Environment, Cultural Heritage and Energy
The main research fields of our group include: physical-chemical characterization of waste streams and residues, their management and treatment for potential valorization; environmental sustainability assessment of product-systems and industrial processes; environmental monitoring activities; analysis of the effects of environment and pollutants on traditional and modern materials for artistic, architectural and industrial applications; development of biorefinery processes for the production of secondary building blocks for the biochemistry industry and the generation of renewable energy; energy flows analysis and development of energy plans for municipalities.
Research activity
- Environmental sustainability assessment of product-systems and industrial processes: application of life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques to (i) products and services, for analyzing the related environmental impacts and orient eco-design practices and environmental product declarations; (ii) industrial chemistry processes, for identifying green synthesis and manufacture routes; (iii) waste treatment processes for energy recovery and material recycling.
- Application of material flow analysis (MFA) techniques to anthropogenic material cycles for identifying and quantifying fluxes and stocks of critical raw materials and resources of emerging interest.
- Physical-chemical characterization of environmental samples, waste streams and residues: elemental determination of pollutants (e.g., inorganic substances, heavy metals) in selected samples; leaching tests and adsorption tests.
- Waste management for resource efficiency and potential valorization.
- Environmental monitoring activities: determination of organic and inorganic pollutants in environmental compartments, fate analysis of substances released in the environment, application of source apportion techniques to environmental dataset.
- Study on the effects of environment and pollutants on traditional and modern materials for artistic, architectural and industrial applications.
- Development of accelerated ageing methods for different materials.
- Evaluation of protective treatment efficiency for cultural heritage.
- Application of multivariate analysis techniques and design of experiments (DoE) models to industrial processes, environmental systems and material ageing studies.
- Development of biorefinery processes for biochemical transformation of biomass inputs to ingredients with potential use in cosmetics and nutraceutical applications; development of new bioelectrodes for the realization of biofuel cell transforming agro-industrial wastes in electric energy.
- Energy flows analysis and development of energy plans for municipalities to support energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables sources. Development of algorithms and tools for household energy monitoring and electrical mobility.
Environment, Cultural Heritage and Energy Lab
ERC Sectors
PE10_1 Atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric composition, air pollution
PE4_18 Environment chemistry
SH3_1 Environment, resources and sustainability
PE10_9 Biogeochemistry, biogeochemical cycles, environmental chemistry
PE4_5 Analytical chemistry
PE4_16 Corrosion
Coordinator
Prof. Fabrizio Passarini (Full Professor)
Faculty Members
Prof. Ivano Vassura (Associate Professor)
Prof.ssa Elena Bernardi (Associate Professor)
Prof. Luca Ciacci (Associate Professor)
Dr. Leonardo Setti (Assistant Professor)
Dr. Daniele Cespi (Senior Assistant Professor - fixed term)
National and international collaborations
- Universities: Ferrara; Brescia; Parma; Salerno; Milano Bicocca; School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester; Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary; Université Fédérale de Toulouse; Earth Physics & Thermodynamics Dept.,University of Valencia, Spain; College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Japan; Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Penn State, University Park, PA (USA)
- National and International Research Centers: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalúrgicas (CENIM–CSIC) di Madrid; Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute; Ritsumeikan University, Japan; Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen City, China; CNR-ICVBC, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per la Conservazione e la Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali (Milano); CNR ISTEC - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali Ceramici (Faenza); ENEA - Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (Bologna); CertiMaC - Certificazione, Ricerca & Sviluppo e Trasferimento Tecnologico (Faenza)
Publications
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/fabrizio.passarini/pubblicazioni
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/ivano.vassura/pubblicazioni
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/elena.bernardi/pubblicazioni
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/leonardo.setti/pubblicazioni