Iker Agirrezabal-Telleria

Biography

I studied the B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, Spain. In 2006 I collaborated with Proces Groningen in the Netherlands in biogas-related research areas, where I worked as part-time chemical engineer until 2008. In 2009 I finished my M. Sc. studied in Chemical Engineering at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. I stayed for one year at the group of Prof. Melian-Cabrera´ to research on mesoporous materials. This period also enabled to go for an internship in a project with Nedmag BV for six months on MgO production optimization.

In 2010 I started the PhD studies at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao under the supervision of Prof. Arias. Research focused on the design of heterogeneous acid-catalysis and novel stripping processes to produce furfural from carbohydrates. In 2012 I stayed for 12 months at Humboldt University Berlin under Prof. Kemnitz collaboration to research on the use of fluorinated catalysts to optimize furfural production. I finished my PhD work in June 2013 with cum laude qualification and international merits.

From July 2013 to March 2014 I stayed at Prof. Arias´ group as postdoc to develop new catalyst regeneration methods using oxidative conditions. This period permitted to learn novel catalyst regeneration methodologies using mild oxidation procedures applied to biomass derived catalysts. Moreover, new concepts using heterogeneous catalysts were also developed.

In April 2014 I started a three-year postdoc period under the supervision of Prof. Iglesia at University of California Berkeley (USA) on oligomerization and metathesis reactions to olefins such as propene or butenes. This period was first financed through 1 year with a Postdoctoral Grant from the Basque Government, and in April 2015 I started with a Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship in Berkeley. In April 2017 I returned back to the University of the Basque Country to start the return period studying the scaling-up of olefin dimerization conditions under stable Ni-site conditions.

In April 2020 I obtained an Associate Professor position in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain. Research tasks involve various chemical engineering processes related to biomass conversion or petrochemical fractions within the Supren research group. I am the coordinator of 2 European Projects (EIC-Pathfinder and MSCA Doctoral Networks), 1 participant in CL5 projects and leader of 2 national research projects.