In support of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), C-Capture showcases the work of one of the newer members of our talented team, Yngrid Machado.
INWED celebrates the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to help build a brighter future. As one of our Senior Process Engineers, Yngrid plays a vital role in developing our innovative carbon capture technology to its maximum potential as we aim to make a globally significant contribution to tackling climate change.
Yngrid said:
“I’m very excited about the impact that carbon capture can have in helping reach climate change goals. C-Capture’s next generation technology has advantages over traditional carbon capture methods – it’s lower cost, environmentally benign and extremely robust. These advantages mean it has great potential to play a critical part in reaching net zero, to help tackle climate change.”
Yngrid is an experienced process engineer and worked for over 16 years in the Venezuelan oil and gas industry prior to working in carbon capture. A British Council Scholarship for Women in STEM, and an interest in studying renewables, brought her to UK shores in 2021. Yngrid won her scholarship following a highly competitive and intensive application process, going on to complete a Masters in New and Renewable Energy at Durham University and graduate with a distinction. This achievement added further to Yngrid’s accolades which already included a Chemical Engineering Masters, and a Diploma in Project Management from the Los Andes University in Venezuela.
Yngrid explained: “I’m naturally very curious. I love to learn, and I love a challenge. The scholarship was an opportunity to achieve a major goal of mine. It was a chance to study a new area for me and one that I wanted to incorporate within my career. To study renewables in the UK where a lot of new clean technologies are developed. To understand more about climate change – and how I could participate in helping create a future.
“It was very, very difficult to leave where I had worked for such a long time – and for my family too, leaving our home country to begin a new life in the UK – but who can say no to such an opportunity?!”
Yngrid began working at C-Capture not long after completing her second Masters.
“It’s so interesting to be a part of the technology development and implementation process. Working with a real technology, one that is created and owned by C-Capture. It’s especially interesting for me as a process engineer! It’s great to work with such a talented and committed group of people.”
INWED celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Led by the Women’s Engineering Society, the campaign profiles the best, brightest and bravest women in engineering – those who support lives and livelihoods every day. The day aims to raise awareness of women engineers around the world – giving them profile at a time when they are still hugely underrepresented in the profession. Research published by Engineering UK in 2021 indicate that only 16.5% of engineers are women in the UK.
Yngrid said: “There’s a gap from the beginning. Even at a young age, children are given the impression that men are good at particular subjects and jobs – and women, others. We need to challenge this and change mindsets. We should encourage women and girls to love science, to develop their ideas and give them opportunities to study STEM subjects and consider engineering as part of their future.”
INWED also plays a role encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers – something Yngrid wholeheartedly endorses: “Engineering is a very beautiful career. There are lots of opportunities you can take and it’s great for your professional development. It’s very versatile, you can stay in the field, go into industry, teach – there are so many different options.
“My advice would be, instead of focusing on what you can’t – or think you can’t – do, think about what you really want. What do you really like? If you really like a subject or you have an idea for your future, then you go for that!
“Dedicate patience and time to pursuing your goal. There’ll be challenges along the way, of course, but never give up. Don’t compare yourself to others – each person has their own time and their own way of doing things to get to where they are going. You have your time to achieve the things you want to in your own way. You have an open window.”
C-Capture’s innovative carbon capture technology is a potential game changer for the sector. Using less energy than currently available approaches, it has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of carbon capture to a tipping point that makes it affordable globally. It is also environmentally benign, well suited to the large-scale capture of carbon dioxide, and extremely robust – so suitable for use within difficult-to-decarbonise industries.