Editorial for the special issue “SAASA 2018” in “Adsorption” by guest editors Carlos Wexler and Karim Sapag

WEXLER, CARLOS; SAPAG, KARIM

ADSORPTION-JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ADSORPTION SOCIETY

SPRINGER

Año: 2019 vol. 25 p. 1285 - 1286

0929-5607

This special issue of Adsorption is devoted to presentselected papers from the 3rd Symposium on Adsorption,Adsorbents and their Applications (SAASA-2018) whichwas held in the city of Neuquén, Argentina, February 21?23,2018.The city of Neuquén is the capital of the homonymousprovince. It is a relatively young city, founded in 1904, itsmetropolitan area population of 340,000, makes it the largestcity in Patagonia. Its name, originates from its main river?s,which in the Mapuche language Nehuenken signifies fastwater. The Neuquén province, situated in the center-westof Argentina is an area famous for the rich outdoor activities,especially in the Andes mountains. The province hostsfour National Parks: Lanín (Fig. 1), Los Arrayanes, NahuelHuapí, and Laguna Blanca, various ski centers, rafting, andother activities. The unique spirit of this city and provincehelped made this symposium a scientific success and unforgettableexperience.The first SAASA was organized by Prof. Karim Sapagin the city of San Luis, Argentina in February of 2009;its main objective being to facilitate the emergence ofcollaborations between the diversity of research groupsdedicated to adsorption in Latin America. As a result ofthis meeting, a network of international collaborationsstarted and led to the creation of thriving internationalconferences such as the 1st Iberoamerican Symposium onAdsorption (IBA-1) held in Recife, Brazil in 2012. The2nd SAASA was held again in San Luis in 2013 in conjunctionwith the 1st ?Giorgio Zgrablich? InternationalSchool on Adsorption, and followed by an InternationalWorkshop on Adsorption and Adsorbents (San Luis,Argentina, 2014), IBA-2 in Cartagena, Colombia in 2014,and IBA-3 in Gijón, Asturias, Spain in 2018 (IBA-4 willreturn to Argentina in 2021).SAASA-2018 was chaired by Dra. Eugenia Parolo andher colleagues of the Universidad Nacional del Comahue,the Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingenieríade Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas (PROBIEN)and the Centro de Investigaciones en ToxicologíaAmbiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue (CITAAC).Dr. Karim Sapag chaired the scientific advisory committee.SASSA-2018 was financially supported by CONICET,Universidad Nacional del Comahue and the followingcompanies: Microanalitica Argentina SRL and AnalyticalTechnologies.SAASA-2018 program was comprised of eight plenaryand six semi-plenary presentations by international leadersin the general area of adsorption, plus 60 additional oraland poster presentations. SAASA-2018 was attended by 80delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and the United States (Fig. 2). The Giorgio Zgrablich awardfor the best research presentations by a Ph.D. studentwas shared by Kiara Montiel Centeno and Julián OrtizOtalvaro.