Dr Estefania Lopez-Quiroga MEng, MSc, Doctor Europaeus (European PhD)

Dr Estefania Lopez-Quiroga

School of Chemical Engineering
Lecturer in Model-Driven Formulation Engineering

Contact details

Email
e.lopez-quiroga@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr. Estefania Lopez-Quiroga is a Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Formulation Engineering.

Her research focuses on the development of digital manufacture processes and chains for formulated and/or structured products (e.g. foods, FMCG, pharma), by integrating novel modelling and computational tools with (bio)process engineering methods.

She is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes at the School of Chemical Engineering, and currently coordinates the Industry 4.0 themed modules for the MSc in Formulation Engineering.

Estefania is also an active member of the Food Engineering community, regularly participating in international conferences and engaging with industrial partners. She has received the IChemE Hutchison Medal 2020 for a publication assessing the sustainability of decentralised and distributed food manufacturing scenarios.

Qualifications

  • PhD/Europaeus Doctorate in Applied Mathematics.
  • MSc in Mathematical Engineering and Numerical Simulation.
  • MEng in Mining Engineering.

Biography

Estefania Lopez-Quiroga has a multidisciplinary background, with a MEng Mining in Engineering and a MSc in Mathematical Engineering and Numerical Simulation.

In 2009, Estefania joined the (Bio)Process Engineering Group (IIM - CSIC) as a PhD candidate fully funded by the Spanish Government (FPI scholarship). Her research there was linked to the FP7 EU project CAFE (Computer-Aided Food Engineering), which gave her the opportunity to spend part of her PhD as visiting student at the University of Manchester (School of Chemical Eng. and Analytical Sciences). She completed her thesis in 2014, receiving a Europaeus PhD (Cum Laude).

Also in 2014, Estefania was appointed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering (University of Birmingham). Her post was first associated to the EPSRC Centre for the Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains (CSEF), joining in 2019 the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Formulation Engineering.

Since November 2020, Estefania is a Lecturer at the School of Chemical Engineering, a position that is also associated to the EPSRC CDT in Formulation Engineering.

Teaching

Postgraduate

  • Measurements Sensors and Design of Experiments (module coordinator)
  • Industry 4.0 and Big Data (module coordinator)

Undergraduate

  • Plant Optimisation (3rd Year) (teaching support)
  • Research Project (4th Year) (as supervisor and co-supervisor)

Postgraduate supervision

Supervision of EngD projects in Formulation Engineering.

Research

Estefania’s research vision is to enable model-based, multiscale yet agile, digital tools that support the shift towards Industry 4.0 methods in Formulation Engineering applications.

She focuses on the integration of formulation engineering methods with mathematical and computational tools to characterise, control and optimise the manufacturing and performance of formulated and/or structured products (foods, pharmaceuticals, FMCG) and chains.

Her research interests cover:

  • the application of soft matter physics to the modelling of structuring processes: soft matter concepts provide a theoretical framework for the identification of relations between (micro)structure, product function and underlying physic phenomena, so they present potential in formulation engineering applications.
  • the use of reduced order methods to reduce the dimensionality and computational burden of small scale, physics-based models describing structuring processes, like for example crystallisation.
  • the development of semi-empirical and data-driven models to characterise the performance of formulated and structured products and estimate key processing/engineering parameters.
  • the coupling of product and process/plant scale using hybrid models.

Other activities

  • Member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
  • Member of the Society of Food Engineering (SOFE).

Publications

Selected Publications:

IChemE Hutchison Medal 2020: Almena, A., Fryer, P.F., Bakalis, S.,*Lopez-Quiroga, E. (2019). Centralized and distributed food manufacture: A modelling platform for technological, environmental and economic assessment at different production scales. Sustainable Production and Consumption 19:181-193. DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2019.03.001.

Ladha, A., Bakalis, S., Fryer, P.J., *Lopez-Quiroga, E. (2019), Mapping energy consumption in food manufacturing. Trends in Food Science and Technology 86: 270-280. DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2019.02.034.

Lopez-Quiroga, E. (2018). Reduced order methods for the solution of solidification phase-field models. IFAC-PapersOnLine 51(2): 637-642. DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.03.108.

Lopez-Quiroga, E., Wang, R., Gouseti, O., Fryer, P.J., *Bakalis, S. (2016), Crystallisation in high concentrated systems: a modeling approach.  Food and Bioproducts Processing 100, pp.525-534. DOI: 10.1016/j.fbp.2016.07.007.

Lopez-Quiroga, E., Antelo, L.T., *Alonso, A.A. (2012), Time-scale modelling and optimal control of freeze-drying. Journal of Food Engineering 111:655-666. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2012.03.001.

Full Publication Record.

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