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Hydraulics and Environment Department Hydraulics and Environment Department

Rui Carvalho Viegas

Rui Carvalho Viegas
Phone: 218 443 841

Professional Situation

Assistant Researcher

Academic and Scientific Degrees

  • 2004    PhD, Chemical Engineering, New University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • 1987-1992    University degree (5 years), Chemical Engineering, New University of Lisbon, Portugal

Functions and Relevant Public Offices

  • Oct/2016-Present Assistant Researcher, LNEC
  • May/2013-Oct/2016 Post-Doctoral Research Associate FCT, LNEC
  • Oct/2013-Oct/2016 Post-Doctoral Research Associate FCT/LNEC, LNEC
  • Abr/2010-Set/2013 Post-Doctoral Research Associate LNEC, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC)
  • Jul/2009-Abr/2010 Research Assistant, IST/ University of Lisbon

Areas of Research / Interest

  • Water and wastewater quality, treatment and reuse.
  • Advanced water treatment technologies (membranes, adsorption, hybrid processes).
  • Development, modelling and optimization of water treatment processes.
  • Control of emerging contaminants, pharmaceutical compounds, personal care products, cyanotoxins, natural organic matter and disinfection by-products.
  • Design and implementation of conventional and advanced water treatment processes, at lab and pilot scales.
  • Water quality and safety in the supply and distribution systems, including the evolution/ degradation of water quality throughout the network.

Research and Professional Activity

  • Participation in 18 Research projects with European or national funding, including:
    • LIFE Fitting – Demonstration of an innovative PLAN-DO toolbox for a safer, resource efficient and fit-for-purpose wastewater treatment (2023-2025)
    • UP2030 – Urban Planning and Design ready for 2030 (2023-2025)
    • EMPOWER+ – Engineered and reusable nanoporous carbons for advanced water treatment (2021-2024)
    • B-watersmart – Accelerating Water Smartness in Coastal Europe (2020-2024)
    • RESCCUE – RESilience to cope with Climate Change in Urban arEas - a multisectorial approach focusing on water (2016-2019)
    • LIFE Impetus – Improving current barriers for controlling pharmaceutical compounds in urban wastewater treatment plants (2016-2019)
    • LIFE HyMemb – Tailoring hybrid membrane processes for sustainable drinking water production (2014-2016)
    • aWARE – Innovative hybrid MBR-(PAC-NF) systems to promote water reuse (2013-2016)
    • TRUST – TRansitions to the Urban Water Services of Tomorrow (2011-2015)
    • ChloriDec – Technology for the real-time monitoring of chlorine decay rates in drinking water systems (2012-2014, PI)
  • Scientific Supervision of 1 PhD. student and 4 MSc. students
  • +150 publications (h-index 18, +1000 citations on Scopus platform), the last of which:
    • Viegas R.M.C., Figueiredo D., Mesquita E., Charrua S., Costa C., Lourinho R., Rosa M.J. (2025) Pilot-scale demonstration of advanced wastewater treatment for direct potable water reuse for beer production. Separation and Purification Technology 375, 133419 https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SEPPUR.2025.133419
    • Costa J., Mesquita E., Ferreira F., Figueiredo D., Rosa M.J., Viegas R.M.C. (2023) Modeling Chlorine Decay in Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems—A Lisbon Area Case Study. Sustainability 15, 16211 https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316211
    • Rosa M.J., Campinas M., Silva C., Mesquita E., R.M.C. Viegas (2023) Controlling organic micropollutants in urban (waste) water treatment by activated carbon adsorption and membrane technology, in: Clean Technologies Toward a Sustainable Future: Physicochemical, Biochemical and Biotechnological Approaches https://doi.org/10.2166/9781789063783_0141
    • Campinas M, Viegas R.M.C., Almeida C.M.M, Martins A., Silva C., Mesquita E., Coelho M.R., Silva S., Cardoso V.V., Benoliel M.J., Rosa M.J. (2022) Powdered activated carbon full-scale addition to the activated sludge reactor of a municipal wastewater treatment plant: Pharmaceutical compounds control and overall impact on the process. Journal of Water Process Engineering 49, 102975 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.102975
    • Mestre A.S., Viegas R.M.C., Mesquita E., Rosa M.J., Carvalho A.P. (2022) Engineered pine nut shell derived activated carbons for improved removal of recalcitrant pharmaceuticals in urban wastewater treatment. Journal of Hazardous Materials 437, 129319 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129319
    • Viegas R.M.C., Mestre A.S., Mesquita E., Machuqueiro M., Andrade M., Carvalho A.P., Rosa M.J. (2022) Key factors for activated carbon adsorption of pharmaceutical compounds from wastewaters: a multivariate modelling approach. Water 14(2), 166. doi.org/10.3390/w14020166
    • Mestre A.S., Campinas M, Viegas R.M.C., Mesquita E., Carvalho A.P., Rosa M.J. (2022) Activated carbons in full-scale advanced wastewater treatment. Advanced Materials for Sustainable Environmental Remediation. Eds. Dimitrios Giannakoudakis, Lucas Meili, Ioannis Anastopoulos. Elsevier. Netherlands, 433-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90485-8.00001-1
    • Costa J., Mesquita E., Ferreira F., Rosa M.J., Viegas R.M.C. (2021) Identification and Modelling of Chlorine Decay Mechanisms in Reclaimed Water Containing Ammonia. Sustainability 13(24), 13548. doi.org/10.3390/su132413548
    • Campinas M., Viegas R.M.C., Coelho R., Lucas H., Rosa M.J. (2021) Adsorption/Coagulation/Ceramic Microfiltration for Treating Challenging Waters for Drinking Water Production. Membranes 11 (2) 91 https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020091
  • Member of the Technical Committee for Standardization in the field of urban water systems, subcommittee 3, CT 90/SC 3 - Water Reuse
  • National expert on the standardisation committee ISO/TC 282 Water Reuse
  • Member of the several professional and scientific associations: Portuguese Engineers Order, Portuguese Association for Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (APESB) (LNEC member), International Water Association (IWA) (LNEC member), European Membrane Society (EMS), IWA Specialist Groups on Water Reuse and on Membrane Technology, Portuguese Association for Experimental Stress Analysis (APAET)

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