Fernando Martinez Castillejo

Fernando Martinez Castillejo, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2003, UCM, Spain), has an extensive academic and research background. He was a predoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB, USA) in 2001, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manchester (UMIST, UK) from 2004 to 2005, and at Rovira & Virgili University (URV, Tarragona, Spain) in 2006. Since 2018, he has been a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Head of the Chemical and Environmental Technology Department at URJC. His expertise lies in the removal of biorecalcitrant and toxic pollutants through catalytic advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), biological processes utilizing anaerobic purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB), fungal consortia, and constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery. Additionally, he works on photo-bioelectrochemical methods for converting CO2 into high-value products, the valorization of biowastes into biofuels and high-value bioproducts, and the preparation of materials such as catalysts, electrodes, and adsorption materials for environmental applications.

Dr. Martinez Castillejo has been involved in numerous R&D projects funded by public administrations and has collaborated extensively with the industrial sector. He is the co-author of the patent ADVANSIST with Aqualia FCC, which focuses on the treatment and valorization of wastewater to obtain high-value products using anaerobic purple phototrophic bacteria. Currently, he leads several projects, including SLUD4MAT&WATER (PID2021-122883OB-I00; https://www.slud4matwater.es/) and VALPIG4FOOD (TED2021-129595B-I00; https://www.valpigforfood.es/), which are related to the valorization of oily refinery sludge and piggery wastes. He also contributes to the UPGRES project (treatment of residual aqueous streams in the production of sustainable fuels by upgrading digestate and stillage residues through the integration of thermochemical, catalytic, and biotechnological processes; PLEC2021-007761; https://upgresproject.com) and DEEP PURPLE (pre-conditioning and transformation methods of biowastes - organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge; H2020-BBI-JTI-2018; Reference: 837998; https://deep-purple.eu/). For over 12 years, he has coordinated the regional REMTAVARES network in Madrid, focusing on novel technologies for industrial wastewater treatment and the removal of emerging pollutants in urban wastewater. Dr. Martinez Castillejo has published over 100 JCR-indexed documents with high field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) in top international journals, book chapters and supervised 8 Doctoral Thesis, 2 Marie Curie Intra European Fellowships, and more than 40 final degrees and master Theses in different engineering Degrees at URJC. 

Research profiles: 

URL Web: https://gestion2.urjc.es/pdi/ver/fernando.castillejo

Keywords: Carbon-based materials; Metallic Organic Famework (MOF) Materials; Advanced Oxidation Processes, Photobiolectrochemical Systems, Wastewater Treatment; Sludge Valorization; CO2 Conversion; Bioproducts; Circular Bioeconomy; Environmental Catalysis.