MIGUEL MACÍAS VILLASEVIL
Since January 2024, I have held the position of Research and Teaching Staff at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and am currently a PhD student at the university's International Doctoral School, enrolled in the Industrial Technologies program with a predoctoral research grant (PREDOC20). My research focuses on the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass to obtain value-added products, using techniques such as HPLC, GC, XRD, ICP-OES, FTIR, TEM, and TPR. From October to December 2023, I completed my Master's Thesis on the transformation of furfural into 1,5-pentanediol via catalytic transfer hydrogenation, synthesizing heterogeneous metal catalysts on carbon-based supports and applying techniques like FTIR, XRD, ICP-OES, surface property analysis, and gas chromatography. Between October 2022 and October 2023, I was a recipient of the INVESTIGO Program from the Community of Madrid, working as a research assistant at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos on hemicellulose valorization through oxidation and hydrogenation reactions using heterogeneous catalysts. In July 2022, I completed my Bachelor's Thesis on glucose isomerization to fructose in fixed-bed reactors using commercial basic resins, including the design of industrial-scale equipment. From June to September 2022, I received the Beca INTRO from the Sociedad Española de Catálisis (SECAT) to conduct glucose-to-fructose isomerization experiments using ion-exchange resins in fixed-bed reactors. From February to May 2022, I undertook external research training at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), in the Instituto de Química Orgánica General (IQOG), within the Catalysis and Systems Chemistry group, focusing on hydroarylation of alkenes for aniline functionalization.
Research Profiles:
Keywords:
Biomass, furfural, monomers
