Chateando con la Ciencia: Conrado Rillo
Chateando con la Ciencia: “How necessary is helium in our lives”? – Thursday, 19 October
The VIII edition of the series of talks “Chateando con la Ciencia”, organised by the Real Zaragoza Club de Tenis with the collaboration of the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón, INMA, a joint institute of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, will start on Thursday 19th October with a talk by Conrado Rillo, director of the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón, INMA, a joint institute of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza.
Summary of the talk: HELIUM (He) is the second most abundant element in the Universe. However, on Earth, it is scarce and very expensive. It has therefore been declared a strategic material by the European Union. The geopolitical situation has led to a price increase of up to 500 %. In liquid form, at -269 °C, He is essential in health and basic research. It is used to cool and keep MRI coils and sensors in hospital magneto-encephalographs operational. In research, it is essential in a multitude of equipment, including quantum computing developments. Liquid He boils, evaporates and, if not recovered, is lost forever in the atmosphere. Therefore, the development of recovery techniques, efficient and adaptable to hospitals and research centres, has been a technological challenge in whose solution the INMA has world leadership Indisputable having developed an innovative technology for recovery, purification and liquefaction of He, protected with six families of patents and licensed to the company QUANTUM DESIGN INTERNATIONAL (San Diego, USA).
This technology has already been implemented in more than two hundred hospitals and laboratories around the world. This conference will explain the importance of helium in many facets of our lives and will describe the new technology developed in Zaragoza that has transformed the helium recovery, purification and liquefaction process worldwide.
Conrado Rillo holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Zaragoza, is a CSIC Research Professor at the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon and is currently its director. His professional career has been focused on technological development, using superconducting devices, magnetic materials, or materials declared to be of strategic interest, such as helium. All his developments have led to applications and innovations transferred to national and international companies and institutions. These innovations include commercial products of great success in the market, such as those corresponding to the new helium recovery, purification and liquefaction technologies, which, since 2012, have been installed in laboratories and hospitals all over the world. Other of his most relevant contributions include the implementation of national quantum standards for voltage and resistance and the development of a procedure to ensure the electromagnetic shielding of signalling cables in high-speed trains. Professor Rillo has received several awards for his work in technology transfer, including the “Physics, Innovation and Technology” Prize awarded by the Royal Spanish Physics Society and the BBVA Foundation in 2015.
In order to access the talk, an access code must be requested from the following e-mail address: palacio@unizar.espalacio@unizar.es before 17 October 2023.
