Rosa Cuéllar-Franca

Dr Rosa M. Cuéllar-Franca is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester. Prior to her appointment, she held a postdoctoral research position at the same institution for 2.5 years, working on the EPSRC funded programme grant “A coordinated comprehensive approach to carbon capture and utilisation”. She received her PhD in Sustainable Chemical Engineering in 2013 and her MSc in Environmental Technology in 2008 from The University of Manchester and her BEng in Chemical Engineering from the Technological Institute of Tijuana, Mexico in 2007.

Her research focuses on the sustainability assessment of novel technologies for climate change mitigation, providing quantitative evidence that enables targeted improvements at various system levels, e.g. molecular and process design, process operation, policy making. Her work has centred around developing more environmentally sustainable ionic liquids, catalysts and nanomaterials for cleaner technology development. She is an expert in life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprinting, and life cycle costing, and has authored over 25 peer-reviewed papers. She is currently Co-I in two projects funded by the European   Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme and the business-led EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships scheme with BP and Johnson Matthey.

She is regularly invited as an LCA expert to advise on the development of sectoral LCA guidelines by Academic and Research institutions such as the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, and agencies including the US Department of Energy. Findings from her work on carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) were used to inform the European Commission’s policy on CCU (SAPEA Evidence Review Report No. 2). Her article “A life cycle approach to solvent design: Challenges and opportunities for ionic liquids – application to CO₂ capture” has been shortlisted for the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering 2021 Outstanding Early Career Paper Award, and is featured in the journal’s high-profile Emerging Investigator Series in recognition of her potential to influence future directions in the field.