic training, Laura Nathalia holds a Bachelor´s degree in Chemistry from Universidad Santo Tomás (2015), where she carried out a research project on the valorisation of essential oils from endemic aromatic plants for the biological control of Aedes aegypti funded by Colciencias. She later completed a master's degree in chemical science and technology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2020), conducting her master thesis on the synthesis of an enzymatic biosensor for the electrochemical detection of primary alcohols.
Research profiles:
Keywords:
Activated-hydrochar, water process, refinery sludge, orange peel biomass; advanced oxidation process CWAO, hydrothermal carbonization process, detection of micro-contaminants
