Postdoctoral associate, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ph.D. Sciences (Solar Seawater Desalination), University of Almeria, Spain, 2011
M.S. Environmental Engineering & Water Management, EOI, Spain, 2006
B.S. Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Spain, 2004
Dr. Elena Guillen joined Dr. Arafat’s group at Masdar Institute as a postdoctoral associate in September 2011 and worked on the development of specific experimental protocols for the characterization of MD membranes for desalination, fouling processes and other applications of membranes. As a postdoctoral researcher at Masdar Institute of Technology, Dr. Guillen’s research primarily focused on testing and understanding the dynamics of various physic-chemical processes in the MD process by studying a large number of commercial membranes as well as developing new membranes and assessing them. The assessment of the novel membrane prototypes included extensive testing: determination of permeation rates, breakthrough, salt rejection, separation and thermal efficiency, etc. Dr. Guillen also focused on understanding the membrane fouling mechanisms and their influence on MD membrane wetting, distillate quality and overall MD process performance. A big part of her research was focusing on determining the effect of the morphology of the MD membranes on the wetting processes.
Dr. Guillen received her bachelor in Environmental Sciences (2004) from Salamanca University, Salamanca, Spain, and then completed her Master in Environmental Engineering & Water Management from the EOI, Madrid, Spain, in 2006. After two years working for the industry, she received a national grant to pursue a PhD in the field of solar desalination. She joined the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), the biggest solar research center in Europe, where she worked for 4 years in the research solar desalination group of Dr. Julian Blanco in collaboration with the University of Almeria. Dr. Guillen’s doctoral research focused on the experimental investigation of the coupling characterization and assessment of membrane distillation and solar thermal energy as an alternative desalination process. During her PhD, Dr. Guillen participated as a lecturer in the University of Almeria Master on Solar Energy as well as in international courses on desalination (PRODES Course on Desalination powered by renewable energy and EDS Course on Desalination with Solar Energy). She also participated in several European research projects (Promotion of renewable energy for water production through desalination: PRODES; Seawater desalination by innovative solar-powered membrane-distillation system: MEDESOL) and national projects (CONSORCIO SOLAR DE I+D (CONSOLIDA) Project CENIT with ABENGOA SOLAR, etc.) as responsible for the experimental part and the reporting to the European Commission.
Participation in Research Projects
i) PROMOTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR WATER PRODUCTION THROUGH DESALINATION (PRODES)
Founded by: EU. Program: SAVE, ALTENER, STEER and INTEGRATED INITIATIVES
Partners: WIP, CIEMAT, BEFESA, ITC, AOSOL, INETI, TINOX, CRES, FRAUNHOFER, UNIV. PALERMO, AQUAMARINE, HELLAS ENERGY, EDS, CAPITAL CONNECT Ltd
(01/10/2008 – 30/09/2009)
Main Researcher: Christian Epp (WIP GmbH)
ii) CONSORCIO SOLAR DE I+D (CONSOLIDA)
Founded by: ITC (Project CENIT “CONSOLIDA”, ABENGOA SOLAR)
Partners: ITC, CIEMAT, EMALSA, UPLGC, SERLED, INEXA
(01/01/2008 – 31/12/2011)
Main Researcher: Alfonso Rodríguez (Abengoa Solar)
iii) MULTIPLICACIÓN DE ESFUERZOS PARA EL DISEÑO DE INVERNADEROS AVANZADOS (MEDIODIA) (EFFORT MULTIPLICATION FOR ADVANCED GREENHOUSE DESIGN)
Founded by: ACCIONA SOLAR, (Project CENIT “MEDIODIA”)
Partners: CIEMAT-PSA, ACCIONA SOLAR
(01/01/2007 – 31/12/2010)
Main Researcher: Julián Blanco (CIEMAT-PSA)
iv) MECHANICAL POWER GENERATION BASED ON SOLAR HEAT ENGINES (POWERSOL)
Funded by: EU. DGXII. Program: Confirming the International Role of Community Research (INCO). Contract Number: 032344
Partners: CIEMAT-PSA, UNIV. DE LA LAGUNA, IDMEC, AOSOL, INETI, ETH, ECOSYSTEM, ENIT, AIN SHAMS UNIV., LOTUS, AES, FPMENG, LENREZA
(01/01/2007 – 31/12/2009)
Main Researcher: Julián Blanco (CIEMAT-PSA)
v) SEAWATER DESALINATION BY INNOVATIVE SOLAR-POWERED MEMBRANE-DISTILLATION SYSTEM (MEDESOL)
Funded by: E.U. DGXII. Program: Global change and ecosystems. Contract Number 036986
Partners: CIEMAT-PSA, UNIV. DE LA LAGUNA, ACCIONA, ACUAMED, AOSOL, ITW, TINEP, CIE-UNAM, KTH, SCARB, IBERINSA
(01/10/2006 – 30/09/2009)
Main Researcher: Julián Blanco (CIEMAT-PSA)
Participation as Lecturer
i) 3rd and 4th Editions. Master on Solar Energy. 2008-2009. 2009-2010.
Organizer: CIESOL – Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain.
ii) Course on Desalination powered by renewable energy (Course partially financed by the European Commission within the ProDes project, co-financed by the Intelligent Energy for Europe programme) Almeria, Spain. October 19-21, 2009.
Organizer: PRODES Project
iii) 1st edition EDS Course on Desalination with Solar Energy, Almeria, Spain, 3-6 May 2010.
2nd edition EDS Course on Desalination with Solar Energy, Almeria, Spain, 9-11 May 2011.
Organizer: European Desalination Society and PSA-CIEMAT
Publications
Efficiency in the use of solar thermal energy of small membrane desalination systems for decentralized water production. G. Zaragoza, A. Ruiz-Aguirre, E. Guillén-Burrieza. Submitted to Applied Energy. Under review.
R. Thomas, E. Guillen-Burrieza, H. Arafat, Pore structure control of PVDF membranes using a 2-stage coagulation bath phase inversion process for application in membrane distillation (MD), Journal of Membrane Science, 452, 470–480 (2014).
B. Singh Lalia, E. Guillen-Burrieza, H. Arafat, R. Hashaikeh. Nanocrystalline cellulose reinforced PVDF-HFP membranes for membrane distillation application, Desalination, 332,134–141 (2014).
A. Al-Janabi, M.R. Malayeri, E. Guillén-Burrieza, J. Blanco, Field evaluation of coated plates of a compact heat exchanger to mitigate crystallization deposit formation in an MD desalination plant. Desalination, 324, 21-33 (2013).
E. Guillen-Burrieza, R. Thomas, B. Mansoor, D. Johnson, N. Hilal, H. A. Arafat, Effect of Dry-out on the Fouling of PVDF and PTFE Membranes under Conditions Simulating Intermittent Seawater Membrane Distillation (SWMD), Journal of Membrane Science, 438, 126-139 (2013)
B. Singh Lalia, E. Guillen-Burrieza, H. Arafat, R. Hashaikeh. “Fabrication and characterization of polyvinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) electrospun membranes for direct contact membrane distillation”. Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 428, 1 February 2013, Pages 104–115.
E. Guillen-Burrieza, G. Zaragoza, S. Miralles-Cuevas, J. Blanco. “Experimental evaluation of two pilot-scale membrane distillation modules used for solar desalination”. Journal of Membrane Science, Volumes 409–410, 1 August 2012, Pages 264-275.
E. Guillen-Burrieza, J. Blanco, G. Zaragoza, D. Alarcón, P. Palenzuela, M. Ibarra, W. Gernjak. “Experimental analysis of an air gap membrane distillation solar desalination pilot system”. Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 379, Issues 1–2, 1 September 2011, Pages 386-396.
E. Guillen-Burrieza, J. Blanco, D. Alarcón, G. Zaragoza, P. Palenzuela, M. Ibarra. “Comparative evaluation of two membrane distillation modules”. Desalination and Water Treatment, Volume 31, July 2011, Pages 226–234.
P. Palenzuela, G. Zaragoza, D.C. Alarcón-Padilla, E. Guillen-Burrieza, M. Ibarra, J. Blanco. “Assessment of different configurations for combined parabolic-trough (PT) solar power and desalination plants in arid regions”. Energy, Volume 36, Issue 8, August 2011, Pages 4950-4958.
J. Blanco, D. Alarcón, E. Guillen-Burrieza, W. Gernjak. The AQUASOL system: Solar collector fieldefficiency and solar-only mode performance. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Transactions of the ASME 133 (1), 2011.
E. Guillen-Burrieza, R. Thomas, B. Mansoor, H. A. Arafat, Fouling of Membranes under Intermittent Seawater Membrane Distillation (SWMD) Conditions, Proceedings of the International Scientific conference on Pervaporation, Vapor Permeation and Membrane Distillation, Torun, Poland, May 12-15, 2013
E. Guillen-Burrieza, R. Thomas, B. Mansoor, D. Johnson, N. Hilal, and H. A. Arafat, Fouling Behavior of PVDF and PTFE Membranes under Membrane Distillation Operations, Advanced Membrane Technology V Conference, Singapore, October 14-19, 2012
S. Salem, R. Thomas, E. Guillen, H. A. Arafat, and S. W. Thiel, Preparation and Characterization of Porous Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Membranes Using New Pore Forming Additives, The 2012 AIChE Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, October 28-November 2, 2012
E. Guillen-Burrieza, R. Thomas, H. A. Arafat, Influence of Intermittent Operation on Membrane Wettability in Membrane Distillation Systems, Proceedings of the Desalination for the Environment: Clean Water and Energy Conference, Barcelona, Spain, April 23–26, 2012
E. Guillen-Burrieza, R. Thomas, H. A. Arafat. Effects of long term operation on MD membrane fouling and membrane cleaning strategies. Oral presentation at IMSTEC ’13 (8th International Membrane Science and Technology Conference) Melbourne (Australia), November 25-29, 2013.