Thermoconversion and valorisation of waste streams, including solid waste/residual biomass and CO2 streams from flue gases (gasification processes for the production of syngas and hydrogen, innovative processes for the capture of CO2 and reuse in energy vectors through hydrogenation or synthetic minerals through mineralization) - process simulation, control logic and system development, CFD, experimental (carbon dioxide capture by means of nanofluids and synthetic nano-enzymes)

Process intensification (metals extraction from low-grade minerals, production of nano and micro particles, nanofluids, mainly metallic iron and iron oxides, biomimetic absorbents, innovative equipment design for pharmaceutical and chemical processes, wastewater and effluent treatment for carbon dioxide sequestration) - CFD and experimental

Conversion of process cycles for their decarbonisation and environmental impact reduction, exergo-economic optimization (focus on hard to abate sectors, in particular steel and cement) - process simulation, control logic and system development, CFD

At the end of 2024 the DRACONS research group started to work on AI applied to Chemical Engineering field, focusing on Carbon Capture Optimization and Technical Drawing auto-generation algorithms development. 

Members of the research group of reference for the various topics:

-Waste thermoconversion, gaseous effluent treatment: Eng. Valentina Segneri (process simulation and CFD) and Andrea Liberale Rispoli (former component)

-Decarbonisation of steel and cement processes, metal extraction: Eng. Antonio Trinca, Alice Chillé and Mattia Micciancio 

-CO2 sequestration by nano-fluids/synthetic enzymes, mineralization/conversion, process intensification, Machine Learning (ML): Eng. Leonardo Colelli (conversion to e-fuels), Simone Mataloni (capture and reuse with molten carbonate cells), Mattia Micciancio and Alice Chillé (capture with nano-fluids/synthetic enzymes, mineralisation, process intensification-experimental and CFD), Gholamreza Masoudi Rad (process intensification and CO2 capture-CFD and ML), Edoardo Rossi (CO2 capture and hydrogen production-Process simulation and ML).

Regarding CFD studies, the research group mainly works on solid thermochemical conversion and pharmaceutical fields.