DrPaola Alejandra Saenz Cavazos

Paola is a postdoctoral researcher in the Chemical Engineering Department at Imperial College London, working with the Hitachi-Imperial Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Solutions. She collaborates with Prof. Nilay Shah's research group, focusing on Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) and their regulatory and commercial drivers.

Paola's research includes both nature-based and engineered Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) methods such as blue carbon and Direct Air Capture (DAC). She also explores various Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) techniques, including carbon mineralization and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs). Her work aims to understand these methods in terms of technical performance, environmental impact, techno-economic analysis, and geo-social considerations.

Paola completed her PhD at Imperial in the Chemical Engineering Department under the supervision of Prof. Daryl R. Williams. Her PhD research focused on characterizing solid sorbents for CCUS applications under real-world conditions. She developed an experimental framework and novel characterization techniques to scale porous materials from laboratory to pilot scale for gas adsorption applications.

Previously, Paola worked as a net-zero strategy consultant, advising clients in industries such as energy, oil & gas, cement, mining, and Waste to Energy (WtE) on decarbonisation technologies. Her work helped clients navigate the complexities of achieving net-zero emissions.