Elvira Casas

I have more than 23 years of professional experience as a project manager at AINIA and 25 years of research experience in the development of processes based on operations related to chemical engineering, especially in the field of high-pressure technologies and supercritical fluids (especially CO2), covering everything from process development to industrial-scale up involving GMPs and technical-economic feasibility estimation, including facility design and training activities.

Among the main technological lines, the following stand out:

• Extraction and fractionation of various natural substances (vegetable oils, botanical extracts, essential oils and aromas, bioactive or functional fractions, etc.)
• Defatting of agri-food products
• Product improvement (decontamination, pesticide removal, fractionation, etc.)
• Material treatment and impregnation
• Micro/nanoencapsulation and particle production
• Others: integral use of by-products, biorefinery/bioindustries, etc.

• Chemical Engineer from the University of Valladolid
• D.E.A. in Process Engineering
• Complementary training in Environmental Impact Assessment

• Obtaining natural substances through supercritical fluid processes (FEDER 1-FD97-0724, UVA, Mª José Cocero Alonso, 2000-2001)
• Development of Biotechnology in the Agri-food Sector. Development of supercritical crystallization methodology (AINIA, 2002)
• Development of Biotechnology in the Agri-food Sector. Study of the effectiveness of the microbubble technique (AINIA, 2002-2003)
• Development of Biotechnology in the Agri-food Sector. Application of supercritical carbon dioxide to the encapsulation of bioproducts (AINIA, 2003-2004)
• Development of Biotechnology in the Agri-food Sector. Study of enzymatic reactions with carbon dioxide under supercritical conditions as a reaction medium (AINIA, 2003-2004)
• Extraction and Treatment Technologies in food industries. Specialization in supercritical fluids (AINIA, 2004)
• Study of reaction technology in supercritical medium (AINIA, 2004)
• Obtaining and Characterization of Natural Antimicrobial Agents, Antagonists of Emerging Pathogens (AINIA, FIT-010000-2006-50, 2006)
• Microencapsulation of sensitive substances through GRAS processes with supercritical fluids (AINIA, 2005-2007)
• Modelling and optimization of supercritical extraction at laboratory and pilot scale from dehydrated plant materials. (AINIA, UPV, UVEG, AGL2005-08093-C02-02/ALI, 2006-2008)
• DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING OF A PROTOTYPE FOR THE USE OF ULTRASOUND IN SUPERCRITICAL MEDIA. PETRI (No. 95-0975.OP.03, 2005-2007)
• Feasibility Study of the Application of Supercritical Fluid Technology to the Treatment of Nanoclays for Their Use in Improved Polymeric Nanocomposites (FIT-030000-2006-133, AINIA 2006-2007)
• BIOACTIVE: Assessment and dissemination of strategies for the extraction of bioactive compounds from tomato, olive, and grape processing residues (2006-2008)
• DEVELOPMENT AND OBTAINING OF INNOVATIVE MATERIALS WITH ORIENTED NANOTECHNOLOGY (DOMINO), collaboration with company in CENIT project, 2007-2010)
• TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE (ACUISOST), collaboration with company in CENIT project (2007-2010)
• CONTRIBUTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO THE OBTAINING OF FUTURE FOODS (FUTURAL), collaboration with companies in CENIT project (2007-2010)
• Microencapsulation of food additives (AINIA, 2007-2008)
• Study of the effect of power ultrasound on mass transfer processes. Improvement of extraction processes with dense gases (DPI2009-14549-C04-03) Ministry of Science and Innovation, CSIC, UPV, UIB and AINIA (2009-2011).
• Application of supercritical fluid technology in the impregnation of polymeric substrates (CIT-020000-2009-2), Ministry of Science and Innovation, AITEX and AINIA, 2009-2010)
• Strengthening the immune system through immunostimulant compounds from microalgae. INMUGAL (PID-580000-2009-1; Ministry of Science and Innovation; AINIA INBIOTEC, LEIA and AZTI, 2009-2011)
• Incorporation of metallic nano-oxides into stainless steels and polymers to improve their hygienic condition (PID-560630-2009-13; Ministry of Science and Innovation; ITMA, AINIA and CIDAUT; 2009-2010)

• 6th International Symposium on Supercritical Fluids (*ISFF 2003*, poster)
• 4^th European Congress of Chemical Engineering (*ECCE 2003*, poster)
• 3rd Spanish Congress of Food Engineering (*CESIA 2004*, 3 posters)
• *The Role of Supercritical Fluid Technology in Pharmaceutical/Nutraceutical/Food Processing*, ITQB/IBET (2005, oral contribution)
• 2nd Meeting of Experts in Compressed Fluid Technologies (National FLUCOMP Network), 2005, oral presentation
• 4th Congress of Food Engineering and Technology (*CESIA 2006*, poster)
• 6th International Congress of Chemistry of **ANQUE** – *Chemistry and Sustainable Development* (2006, oral contribution)
• 5th International Symposium on High Pressure Processes and Chemical Engineering (*5ISCEPP 2007*, oral presentation)
• 11th European Meeting on Supercritical Fluids – *New Perspectives in Supercritical Fluids: Nanoscience, Materials and Processing* (International Society for the Advancement of Supercritical Fluids) (*EMSF 2008*, 2 posters)
• Spanish Congress of Food Engineering 2008 (*CESIA/CIBSA 2008*, oral presentation and poster)
• 3rd Meeting of Experts FLUCOMP (2009, oral presentation)

• Technical Wine Conference (CCAE), 2008, oral presentation

• FLUCOMP (Iberian Association of Compressed Fluids)

• Casas E., Martín J., Tomás-Cobos L., García-Reverter J., Villa-Carvajal M. “Marine natural product bioprospecting: Screening and production bioprocess development of novel bioactive compounds”. Journal of Biotechnology 131S (S211–S241), 2007.07.428 (2007)