Aurora Del Carmen Munguía-López

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York | SUNY Buffalo · Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Plastic packaging plays a fundamental role in the food industry, avoiding food waste and facilitating food access. The increasing plastic production and the lack of appropriate plastic waste management technologies represent a threat to the environmental and human welfare. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify sustainable packaging solutio...

Multilayer plastic films are widely used in packaging applications because of their unique properties. These materials combine several layers of different polymers to protect food and pharmaceuticals from external factors such as oxygen, water, temperature, and light. Unfortunately, this design complexity also hinders the use of traditional recycli...

Increases in population and improvements in living standards have significantly increased the demand for animal products worldwide. However, modern livestock agriculture exerts significant pressure on the environment due to high material and energy requirements. These systems also generate significant amounts of waste that can cause severe environm...

This paper provides a mathematical optimization strategy for optimal municipal solid waste management in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. This strategy integrates two approaches: optimization and machine learning models. First, the optimization model determines the optimal supply chain for the municipal waste management system. Then, machine l...

This work presents a multi-objective optimization strategy for fair vaccine allocation through different fairness schemes. The proposed approach considers a diverse series of parameters related to different public health data and social behaviors that influence the correct distribution of vaccines, such as corruption and crime. Simultaneously, the...

Food packaging often appears in the form of multilayer (ML) plastic films, which leverage the functional properties of different polymers to achieve specific food protection goals (e.g., oxygen, water, and...

The high use of disposable face masks since the start of COVID-19 has globally generated 4.68-6.24 million tons per year of waste from personal protective equipment. Disposable face masks are...

Se dan a conocer distintitas estrategias de optimización matemática que ayuden a combatir las problemáticas generadas por el COVID-19. Para tal fin, las estrategias presentadas emplean metodologías de optimización comúnmente aplicadas en otras áreas de la ciencia para atender la logística de vacunas, el consumo de energía, el impacto ambiental, el...

Food packaging often appears in the form of multilayer (ML) plastic films, which leverage the functional properties of different polymers to achieve specific food protection goals (e.g., oxygen, water, and temperature barriers). These properties are essential to enable long shelf lives, reduce refrigeration usage, mitigate food waste, and increase...

Urbanization, increasing demands, and climate change are critical challenges to ensure water, energy, and food security. The water-energy-food nexus requires integrating tools to guide the allocation of resources and promote sustainability. This work presents a mathematical formulation for the optimal design and management of resources to enhance t...

There have been many problems generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of them is the worrying increase in the generation of medical waste due to the great risk they represent for health. Therefore, this work proposes a mathematical model for optimal solid waste management, proposing a circular value chain where all types of waste are treated in an...

En la actualidad, uno de los retos más importantes es desarrollar acercamientos para abordar problemas como la creciente generación de emisiones en el sector energético, debido a las consecuencias negativas que esto puede tener en nuestra vida diaria. En relación con estas problemáticas, se ha propuesto formular modelos matemáticos para evaluar pol...

The present work aims to obtain an optimal design of a multi-product solar grade silicon refinery under a systematic approach, considering different equity schemes and always seeking to maximize the profit of the facility. The proposed refinery is intensified to satisfy the demands with the use of minimum resources. Our motivation is to include a f...

To achieve sustainable development, certain objectives must be considered. A fair allocation of resources is key for long-term sustainability. Therefore, these objectives can include attaining environmental fairness and sustainability metrics. Besides considering the fair allocation of resources, equity in policies, implementation, and equality in...

Increasing demands and climate change are critical challenges to ensure water, energy, and food security. The water-energy-food nexus requires integrating tools to guide the allocation of resources and promote sustainability. This work presents a mathematical formulation for the optimal design and management of resources to enhance the water-energy...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused crises in all fields in which the human race develops. This manuscript reviews various strategies and models developed to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic generated in different areas, such as vaccine logistics, energy consumption, environmental impact, economic impact, and the management of medical re...

This work introduces a systematic approach for the optimization of an integrated system to produce fuels and simultaneously capture emissions while accounting for fairness schemes and sustainability metrics. The proposed fair-sustainable approach is relevant because a fair allocation of resources is key for long-term sustainability. The considered...

The fair allocation of resources among multiple stakeholders in any area is a complex challenge for decision-making. This paper presents an optimization strategy for the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, when they are available, through different fairness schemes (social welfare, Nash, Rawlsian justice, and social welfare II scheme). The applicabili...

The lack of collection and processing infrastructure for waste management in developing countries is an overwhelming concern. Moreover, the growing generation of waste makes this problem even more complex. Specifically, in Mexico, the waste generation per day is approximately 0.13 MT. Landfill space is becoming increasingly constrained in some larg...

The fair allocation of resources among multiple stakeholders in any area is a complex challenge for decision-making. This paper presents an optimization strategy for the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, when they are available, through different fairness schemes (social welfare, Nash, Rawlsian justice, and social welfare II scheme). The applicabili...

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important but complex logistical problem. The deployment of MSW management systems is hindered by the ever-growing generation of waste and the often insufficient infrastructure to manage, process, and dispose of waste. This paper presents a coordinated framework for complex MSW management systems. The fr...

This paper presents an optimization framework to design an intensified and integrated residential complex that involves satisfying demands and using wastes. The problem is addressed by evaluating distinct allocation schemes (social welfare, Rawlsian welfare, Nash, and Rawlsian-Nash allocation) to identify solutions when the objective functions are...

The concern about the proper use of mass and heat resources in the industry has led to adopt different alternatives for the operation and performance of the process systems. Schemes such as Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) and sustainable cities have the purpose to enhance the usage of the available resources through an exchange network where different...

Allocating finite resources (utility) among stakeholders in a fair manner is a nontrivial task. In this work, we provide an optimization framework to design water distribution networks that ensure fair allocations to multiple agricultural lands. Our formulation is a mixed integer nonlinear programming model that uses different schemes (social welfa...

This paper presents an optimization approach for water distribution networks. The system includes power-desalination plants as well as taxes and tax credits applied to carbon emissions and water management. To find the optimal design of the system, the profit is maximized, whereas the impact of economic penalties and compensations on environmental...

Presently, reducing the CO2 emissions produced by electric energy generation is one of the most relevant challenges. This paper aims to address such problem by means of proposing an integrated system including: i) chemical looping combustion systems, ii) power generation cycles and iii) algae-to-biodiesel subsystems to utilize the carbon dioxide. T...