Andrea Cabanes
CEO
Andrea holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alicante. In 2017, she began her research career in the Engineering for Circular Economy research group after returning from the Netherlands, where she pursued a Professional Master's in Process and Product Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Andrea's research focused on the study of eliminating unwanted odors and other volatile substances present in recycled plastics to improve their quality. As a result of this work, Andrea identified the substances generating odors in recycled plastics from various sources and studied several processes for removing these substances. The findings of her research can be found in her doctoral thesis titled "A review on VOCs from recycled plastics" (http://rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/10045/107846) and in various international scientific articles and book chapters.
- Non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in recycled plastics. Horodytska, O.; Cabanes, A.; Fullana, A. Chemosphere Journal. 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126373 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565352030566X?via%3Dihub)
- A review on VOCs from recycled plastics. Cabanes, A.; Valdés, F.J.; Fullana, A. Sustainable Materials and Technologies Journal. 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.susmat.2020.e00179.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993719300089?via%3Dihub) - New methods to remove volatile organic compounds from post-consumer plastic waste. Cabanes, A.; Fullana, A. Science of the Total Environment Journal. 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144066. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720375975?via%3Dihub)
- Applications and Future of Recycling and Recycled Plastics. Horodytska, O.; Cabanes, A.; Fullana, A. Composites Science and Technology. Book chapter. 2021. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-3627-1_15 (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-3627-1_15).
- Plastic Waste Management: Current Status and Weaknesses. Horodytska, O.; Cabanes, A.; Fullana, A. Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Book chapter. 2022. DOI: 10.1007/698_2019_408 (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/698_2019_408).
In 2019, she conducted a research stay at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy (https://www.chemistry.nat.fau.eu/) of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (https://www.fau.eu/) in Erlangen, Germany. The publication resulting from this research stay is:
- Odorant composition of post-consumer LDPE bags originating from different collection systems. Cabanes, A., Strangl, M., Ortner, E., Fullana, A., Buettner, A. Waste Management Journal. 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.01.021 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X20300210?via%3Dihub)
In 2023, Andrea received the UA EMPRENDE Award for her doctoral thesis ( (https://uaemprende.ua.es/es/premiados-tfg-tfm-tesis-2022-texto-para-web.pdf)
As a result of the thesis, 2 technologies related to the decontamination and deodorization of plastics were also patented, where Andrea was one of the co-inventors.
The patents are:
- ES2798049A1 PROCEDURE AND SYSTEM FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ODORS IN RECYCLED PLASTICS
- ES2835344A1 PROCEDURE FOR DECONTAMINATION OF RECYCLED PLASTIC.
