Welcome to New PDRA Dr Valentina Gogulancea

Valentina is a chemical engineer with expertise in mathematical modelling for environmental applications, based at Ulster University, in the Centre for Sustainable Technologies. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University Politehnica of Bucharest and has worked as a Research Associate on the EPSRC-funded Newcastle University Frontiers in Engineering Biology project.

As part of the Bryden centre based at Ulster University, Valentina’s research is focused on the processing of under-utilised biomass and biomass wastes using thermo-, bio- and electro-chemical conversion technologies for energy generation. The main goal of her research project is to deliver a viable solution to the issue of biological waste disposal for farms, while also providing on-site heat and power co-generation.

Valentina’s work combines experimental and modelling approaches to evaluate the potential of several representative technologies (i.e. gasification, anaerobic digestion and electrolysis) and their coupling for optimal bio-energy production.

She is a member of the Environmental Biotechnology network as an early career researcher. In her free time, she enjoys a good murder mystery accompanied by a hearty cupper.