Contact Dr Irene Carra
- Email: irene.carra@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Water Science and Engineering
Background
Having completed her MSc in Chemical Engineering (2005-2010), Irene obtained a PhD in Advanced Oxidation Processes (2011-2014) from the University of Almeria (Spain). She then became a Research Fellow (2014-2017) at Cranfield. In 2017 and for three years, she undertook a placement with Anglian Water's Innovation Discovery team, leading a research programme on advanced water treatment. In 2019 and after finishing her Industry placement, she became Senior Lecturer in Chemical Processes at Cranfield, where she continues her research on advanced treatment in collaboration with Anglian Water and other partners from the Water Industry.
Current activities
Irene's current research interests focus on advanced treatment for the removal of pollutants from water sources. She is currently leading research on:
Advanced Oxidation Processes for the removal of micropollutants
Fate and by-products formed during the oxidation of organic micropollutants
The Water Treatment Works of the Future: advanced technologies to re-shape the treatment flowsheet of surface waters
Ion Exchange for the removal of organic matter
Point of Use and Point of Entry water treatment
Resilient water treatment
Clients
Anglian Water
Typhon Treatment Systems
Thames Water
Arrow Consultancy
Atkins
Drinking Water Inspectorate
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Wang P, An G, Carra I, Hassard F, Campo Moreno P, .... (2025). Removal of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) by coagulation: influence of coagulant and dosing conditions. Separation and Purification Technology, 355
- John A, Brookes A, Carra I, Jefferson B & Jarvis P. (2025). Understanding the difference between the nano and micro bubble size distributions generated by a regenerative turbine microbubble generator using ozone. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 70
- Carra I, Deng Y & Mamane H. (2025). Editorial overview: Advanced reduction processes for environmental applications. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 48
- Sudrajat H, Rossetti I, Carra I & Colmenares JC. (2024). Piezocatalytic reduction: an emerging research direction with bright prospects. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 45
- John A, Carra I, Jefferson B, Bertolaso L, Brookes A, .... (2023). Enhancement of ozonation using microbubbles – Micropollutant removal, mass transfer and bromate formation. Chemical Engineering Science, 283(January)
- Sudrajat H, Carra I, Rossetti I, Schneider R & Colmenares JC. (2023). Probing Charge Carrier Behavior in Engineered Photocatalysts with Time-Resolved Visible to Mid-IR Absorption Spectroscopy. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 127(45)
- John A, Carra I, Jefferson B, Jodkowska M, Brookes A, .... (2022). Are microbubbles magic or just small? a direct comparison of hydroxyl radical generation between microbubble and conventional bubble ozonation under typical operational conditions. Chemical Engineering Journal, 435(May)
- Pidoux L, Shorney-Darby H, Vaudevire E, Martijn B, Jarvis P, .... (2022). Impact of resin loading on ion exchange equilibrium for removal of organic matter and inorganic ions. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 431(June)
- Jarvis P, Carra I, Jafari M & Judd SJ. (2022). Ceramic vs polymeric membrane implementation for potable water treatment. Water Research, 215(May)
- Judd SJ & Carra I. (2021). Low-pressure membrane technology for potable water filtration: true costs. Water Research, 191(March)
- Fernandez J, Jarvis P, Brookes A, Knott S & Carra I. (2021). Organic matter removal with bicarbonate-form ion exchange: water quality, kinetics and mass transfer mechanisms. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 44(December)
- Alexander J, Brookes A, Carra I, Jefferson B & Jarvis P. (2020). Microbubbles and their application to ozonation in water treatment: A critical review exploring their benefit and future application. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 52(9)
- Carra I, Lozano JF, Johannesen S, Godart-Brown M, Goslan EH, .... (2020). Sorptive removal of disinfection by-product precursors from UK lowland surface waters: impact of molecular weight and bromide. Science of The Total Environment, 754
- Carra I, Lozano JF, Autin O, Bolton JR & Jarvis P. (2020). Disinfection by-product formation during UV/Chlorine treatment of pesticides in a novel UV-LED reactor at 285 nm and the mitigation impact of GAC treatment. Science of The Total Environment, 712
- Román Sánchez IM, Carra I & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2020). El uso sostenible del agua: Tributos medioambientales y nuevos procesos de descontaminación mediante energías renovables. Studies of Applied Economics, 31(1)
- Goodwin L, Carra I, Campo P & Soares A. (2017). Treatment options for reclaiming wastewater produced by the pesticide industry. International Journal of Water and Wastewater Treatment, 4(1)
- Carra I, Sánchez Pérez JA, Malato S, Autin O, Jefferson B, .... (2016). Performance of different advanced oxidation processes for tertiary wastewater treatment to remove the pesticide acetamiprid. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 91(1)
- Jefferson B, Jarvis P, Bhagianathan GK, Smith HM, Autin O, .... (2015). Effect of elevated UV dose and alkalinity on metaldehyde removal and THM formation with UV/TiO2 and UV/H2O2. Chemical Engineering Journal, 288
- Carra I, Sánchez Pérez JA, Malato S, Autin O, Jefferson B, .... (2015). Application of high intensity UVC-LED for the removal of acetamiprid with the photo-Fenton process. Chemical Engineering Journal, 264
- Carra I, Sirtori C, Ponce-Robles L, Sánchez Pérez JA, Malato S, .... (2015). Degradation and monitoring of acetamiprid, thiabendazole and their transformation products in an agro-food industry effluent during solar photo-Fenton treatment in a raceway pond reactor. Chemosphere, 130
- Jiménez M, Ignacio Maldonado M, Rodríguez EM, Hernández-Ramírez A, Saggioro E, .... (2015). Supported TiO2solar photocatalysis at semi-pilot scale: degradation of pesticides found in citrus processing industry wastewater, reactivity and influence of photogenerated species. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 90(1)
- Carra I, García Sánchez JL, Casas López JL, Malato S & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2014). Phenomenological study and application of the combined influence of iron concentration and irradiance on the photo-Fenton process to remove micropollutants. Science of The Total Environment, 478
- Perez JAS, Sanchez IMR & Carra I. (2014). PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY USING SANITARY TAX: THE CASE OF AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER IN SPAIN. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 13(4)
- Sánchez Peréz JA, Carra I, Sirtori C, Agüera A & Esteban B. (2014). Fate of thiabendazole through the treatment of a simulated agro-food industrial effluent by combined MBR/Fenton processes at μg/L scale. Water Research, 51
- Carra I, Santos-Juanes L, Acién Fernández FG, Malato S & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2014). New approach to solar photo-Fenton operation. Raceway ponds as tertiary treatment technology. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 279(Rev. Environ. Sci. Biotechnol.122013)
- Carra I, Malato S, Jiménez M, Maldonado MI & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2014). Microcontaminant removal by solar photo-Fenton at natural pH run with sequential and continuous iron additions. Chemical Engineering Journal, 235
- Sirtori C, Agüera A, Carra I & Sanchéz Pérez JA. (2014). Application of liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry to the identification of acetamiprid transformation products generated under oxidative processes in different water matrices. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 406(11)
- Sirtori C, Agüera A, Carra I & Sanchéz Pérez JA. (2014). Identification and monitoring of thiabendazole transformation products in water during Fenton degradation by LC-QTOF-MS. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 406(22)
- Carra IC, García Sánchez JL, Malato S & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2014). Modelling micropollutant removal by solar photo-Fenton. Global NEST Journal, 16(3)
- Carra I, Malato S, Santos‐Juanes L, Casas López JL & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2013). Study of iron sources and hydrogen peroxide supply in the photo‐Fenton process using acetaminophen as model contaminant. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 88(4)
- Sánchez Pérez JA, Román Sánchez IM, Carra I, Cabrera Reina A, Casas López JL, .... (2013). Economic evaluation of a combined photo-Fenton/MBR process using pesticides as model pollutant. Factors affecting costs. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 244-245
- Román-Sánchez IM & Carra I. (2013). Effect of Environmental Taxes as Correcting Negative Externalities Caused by Water Pollution Applied to the Agro-Food Industry. Theoretical Economics Letters, 03(03)
- Román Sánchez I, Carra Ruiz I & Sánchez Pérez JA. (2012). Evaluation of the pollution parameters in the Spanish sanitary tax. Tecnologia del Agua, 32(344-345)
