Fitxa persona

Dr. Carlos Silvestre López graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Valencia (UV) in 2019, receiving the Extraordinary Prize for the best academic record of his cohort (29 Honours distinctions), the Best Academic Record Prize from the National Council of Industrial Engineering Colleges of Spain (COGITI), and the National End-of-Degree Prize in Engineering and Architecture (academic year 2018–2019), awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. He subsequently obtained his MSc in Chemical Engineering from UV (2020) with 6 Honours distinctions, also receiving the Extraordinary Master's Prize and the Best Academic Record Prize from the Official College of Chemical Engineers of the Valencian Community (COIQCV). Through a competitive Ministry of Education Collaboration Grant, he joined the Environmental Engineering Research Group (GI²AM, UV), where he carried out his MSc thesis on the enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw as part of the project "Improved biobutanol production from lignocellulosic residues" (CTM2017-88042-R), contributing to the optimisation of the saccharification stage of lignocellulosic biomass.

He subsequently continued at GI²AM as a doctoral researcher, funded by two consecutive competitive fellowships: the regional VALI+D grant (Generalitat Valenciana) and the national FPU 2020 grant (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities). In 2026 he obtained his PhD in Chemical, Environmental and Process Engineering from UV, with International Mention and cum laude distinction, for his thesis "Development and Technical-Economic Assessment of an Integrated Process for the Production of Biobutanol from Rice Straw". His doctoral research addressed the full development of advanced ABE (acetone–butanol–ethanol) fermentation processes, combining cell immobilisation strategies, in-situ product recovery, and techno-economic evaluation of a full-scale biorefinery. His International Mention was supported by a research stay at LBE-INRAE (France), funded through the competitive FPU Mobility Grant (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities).