Catalysis and Surface Processes

Juan Carlos Durán-Álvarez

Dr. Durán-Álvarez is a Mexican chemical engineer, holding a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (2013). He has worked in the field of the contaminants of emerging concern since 2006, validating analytical techniques based on gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Since then, Dr. Durán-Álvarez gained expertise in the quantification of pharmaceutical compounds, personal care products and other endocrine disrupting chemicals in water, soil, sediments and biota samples. As a part of his PhD, he studied the environmental fate of contaminants of emerging concern, with emphasis on the distribution and leaching of these pollutants through irrigated soils where untreated wastewater is reused. Dr. Durán-Álvarez has held the position of Associated Researcher at the University Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico since 2015. As a part of this, he had to diversify his research interests, starting with the study of the synthesis routes to obtain semiconductor materials. From 2016, the eclectic scientific production of Dr. Durán-Álvarez encompasses a) the validation of analytical techniques based on chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to quantify emerging pollutants in environmental matrices; b) the occurrence and environmental fate of emerging pollutants in the urban water cycle as well as in drylands reusing wastewater; c)  the synthesis of nanosized semiconductor materials and their characterization as photocatalysts to remove emerging pollutants from water; and most recently, d) the dryland development paradigm. Following these interests, he has established fruitful collaboration with universities from Latin America and Africa in order to create research networks to strengthen the investigation in his research areas in developing countries. By 2022, Dr. Durán-Álvarez had published 44 scientific papers in international journals, 12 book chapters, as well as edited a book with Elsevier. Dr. Durán’s publication got 1464 citations in Google Scholar and a h-index of 15.

  • Synthesis and characterization of nanometric semiconductor materials for the photocatalytic degradation of contaminants of emerging concern in water.
  • Upscaling of the heterogeneous photocatalysis process to clean water for human consumption.
  • Identification and quantification of contaminants of emerging concern in environmental matrices, like wastewater, soil, sediments and plants.
  • Environmental fate of contaminants of emerging concern.
  • Potential spreading of the SARS-COV-2 in the environment; An approach of risk from the soil and the urban water cycle in central Mexico.
  • Understanding the supported bimetallic catalysts under dynamic reaction conditions

Anaya-Rodríguez, F., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Drisya, K.T., Zanella, R. “The challenges of integrating the principles of green chemistry and green engineering to heterogeneous photocatalysis to treat water and produce green H2”, Catalysts, 2023, 13, 154. DOI: 10.3390/catal13010154.

Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Drisya, K.T., García-Tablas, R., Lartundo-Rojas, L., Solís-López, M., Zanella, R., Subramaniam, V. “The visible-light-driven photocatalytic reduction of Cr6+ using BiVO4: Assessing the effect of Au deposition and the reaction parameters”, Environmental Technology, 2022, 1-35. DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2022.2135461.

Drisya, K.T., Cortés-Lagunes, S., Garduño-Jiménez, A.L., Mohan, R.N., Pineda-Aguilar, N., Mera, A.C., Zanella, R., Durán-Álvarez, J.C. “The photocatalytic degradation of oxytetracycline using 2D and 3D Bi5O7I and BiOCl under visible light irradiation: Optimization of the reaction parameters”, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 10, 2022, 108495. DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2022.108495.

Hernández-Arellano, D.L., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Cortés-Lagunes, S., Zanella, R., Soto, T.E., López-Juárez, R. “Cr-doped BiYO3 photocatalyst for degradation of oxytetracycline under visible light irradiation”, Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society, 2022, 1-14. DOI: 10.1007/s43207-022-00249-2.

Almanza-Arjona, Y.C., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Fernández-Urtusástegui, E., Castrejón-Perezyera, C.S. “Analogy between consecutive reaction kinetics and the spread of COVID-19 as a student-centered learning approach”, Journal of Chemical Education, 99, 2022, 3155-3163. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00431.

Garduño-Jiménez, A.L., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Cortés-Lagunes, R.S., Barrett, D.A., Gomes, R.L. “Translating wastewater reuse for irrigation from OECD guideline: Tramadol sorption and desorption in soil-water matrices”, Chemosphere, 305, 2022, 135031. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135031.

Garduño-Jiménez, A.L., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Gomes, R.L. “Meta-analysis and machine learning to explore soil-water partitioning of common pharmaceuticals”, Science of The Total Environment, 837, 2022, 155675. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155675.

Morgade, C.I.N., Schvval, A.B., Fuente, S.A., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Buono, C., Desimone, P.M., Aldao, C.M., Cabeza, G.F. “Synthesis and theoretical–experimental characterization of BiOBr: The role of oxygen and halide vacancies on the optoelectric properties of this bismuth oxyhalide”, Topics in Catalysis, 65, 2022, 824-838. DOI: 10.1007/s11244-022-01604-7.

Gallegos-Alcaíno, A., Robles-Araya, N., Avalos, C., Alfonso-Alvarez, A., Rodríguez, C.A., Valdés, H., Sánchez-Flores, N., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Bizarro, M., Romero-Salguero, F.J., Mera, A.C. “Synthesis of BiOI/Mordenite composites for photocatalytic treatment of organic pollutants present in agro-industrial wastewater”, Nanomaterials, 12, 2022, 1161. DOI: 10.3390/nano12071161

Villarreal-Morales, R., Hinojosa-Reyes, L., Zanella, R., Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Caballero-Quintero, A., Guzmán-Mar, J.L. “Enhanced performance of TiO2 doped with aluminum for the photocatalytic degradation of a mixture of plasticizers”, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 10, 2022, 107100. DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.107100.

Durán-Álvarez, J.C., Jiménez-Cisneros, B., (Eds.), Pharmaceuticals in Marine and Coastal Environments: Occurrence, Effects and Challenges in a Changing World, Volume 1 of the Estuarine and Coastal Sciences, Elsevier, The Neetherlands, (2021), ISBN: 978-0-08-102971- 8, 734 pp. DOI: 10.1016/C2018-0-01459-0.

Mundo Nano. Revista Interdisciplinaria en Nanociencia y Nanotecnología, UNAM, CDMX, México, Editor invitado, noviembre de 2020 a junio de 2021.

Presidente del comité científico del Second Energy Efficiency and Environmental Sustainability Conference, Universidad de La Serena, Chile, octubre de 2019.

Participation in undergraduate level courses teaching “Soil Sciences” and Seminar I in the National School of Soil Sciences, UNAM

Graduated

Silvana Ruth Cortés-Lagunes. Desarrollo y validación de un método analítico para la cuantificación de fármacos asociados al tratamiento de COVID-19 en muestras de agua residual. Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Ciencias Químicas, UNAM.

Daniel Mejía-Almaguer. Construcción y prueba de concepto de un foto-reactor en continuo para lograr la degradación fotocatalítica de contaminantes orgánicos de interés emergente en agua. Programa de Posgrado en Ingeniería Química.

Jessica Hernández-Galván. Producción de hidrógeno mediante catálisis fotoplasmónica utilizando la perovskita dopada Ce-SrTiO3 decorada con nanopartículas de oro. Maestría en Ciencias de la Energía, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.

Yisel María Navarro-Pérez. Contaminantes orgánicos emergentes en sedimentos superficiales del litoral de Puerto San Carlos, B.C.S., Mexico. Maestría en Ciencias en Manejo de Recursos Marinos, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas del IPN.

Undergraduated

Rodrigo García-Tablas. Síntesis y modificación de BiVO4 por depósito de nanopartículas metálicas de Au para la remoción de metales pesados en agua, Facultad de Química, UNAM.

Aldo Ricardo Ríos-Soberanis. Estudio del desempeño fotocatalítico de películas delgadas de catalizadores basados en TiO2 soportados en una matriz polimérica para la remoción de contaminantes orgánicos en agua de consumo humano, Facultad de Química, UNAM.

José Alonso Romero-Solano. Cuantificación de azitromicina e ivermectina en suelos regados con agua residual en el Valle de Tula, Hidalgo.

Visiting fellows

  • Dr. Adriana Mera Benavente (2019)
  • Dr. Carlos A. Rodríguez-Rodríguez (2019)

Postdoctoral fellows

  • Dr. Andrea Garduño Jiménez (2021-2022)
  • Dr. Drisya Karathuparathottathil Damodharan (2021-2022)
  • Dr. Alberto Sandoval García (2018-2019)
  • Dr. Diana Guerrero Araque (2018-2019)