Nimra Shahid from Pakistan is the DC1 Doctoral Candidate (Process Scale) in the UPCYCLE Doctoral Network.
With a background in chemical engineering and sustainable biomass processing, Nimra is pursuing her PhD at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Milano under the supervision of Andrea Turolla and Elena Ficara.
Her research focuses on sustainable resource recovery from hard-to-recycle biogenic waste, with particular attention to sewage sludge and the valorization of hydrochar produced through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). Through techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA), and integrated decision-support approaches, she will evaluate the most sustainable pathways for transforming waste streams into high-value bio-based products.
As part of the UPCYCLE training program, Nimra will also collaborate with international partners through secondments at TU Darmstadt (Germany) under the supervision of Arne Scholtissek, where she will refine techno-economic modeling and scale-up considerations, and at CarboREM (Italy) under the supervision of Michela Lucian where she will gain insight into the industrial implementation of resource recovery solutions.
Her work contributes to advancing circular and resource-efficient waste management systems, supporting the transition toward a circular bioeconomy.
We look forward to following Nimra’s research journey and the insights her work will bring. 🚀