In the week of the 7th to 10th of July, I had the honour to participate in the WasteEng2026 conference in my home city, A Coruña (Spain). This conference, held biannually, gathers experts and professionals working in research and innovation in waste and biomass valorisation towards a sustainable transition, one of the main goals of the INCLUE Project. I gladly represented INCLUE in this conference together with DC9, my dear friend Erika Sinisgalli, who also exposed her research progress.
In WasteEng2026 I had the pleasure to show my PhD progress with the presentation “Ultrasound frequency effect on emerging PFAS degradation in water”, in which I showed part of the results in PFAS adsorption to the solid phase of sludge and how to optimize this process by controlling the pH and the age of the sludge. Moreover, I also showed the progress on catalyst and oxidant assisted low-frequency ultrasound treatment of PFAS, whose research was carried out in collaboration with my MSc student Jarno Thys. Finally, I also showed some of my results on high-frequency treatment of PFAS carried out during my secondment in Oxford during the summer of 2026.
I was very glad to see the varied approaches taken to degrade, remediate, and analyse PFAS from the environment: from supercritical water oxidation to phytoremediation with duckweed to advanced GC/MS strategies to detect atmospheric PFAS. This does highlight how great of a hot topic PFAS is and how urgent its remediation from our environment is needed. It was very fulfilling to network with experts within this field and to see this topic from different points of view and not such a narrow perspective.
Not only that, but I had the utter pleasure to introduce Erika to Coruña and Galician culture: from María Pita, our local heroine that defeated the British back in 1589, to tortilla de patatas, croquetas, and of course, our pimientos de Padrón! Moreover, during the gala dinner, we enjoyed our local dance, muiñeira, and also our local queimada, a herbs-liquor drink that we flambé and to which we recite spells against witches, hexes, and the evil eye. Quite magical, I would say!
WasteEng2026 was a very fulfilling experience and especially emotional for me. I carried out my BSc in Chemistry and Biology in this university, so I was very happy to meet up with former professors and colleagues. This people may have unknowingly affected my career, setting little stones of knowledge and motivation in my path towards this PhD, to which I will always be thankful. Thus, in this conference I have not only showed my present by representing INCLUE, but also my past with how much I’ve grown and learned since I started my researcher career in this same place. I will always hold this conference very close to my heart!