• General Area of Activity: Chemical Engineering
• Specific Area of Activity: Sustainable Low-Carbon Adsorption Separation Processes and Adsorbent Materials Development and Formulation
• Drive: R&D of alternative gas separation processes, capable of competing with the conventional systems, which are more energy intensive and harmful to the environment.
• Scientific interests: advance of new process sustainable technology stressed for industrial requests to oppose the well-known problems of resource limits and environmental impacts.
• Research focus: environmentally clean technology based in pressure swing adsorption (PSA), simulated moving-bed (SMB) and membrane expertise’s.
• Targets: high-purity valuable products got from biogas and gaseous effluents of chemical and petrochemical industries. Specifically, the systems of interest are propane/propylene separations, carbon dioxide capture, biomass to biogas and biogas to biomethane from a biorefinery concept. Search for new materials (metal-organic-frameworks, nanotubes, carbons, honeycomb monoliths) and alternative solvents are highlighted, along with the adoption of alternative manufacturing approaches for their formulation.
These goals are within the Sustainable Development Objectives of the 2030 Agenda from EU mandates and roadmaps. Many challenges and problem solutions are called out where sustainability and delivering by 2030 remain at the core of the scientific and governmental experts. The commitments must be transformed into actions and concrete measures, with an increased role of education and re-skilling of citizens to build a more sustainable Europe.