Anamarija Mitar is a Postgraduate PhD student of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry on Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb. Her scientific activity began in the development of green technology. Attention is focused on the development of new, environmentally friendly solvents (ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents) which would satisfy the technological and economic requirements. The areas of her scientific research are thermal separation processes; extraction using green solvents and transport properties of nanofluids.

In an attempt to reduce the usage of hazardous solvents and procedures in industrial processes, replacement of conventional organic solvents has become an important area of research. Research and application of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) in extraction processes, due to their green character, provide many options and could significantly contribute to the advancement of green technologies and reduce the negative impact of industry on the environment. DESs are applied in the processes of extractive desulfurization and denitrification instead of conventional catalytic processes hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrification (HDN). These classical processes require high costs due to high temperatures and pressures and the use of considerable amounts of hydrogen and catalysts in the process. Moreover, HDS and HDN aren’t very successful in removing cyclic sulfur and nitrogen compounds such as thiophene, dibenzothiophene, carbazole and pyridine. This study examines mass transfer in extraction processes by using DESs and possible improvement of mass transfer with nanosuspensions. It is known that the application of nanosuspensions improves thermal properties as a result of Brownian motion of well dispersed nanoparticles within the suspension. Improvements of mass transfer by diffusion and/or convection can be expected due to heat and mass transfer analogy. The experiments are focused towards preparation of stable nanosuspensions with DESs as base fluids, their implementation and achieving improvements in the extraction of thiophene (sulfur compound) and pyridine (nitrogen compound) from model fuel FCC gasoline. Extractive denitrification proved to be more successful process than extractive desulfurization due to higher solubility of pyridine than thiophene in DESs. Furthermore, extraction with DESs and nanosuspensions showed better performance compared to extraction with conventional solvents.

Gadelha J R has completed her PhD on Marine Biology/Ecotoxicology in 2015, from Universidade de Aveiro. Currently, she is a Doctoral research integrate at CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental Research), working in an emblematic Project funded by Horizon 2020, called INSEAFOOD: Innovation and valorization of seafood products: meeting local challenges and opportunities. She has published 13 papers in reputed journals and participated on 13 projects, national and international, more than 40 conferences communications and published one book in 2007. On the last decade, she works on environmental risk assessment and applications of biological concepts to biotechnology and environmental safety.

Aquaculture is the most promissory way to produce seafood in large scale and could be an alternative to avoid the excessive predation to the natural populations, such as many fish species (codfish, sardines, tuna, salmon), shrimp, lobster and oyster. But, the water catchment directly to the sea from coastal zones and freshwater, usually used by aquacultures farms, needs to be monitored and investigated in order to ensure the water quality. The present study integrate a multidisciplinary team, responsible to research a wide range of parameters to guarantee the good practices and ensure the good seafood quality to the final consumers. Oyster tissues were analyzed to quantify the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Butyltins (BTs), Organo Flame Retardants, Musks, UV filters, Miscellaneous and Fecal Biomarkers during a complete seasonal cycle. The local water and sediment were also analyzed to give baseline information about the aquaculture real state. The weight and size were also monitored during spring, summer, autumn and winter in order to evaluate which is the best time to consume these much appreciated seafood. Sampling was made on a traditional region of aquaculture activities on Northwestern Portugal coast (Mira Channel, Aveiro district). In general, no significant levels of the analyzed persistent and emergent pollutants were detected. These results are in agreement to the expectation, once that Oysters produced on these regions are largely consumed in Portugal and also in other European countries. So, in general the seafood is safe to human being consumption.