Author: Ernesto Hernandez

Life scientist and chemical engineer working at The University of Manchester. He started out his career as a distinguished technician working in the field of electromechanics. In his spare time, he indulged his passion for studying biology. This long-standing endeavour led him to win the first place in The National Olympiad of Biology in 1993. Coming from a poor family in deprived rural Mexico, studying Chemical Engineering proved to be an ideal way to make a living and find ways to use living systems in the search to solve a number of problems currently confronting society. It was during his undergraduate studies that he won two national contests for summer internships at Ohio State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Ernesto has been using microbes and their products in a variety of ways. They can, for instance, be used to convert a variety of wastes into natural gas (methane), to decontaminate water, soil and sludge, or to ease the flow of oil in deep underground oil reservoirs at tremendously high temperatures and pressures. Given his understanding of life systems and how they can be used for the good of the humankind, Ernesto has been invited to speak in plenary talks at international conferences, civil gatherings, state ceremonies, activist groups and other public events.

Sustainable advanced ethanol production from Opuntia prickly pear cactus nopalesSustainable advanced ethanol production from Opuntia prickly pear cactus nopales

Cleaner industrial bioethanol production from sustainable biomass could support the circular economy to achieve Sustainable Development Goals while tackling climate change. Ethanol from the arid plants nopales (prickly pear, Opuntia ficus-indica)