Madrid – Martín Muñoz Morales, a PhD from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, has been awarded the 2021 Sener Foundation Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Engineering for his work titled Development of electrochemical technologies for the treatment of liquid and gaseous effluents polluted with chlorinated hydrocarbons. Professors Pablo Cañizares and Manuel Andrés Rodrigo supervised the work and also shared in the award.

The jury noted the quality of the ambitious, well formulated and pragmatic thesis, which defines its scientific contribution and presents its results clearly, while at the same time proposing valuable areas of future research.

The President of the Sener Foundation and of Sener, Andrés Sendagorta, wanted to underscore “the important work of researchers to the advancement of society and to improving the quality of life of people.” He also noted “the contribution of this thesis, focused on the development of new electrochemical technology processes for treating soils polluted with chlorine compounds, as well as for treating the gaseous compounds that are emitted during the processing of these compounds.” The thesis falls within the scope of Environmental Engineering, and focuses on solving environmental problems, such as soil clean-up, using methods that can be applied in actual cases thanks to their technical and economic viability.

Upon learning that he would receive the award, the author of the thesis, Martín Muñoz, remarked “on the great incentive and motivation it provides to everyone who strives to achieve the highest quality research work and, above all, on how it recognizes the effort, dedication and commitment needed to prepare a doctoral thesis”.

For their part, the Directors of the thesis, Pablo Cañizares and Manuel Andrés Rodrigo, expressed “their happiness and gratitude for this recognition, which motivates them to further undertake rigorous and quality research and to uphold their commitment to transferring knowledge to society”.

Through its Best Doctoral Thesis Award, the Sener Foundation aims to stimulate research at the highest level in the areas of science and technology in which the Sener group is active, namely, in the aerospace, infrastructure, energy and marine engineering sectors. The prize is worth 12,000 euros for the author of the thesis and a further 3,000 euros to be divided equally among the thesis advisors.

Currently, the theses submitted to the Sener Foundation Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Engineering for works defended in 2022 are in the evaluation process.