THELMO ALEJANDRO LU CHAUView profile
Professor
Thelmo Alejandro Lu Chau is a Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Seville, affiliated with the Faculty of Sciences. His research focuses on environmental biotechnology and biorefinery systems, with emphasis on waste valorization, enzymatic biocatalysis, and microbial production of biopolymers. He leads the BIOGROUP research team and has expertise in lignocellulosic biomass conversion, fungal pretreatment strategies, and bio-based material synthesis. Education: PhD in Chemical Engineering (1999) from University of Santiago de Compostela, focusing on plasmid stability in recombinant yeast fermentations. Research interests include: (1) Bioconversion of agro-industrial residues into value-added chemicals, (2) Enzymatic and electrochemical modification of lignin, (3) Halophilic bacterial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and (4) Synergistic bioremediation-bioproduct systems. His work bridges fundamental enzymology with industrial bioprocess design. Key contributions include pioneering studies on Halomonas boliviensis for PHA production from agricultural wastes, fungal pretreatment optimization for 2G biofuels, and integrated biorefinery frameworks for zero-waste processing. Over 70 peer-reviewed articles demonstrate his leadership in sustainable bioprocess engineering. His BIOGROUP lab collaborates on projects involving laccase-peroxidase systems, microbial solvent tolerance mechanisms, and techno-economic analysis of biorefineries. Current projects focus on: (1) Scaling fungal pretreatment for solid-state fermentation, (2) Electrochemical lignin functionalization, and (3) Biocatalytic degradation of endocrine disruptors.






