Tânia is Professor of Ecotechnologies for Circular Economy at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and Wageningen University and Research. She is the head of the Pollution Prevention and Resource recovery Research group of the Water Supply, Sanitation and Environmental Engineering Department at IHE Delft. She is an Environmental Engineer with a PhD in Environmental Technology from Wageningen University, The Netherlands (2010). Prior to IHE Delft, she was head of the Microalgae Ecotechnological Solutions Research Unit at The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW).
She explores the potential of microbial communities’ diversity and interactions for designing ecotechnologies that have targeted functions, such as carbon and nutrient recovery, organic micropollutant and human pathogens removal. She has expertise in microalgae-based technologies, anaerobic digestion of complex biowaste, decentralised sanitation, biomass valorisation and development of circular wastewater treatment systems focussed on improving water quality and valorisation of resources.
She has developed, at NIOO with WUR partners, the innovative Photogranular Technology, which consist of spherical aggregates of microalgae and bacteria that efficiently recover nutrients from wastewater while creating valuable biomass that can be used as organic fertiliser, which is crucial for improving soil health.
Her main research interests
- Unravelling microbial communities (microalgae, bacteria, fungi) composition, interactions and functions (carbon and nutrients recovery, OMP removal, other persistent pollutants removal) for (waste)water and surface water treatment. Can be applied to all sorts of ecotechnologies (microalgae-based, wetlands, A.D.). Use of state-of-the-art techniques (Omics, imaging, LC-MSMS, etc)
- Upcycling wastewater treatment-derived biomass. Extraction of targeted chemicals (polymers, bulk chemicals) and/or producing of organic fertilizers. Biomass characterization (elemental composition), processing to increase value, testing value (e.g. for organic fertilizer the nutritional value and resulting GHG emissions)
- Circular wastewater treatment. Decentralized sanitation. Combination of technologies to ensure clean and safe water and safe valorisation of resources.
- Upscaling ecotechnologies with public/private partners – from lab scale to application. This is the case for the photogranular technology that is ready for larger scale testing.
- Living labs – playground for interdisciplinary research and education (natural and social sciences). Testing ecotechnologies, opportunity for internships, involvement of local community/users, holistic approach, long-term perspective.
Publications
A complete list of publications can be found in Google Scholar.