Fundamentals of Surface Thermodynamics

Dr. Ronaldo Gonçalves dos Santos earned degree in chemical engineering (2000) from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). He completed both the Master's degree (2003) and Ph.D. (2007) in Chemical Engineering at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), investigating interfacial phenomena involved in crude oil disperse systems. He held a Postdoctoral Researcher position (2007-2008) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), working on the extraction and characterization of asphaltene subfractions. In 2009-2013, he held a Research Scientist position in the Centre for Petroleum Studies of UNICAMP. In 2011, Dr. Santos joined as a faculty member of the Chemical Engineering department of FEI (São Paulo, Brazil), where he has a position of Associate Professor with lectures in chemical engineering thermodynamics. His primary research areas are: (1) the interfacial properties of self-associative systems, mainly crude oil fractions and their impacts on the recovery and production activities in oilfields, and (2) renewable processes for producing biofuel and sustainable energies. His investigations comprise phase behavior and interfacial rheology of amphiphiles, including the self-association phenomena. Dr. Santos has also investigated the thermal behavior of heavy oils and their SARA fractions, looking for kinetic parameters from oil combustion reactions to assist the application of in-situ combustion as enhanced recovery method, and multiphase flow of oilcarbon dioxide-water systems in porous media for application in miscible recovery methods. Dr. Santos has devoted an intense effort to studies related to the conversion of biomass and residues into fuels, chemicals, and clean energy, focusing on thermal degradation methods and bio-oil fractionation.