Qi Li from China is the DC13 Doctoral Candidate (Reactor Scale) in UPCYCLE MSCA Doctoral Network.
With a background in Chemical Engineering and Technology, Qi is pursuing a PhD at the Department of Chemical Engineering at La Sapienza Università di Roma under the supervision of Prof. Benedetta de Caprariis and Dr. Martina Damizia.
Her research focuses on the valorization of contaminated biogenic waste through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), with particular attention to assessing and optimizing the design of a continuous HTL plant. Through lab-scale experiment, she will explore the behavior and fate of inorganic species during the HTL of real sludge feedstocks, assess deposition and fouling phenomena related to the high organic and inorganic content of sludge under HTL conditions, optimize operating conditions to minimize reactor plugging and control phosphorus partitioning among solid, aqueous, and oil phases, and evaluate sustainable phosphorus recovery strategies from the most suitable product phase.
As part of the UPCYCLE training programme, Qi will collaborate with international partners through secondments at Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany) under the supervision of Dr.-Ing. Arne Scholtissek, where she will work on LCA, and at IOS (Slovenia) under the supervision of Dr. Alexandra Lobnik, gaining insight into industrial validation and scale-up of HTL plants.
Her work contributes to advancing circular bioeconomy and resource recovery, supporting the development of resource-efficient solutions.
We’re excited to follow Qi’s research journey and look forward to the insights her work will bring. 🚀