Team

César Huiliñir Curío

Group director · Associate Professor

PhD in Engineering Sciences (Chemical Engineering), Universidad de Concepción · Industrial Civil Engineer, Universidad de La Frontera

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, director of G-Tech and of the PhD programme in Engineering Sciences. He holds a PhD in Engineering Sciences from Universidad de Concepción and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Technische Universität Berlin. For two decades he has worked on the biological treatment of water and waste, and on the mathematical modelling of the bioprocesses behind it: anaerobic digestion, nitrification and denitrification, sludge biodrying and organic-waste valorisation. He has led two Fondecyt and two Fondef projects, co-investigated six further Fondecyt grants, and supervised more than forty undergraduate theses, twelve master's theses and five doctorates.

• Anaerobic digestion
• Autotrophic denitrification
• Bioprocess modelling
• Natural zeolite
• Circular water economy

• 89 publications
• 24 h-index
• 1776 citations

Felipe A. Carreño López

Postdoctoral Researcher

PhD in Engineering Sciences, Universidad de los Andes · Chemical Civil Engineer, Universidad de Santiago de Chile

In Fondecyt Postdoctoral grant No. 3250412, which he leads, he studies how biofilm and elemental sulfur behave inside an autotrophic denitrification biofilter for groundwater. He simulates the reactor with computational fluid dynamics and contrasts the results with digital imaging, to work out what governs its performance: how flow moves between the particles, where biofilm grows and how the sulfur is consumed. He brings the group its modelling layer — CFD, residence time distributions, CFD–DEM coupling — that turns laboratory trials into design tools, with collaborations at the University of California, Davis and Universidad de Valladolid.

• CFD and OpenFOAM
• Biofilms in porous media
• Residence time distributions
• CFD–DEM coupling
• Digital twins of reactors

• 4 publications
• 2 h-index
• 30 citations

Cristóbal Gallardo Balladares

Lab manager

Chemical Civil Engineer, Universidad de Santiago de Chile

In the CORFO electrocoagulation project he is responsible for the pilot system treating industrial wastewater and brines, from its design and assembly through to daily operation. In the FONDEF sludge-dewatering project he coordinates the work: the schedule, the resources and the liaison with the partner company. He brings the group scale-up and commissioning —he is the one who takes a process from a laboratory trial to equipment that runs— and sustains the infrastructure every research line depends on: the physicochemical analyses, the equipment and reagents of each project, and the training of students and researchers in analytical methods and good laboratory practice.

• Electrocoagulation
• Chemical precipitation
• Industrial wastewater and brine treatment
• Pilot plants
• Laboratory management

Karina Roa Ruiz

Project engineer

PhD in Engineering Sciences (Materials Science and Engineering), Universidad de Santiago de Chile · Master's degree, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana · Chemical Civil Engineer, Universidad de Santiago de Chile

In the FONDEF sludge-dewatering project she evaluates pretreatment and micro-aeration strategies for secondary sludge: she measures how they affect the dewatering of the sludge, its physicochemical properties and the release of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus into the filtrate. She combines the monitoring of operational variables with chemical characterisation and performance analysis, and uses that to adjust the process conditions. She brings the group her background in materials science and engineering and in chemical engineering, which underpins the physicochemical characterisation of the sludge.

• Sludge micro-aeration
• Sludge dewatering
• Wastewater treatment
• Nitrogen and phosphorus
• Physicochemical characterisation

• 25 publications
• 13 h-index
• 583 citations

Judith Quezada Cáceres

PhD Student

PhD in Engineering Sciences (in progress), Universidad de los Andes · Biotechnology Engineer, Universidad de Santiago de Chile

PhD student in Engineering Sciences at Universidad de los Andes and a biotechnology engineer from Universidad de Santiago de Chile, holder of an ANID National Doctorate scholarship (2026 call). She is passionate about the water treatment line and is currently the doctoral thesis student on Fondecyt Regular No. 1260328.