Alejandro Montoya

Alejandro Montoya is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Environmental Engineering at the University of Sydney's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) and joined the University of Sydney in 2007 after a Sesqui Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research focuses on bridging atomic-scale material properties with large-scale industrial applications, particularly in biomass conversion, CO2 sequestration, catalysis, and energy sustainability. Montoya's work emphasizes predictive modeling for optimizing chemical processes in sustainability contexts.

His research interests include biomass liquefaction, CO2 mineral carbonation, catalytic micro-combustion, and the development of predictive models for material reactivity. He has supervised multiple projects, including current student Jack’s research on plastic decomposition in supercritical water. Montoya collaborates internationally with institutions like Yonsei University (South Korea) and the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia), focusing on biofuel production and combustion modeling.

Montoya has secured grants totaling over $10M, including projects on advanced electrometallurgy, chemical recycling of plastics, and biofuel process intensification. His contributions span over 100 peer-reviewed articles, with recent focus areas in lignin depolymerization, CO2 electroreduction, and nanocarbon catalyst design. He teaches courses in applied mathematics and chemical systems behavior, contributing to both academic and industrial advancements in sustainable chemical engineering.