Opening Remarks

The Spanish Society of Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, SEQUI, was founded in 1960. Its main purposes are to contribute to the expansion and progress of the Spanish chemical industry by bringing together the professionals working in this sector, and to facilitate collaboration between the scientific and academic communities with the industry, as well as cooperate with political and social institutions. These objectives are achieved through different activities and events organized every year. The most prominent example is the celebration of the Mediterranean Congress of Chemical Engineering which takes place every three years in collaboration with Expoquimia, the 2nd largest chemistry exhibition in Europe. This event brings a good opportunity to exchange ideas and establish collaborations between researchers from the industry and academia in the traditional and new areas of chemical engineering. This special session entitled ?Spain: Trends in Energy and Biological Research? will cover the following topics: - New trends in energy - Bioproduced fuels (algae biodiesel) - New trends in biomedical engineering - Photocatalitic new processes to depollute waters - Green catalysis for sustainable chemistry.