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Food, Water, Waste Research Group

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Helena Gomes

Assistant Professor, Head of Year 2, Faculty of Engineering

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Biography

Helena is an Assistant Professor passionate about remediation and resource recovery. She joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Food, Water, Waste Research Group with a prestigious Anne McLaren Research Fellowship in 2018. Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in transforming waste management into a circular economy paradigm. By developing cutting-edge technologies, conducting pioneering studies, and fostering collaboration with industry partners, policymakers, and communities, her vision is to create a world where waste is seen as a reservoir of valuable resources. Her research interests lie within resource recovery from wastewater, particularly for the production of electricity and recovery of metals (simultaneously contaminants and valuable assets) and nutrients.

Other research interests comprise sustainable remediation and the use of treatment trains and combined remediation technologies. Specifically, Helena is interested in combining different technologies for the treatment of mixed contamination, persistent and emerging contaminants in contaminated soil and other matrices such as wastewater, industrial by-products, or wastes.

Before her PhD, Helena worked as environmental consultant and project manager. She led the environmental and radiological monitoring programme of uranium abandoned mines in Portugal. Helena holds a PhD in soil remediation from the New University of Lisbon. In her PhD, she combined two remediation technologies: electrokinetics and zero valent iron nanoparticles. She studied mobility of iron nanoparticles under direct current, in different porosity media, and tested their efficacy in soils with inorganic and organic contaminants (chromium, the herbicide molinate, and polychlorinated biphenyls). She was visiting researcher at Lehigh University, USA; Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, and M谩laga University, Spain. Later, she was a postdoctoral research assistant in the NERC funded project "R3AW - Resource Recovery and Remediation of Alkaline Wastes", at the University of Hull, focusing on demonstration of metal recovery using ion exchange resins and bioleaching, as well as passive treatment of alkaline leachates (mesocosm and pilot scale) using cascades and constructed wetlands.

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Expertise Summary

- Electrokinetic and electrodialytic remediation of contaminated soils and matrices

- Metal recovery from wastes and wastewaters

- Treatment trains and combined remediation technologies

Teaching Summary

Research Supervisor:

I welcome applications from excellent prospective PhD candidates in the areas of:

  • - Remediation of contaminated soils and waters
  • - Resource recovery from waste streams
  • - Sustainable remediation, treatment trains, combined technologies
  • - Emerging and unconventional contaminants
  • - Bioelectrochemical systems for resource recovery

If you are looking for a scholarship to support your studies, the university offers a great number of scholarships to talented applicants.

Research Summary

Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in… read more

Selected Publications

  • MAYES, WILLIAM MATTHEW, RILEY, ALEX L, GOMES, HELENA I, BRABHAM, PETER, HAMLYN, JOANNA, PULLIN, HUW and RENFORTH, PHIL, 2018. Environmental science & technology. 52(14), 7892-7900
  • HELENA I. GOMES, VALERIO FUNARI and REBECCA FERRARI, 2020. Science of The Total Environment. 715, 136945
  • GOMES, HELENA I., MAYES, WILLIAM M., WHITBY, PAUL and ROGERSON, MIKE, 2019. Journal of Environmental Management. 30-38
  • ZHONGLI WANG, CHANGWEI L脺, YANMING WANG, RACHEL L. GOMES, COBY J. CLARKE and HELENA I. GOMES, 2024. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 473, 134591

Current Research

Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in transforming waste management into a circular economy paradigm. By developing cutting-edge technologies, conducting pioneering studies, and fostering collaboration with industry partners, policymakers, and communities, her vision is to create a world where waste is seen as a reservoir of valuable resources. Her research interests lie within resource recovery from wastewater, particularly for the production of electricity and recovery of metals (simultaneously contaminants and valuable assets) and nutrients.

Other research interests comprise sustainable remediation and the use of treatment trains and combined remediation technologies. Specifically, Helena is interested in combining different technologies for the treatment of mixed contamination, persistent and emerging contaminants in contaminated soil and other matrices such as wastewater, industrial by-products, or wastes.

Future Research

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and international countries who are interested in the following research areas: Environmental remediation, Resource Recovery, Wastewater treatment, Contaminated soils, Waste Management.

If you are an international student, you will need to be self-funded or have/acquire a scholarship. There is an extensive portfolio of Research Scholarships for international students offered by the University and other funding bodies.

If you are interested, please get in contact via email with a CV and cover letter. Applicants should have (or expect to obtain) a first-class or good 2:1 UK honours degree, or a distinction or high merit at MSc level in Environmental Engineering, or a related discipline.

  • ANIL KUMAR, ANA TERESA LIMA, GUNVOR M. KIRKELUND, PERNILLE E. JENSEN, LISBETH M. OTTOSEN, VALERIO FUNARI, ALAN SHEMI, SEHLISELO NDLOVU and HELENA I. GOMES, 2026. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 227, 108746
  • HONG CHEN, YIFEI SUN, HELENA I. GOMES, ZHANG LIN and ZHANG LIN, 2025. ACS ES&T Engineering.
  • SHEN QU, JULIANG WANG, KEYI ZHANG, MENGYU FAN, YUANZHEN ZHAO, XU YANG, ZHONGLI WANG, HELENA I. GOMES, RACHEL L. GOMES, LIMIN DUAN, SHAOGANG DONG and RUIHONG YU, 2025. Environment International. 202, 109707
  • RILEY, ALAND MAYES, WMAND GOMES, HIAND BURKE, ITAND COURTNEY, RAND GURIEFF, NB, 2025. In: Mine Closure 2025: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Mine Closure.
  • ERMINTA TSOUKO, SOTIRIOS PILAFIDIS, KONSTANTINA KOURMENTZA, HELENA I. GOMES, GIANNIS SARRIS, PANAGIOTA KORALLI, ARISTEIDIS PAPAGIANNOPOULOS, STERGIOS PISPAS and DIMITRIS SARRIS, 2024. Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts.
  • ZHONGLI WANG, CHANGWEI L脺, YANMING WANG, RACHEL L. GOMES, COBY J. CLARKE and HELENA I. GOMES, 2024. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 473, 134591
  • V. FUNARI, E. DINELLI, H.I. GOMES, L. MANTOVANI, T.C. MEISEL, A. SICILIANO, I. VASSURA, L. VIGLIOTTI and L. VITALE, 2024. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 12(6), 114883
  • VALERIO FUNARI, SIMONE TOLLER, LAURA VITALE, RAFAEL M. SANTOS and HELENA I. GOMES, 2023. Environ Sci Pollut Res.
  • WILLIAM M. MAYES, SUSAN L. HULL and HELENA I. GOMES, 2022. . In: ALEXANDROS STEFANAKIS and IOANNIS NIKOLAOU, eds., Circular Economy and Sustainability Elsevier. 409-431
  • WANG Z, WANG Y, GOMES RL and GOMES HI, 2022. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 427, 128122
  • WORMALD, RICHARD M., HOPWOOD, JEREMY, HUMPHREYS, PAUL N., MAYES, WILLIAM, GOMES, HELENA I. and ROUT, SIMON P., 2022. Geosciences. 12(3),
  • LIMA, ANA T., BASTOS, FELIPE A., JUNIOR, FERNANDO JAKES TEUBNERAND NETO, RENATO RODRIGUES, GOMES, HELENA I. and BARROSO, GILBERTO F., 2021. . In: IORIS, ANTONIO AUGUSTO ROSSOTTO, ed., Environment and Development : Challenges, Policies and Practices Springer International Publishing. 133-173
  • VALERIO FUNARI, HELENA I. GOMES, DANIELA COPPOLA, GIOVANNI ANDREA VITALE, ENRICO DINELLI, DONATELLA DE PASCALE and MARZIA ROVERE, 2021. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 170, 105593
  • GOMES, HELENA I. and BUSTOS, ERIKA B., 2021. . In: Electrokinetic Remediation for Environmental Security and Sustainability John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 61-84
  • AGUZZI, JACOPO, COSTA, CORRADO, CALISTI, MARCELLO, FUNARI, VALERIO, STEFANNI, SERGIO, DANOVARO, ROBERTO, GOMES, HELENA I., VECCHI, FABRIZIO, DARTNELL, LEWIS R., WEISS, PETER, NOWAK, KATHRIN, CHATZIEVANGELOU, DAMIANOS and MARINI, SIMONE, 2021. Sensors. 21(11),
  • ANAM, MAIRA, GOMES, HELENA I., RIVERS, GEOFFREY, GOMES, RACHEL L. and WILDMAN, RICKY, 2021. Sustainable Energy Fuels. -
  • GOMES, H. I., ROGERSON, M., COURTNEY, R. and MAYES, W. M., 2020. . In: Resource Recovery from Wastes: Towards a Circular Economy The Royal Society of Chemistry. 168-191
  • HELENA I. GOMES, VALERIO FUNARI and REBECCA FERRARI, 2020. Science of The Total Environment. 715, 136945
  • HELENA I. GOMES, VALERIO FUNARI, ENRICO DINELLI and FRANCESCA SOAVI, 2020. Electrochimica Acta. 345, 136188
  • LE脫N, I., GOMES, H. I., SEP脷LVEDA-GUZM脕N, S., C脕RDENAS, J., RIVERA, F. F., MANR脥QUEZ, J. and BUSTOS, E., 2020. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology.
  • WORMALD, R. M., ROUT, S. P., MAYES, W., GOMES, H. and HUMPHREYS, P. N., 2020. Frontiers in Microbiology. 11,
  • GOMES, HELENA I., MAYES, WILLIAM M., WHITBY, PAUL and ROGERSON, MIKE, 2019. Journal of Environmental Management. 30-38
  • VALERIO FUNARI, H. I. GOMES, M. CAPPELLETTI, S. FEDI, E. DINELLI, M. ROGERSON, W. M. MAYES and M. ROVERE, 2019. Waste and Biomass Valorization.
  • VELENTURF, ANNE P. M., ARCHER, SOPHIE A., GOMES, HELENA I., CHRISTGEN, BEATE and LAG-BROTONS, ALFONSO J., 2019. Science of the Total Environment. 689, 936-969
  • GOMES, H.I., FUNARI, V., MAYES, W.M., ROGERSON, M. and PRIOR, T. J., 2018. Journal of Environmental Management. 30鈥�36
  • MAYES, WILLIAM MATTHEW, RILEY, ALEX L, GOMES, HELENA I, BRABHAM, PETER, HAMLYN, JOANNA, PULLIN, HUW and RENFORTH, PHIL, 2018. Environmental science & technology. 52(14), 7892-7900
  • GOMES, H. I., MAYES, W. M., BAXTER, H. A., JARVIS, A. P., BURKE, I. T., STEWART, D. I. and ROGERSON, M., 2018. Journal of Cleaner Production. 202, 401-412
  • GOMES HI, ROGERSON M, BURKE IT, STEWART DI and MAYES WM, 2017. The Science of the total environment. 601-602, 1271-1279
  • DEUTZ, PAULINE, BAXTER, HELEN, GIBBS, DAVID, MAYES, WILLIAM M. and GOMES, HELENA I., 2017. Geoforum. 85(Supplement C), 336-344
  • GOMES HI, JONES A, ROGERSON M, GREENWAY GM, LISBONA DF, BURKE IT and MAYES WM, 2016. Journal of environmental management. 187, 384-392
  • GOMES HI, JONES A, ROGERSON M, BURKE IT and MAYES WM, 2016. Environmental science and pollution research international. 23(22), 23034-23042
  • MAYES, W. M., BURKE, I. T., GOMES, H. I., ANTON, 脕. D., MOLN脕R, M., FEIGL, V. and UJACZKI, 脡., 2016. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy. 1-12
  • GOMES, HELENA I., MAYES, WILLIAM M., ROGERSON, MIKE, STEWART, DOUGLAS I. and BURKE, IAN T., 2016. Journal of Cleaner Production. 112, Part 4, 3571-3582
  • GOMES, HELENA I, FAN, GUANGPING, OTTOSEN, LISBETH M, DIAS-FERREIRA, CELIA and RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B, 2016. Nanoremediation coupled to electrokinetics for PCB removal from soil. In: Electrokinetics Across Disciplines and Continents Springer. 331-350
  • GOMES, HELENA I, RODR脥GUEZ-MAROTO, JOS脡 M, RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B, PAMUKCU, SIBEL and DIAS-FERREIRA, CELIA, 2016. Electrokinetics and Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles: Experimental and Modeling of the Transport in Different Porous Media. In: Electrokinetics Across Disciplines and Continents Springer. 279-294
  • NUNES, LU'IS M.AND GOMES, HELENA I.AND TEIXEIRA, MARGARIDA RIBAUAND DIAS-FERREIRA, CELIAAND RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B., 2016. . In: RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B.AND MATEUS, EDUARDO P.AND COUTO, NAZAR脡, ed., Electrokinetics Across Disciplines and Continents: New Strategies for Sustainable Development Springer International Publishing. 173-202
  • FAN G, CANG L, GOMES HI and ZHOU D, 2015. Chemosphere. 144, 138-47
  • GOMES HI, DIAS-FERREIRA C, OTTOSEN LM and RIBEIRO AB, 2015. Chemosphere. 131, 157-63
  • GOMES HI, OTTOSEN LM, RIBEIRO AB and DIAS-FERREIRA C, 2015. Journal of environmental management. 151, 550-5
  • GOMES, HELENA I, RODR脥GUEZ-MAROTO, JOS脡 MIGUEL, RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B, PAMUKCU, SIBEL and DIAS-FERREIRA, CELIA, 2015. Numerical prediction of diffusion and electric field-induced iron nanoparticle transport Electrochimica Acta. 181, 5-12
  • GOMES HI, DIAS-FERREIRA C, OTTOSEN LM and RIBEIRO AB, 2014. Journal of colloid and interface science. 433, 189-195
  • GOMES HI, FAN G, MATEUS EP, DIAS-FERREIRA C and RIBEIRO AB, 2014. The Science of the total environment. 493, 178-84
  • GOMES HI, DIAS-FERREIRA C, RIBEIRO AB and PAMUKCU S, 2013. Chemosphere. 99, 171-9
  • GOMES HI, DIAS-FERREIRA C and RIBEIRO AB, 2013. The Science of the total environment. 445-446, 237-60
  • FAN, GUANGPING, CANG, LONG, QIN, WENXIU, ZHOU, CHUIFAN, GOMES, HELENA I. and ZHOU, DONGMEI, 2013. Separation and Purification Technology. 114(Supplement C), 64-72
  • GOMES, HELENA I., DIAS-FERREIRA, CELIA, RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B. and PAMUKCU, SIBEL, 2013. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution. 224(12), 1710
  • GOMES HI, DIAS-FERREIRA C and RIBEIRO AB, 2012. Chemosphere. 87(10), 1077-90
  • GOMES, HELENA I., 2012. Environmental Technology Reviews. 1(1), 59-66
  • GOMES, HELENA, RIBEIRO, ALEXANDRA B. and LOBO, V脥TOR, 2007. Environmental Modelling & Software. 22(12), 1788-1795
  • RIBEIRO, AB, RODRIGUEZ-MAROTO, JM, MATEUS, EP and GOMES, H, 2005. Chemosphere. 59(9), 1229-1239

Food, Water, Waste Research Group

Faculty of Engineering
The 糖心原创
Nottingham, NG7 2RD


telephone: +44 (0)115 82 32502
email:FWW@nottingham.ac.uk