Francisco Sanchez joined PSRI in August 2022 after working first as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then as a Research Engineer for the Syncrude/NSERC Chair in Fluid Coking Technologies at Western University in the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alterative Resources. For eight years, Francisco worked in multiple projects at ICFAR. Most notably, Francisco worked on the designing and upgrading a pilot scale fluid coking reactor capable of thermally cracking bitumen and other feedstocks. Moreover, he was involved in developing two novel lab-scale pyrolysis reactors that use induction heaters for the research and characterization of different materials (i.e., plastics and biomass). He also participated in the installations and setup of a 1000 kg cold flow fluid coking unit to study the hydrodynamics of the recirculating fluidized bed. At PSRI, Francisco is involved in fluidization research projects for companies like Shell, Encina and Owens Corning.  

Francisco obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering with a Minor in Environmental Engineering in 1999, and his Master's in Science degree in Automation (Control Engineering) in 2001, both from Monterrey Tech. In 2014, he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Western University, and he research involved studying agglomerates movement in fluidized bed using Radioactive Particle Tracking. During his career, Francisco has developed specialization in process control and data acquisition, fluidization and solids processing, and pilot scale thermal pyrolysis processes. Francisco’s track record is supported with 15 journal publications, 11 conference papers and two theses.