Valeria completed her BSc. in chemistry at Toronto Metropolitan University, and joined the Clean Energy Lab at U of T Scarborough to pursue graduate-level research. Her project focuses on electrochemical CO2 capture, with experimental work guided by computational chemistry and machine learning.
“I am currently a 5th year student in the department of chemistry at the University of Toronto working with Prof. Jik Chin. My research ranges from stereoselective molecular recognition of amino acids to synthesis of unnatural peptide architectures to carbon capture and utilization using guanidines. We are particularly interested in using guanidines as a motif for carbon capture and utilization as it is a synthetic analogue of biotin (vitamin B7) which is an essential co-factor that Mother Nature uses for enzymatic carboxylation reactions. And using Mother Nature as inspiration, we aim to develop novel guanidine catalysts to capture and transform carbon dioxide into common chemical building blocks for the pharmaceutical and materials industries.”
“Given the urgency to respond to climate change, it is imperative to find swift solutions for mitigating CO2 emissions from fossil fuels used in power and propulsion applications. A potential solution lies in decarbonizing fossil fuels through methane pyrolysis. We aim to conduct a comprehensive analysis of a novel thermo-catalytic reactor to efficiently perform pyrolysis of methane. Thereby, we can achieve in-situ hydrogen production and carbon capture.”
Developing a new hydrogen pyrolysis based system with a dual combustor-pyrolytic reactor, based on a new concept combustor fuelled by the existing natural gas network, with very little or no additional energy input.
Uniting deep CO2-to-fuels technological expertise, engagement with Northern Indigenous community-led projects and their leaders, and expertise in environmental politics, resource governance, water, and energy to explore the potential for carbon conversion technologies to support low-carbon energy transitions in the Canadian North.