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Thomas Jefferson, September 6, 1789

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

Buckminster Fuller, philosopher, futurist and global thinker (1895 - 1983)

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Kenyan proverb

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Special sessions

SPECIAL SESSION: Renewable energies, innovative HVAC systems and envelope technologies for the energy efficiency of buildings
Session resume:

The need to increase the sustainability and energy efficiency of buildings has led to the development and implementation of innovative buildings design criteria and standards with special attention to the integration of renewable energies, use of innovative HVAC systems and implementation of new building envelope technologies, together with the use of integrated approaches for the sustainable design of buildings and communities toward the decarbonization of our economies.

The goal of this special session is to present new research results, case studies and practices aimed at reducing the energy demand of residential, commercial, public, and industrial buildings, by also decreasing the related environmental impact and improving the occupants’ comfort and well-being. The special session is dedicated to the following topics:

  • Automation and innovative control for HVAC systems in buildings
  • Building Information Modelling and integrated design approaches
  • Building integrated renewable energy systems
  • District heating and cooling
  • Electrical storage systems
  • Energy sustainability, resilience and climate adaptability of buildings
  • Heat recovery systems in buildings
  • Geothermal heat pumps systems
  • Innovative HVAC&R systems
  • Life cycle energy efficiency of buildings and embodied energy
  • Natural, mechanical and hybrid ventilation
  • Passive envelope technologies and new materials
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Smart buildings and districts
  • Solar heating and cooling
  • Thermal energy storage technologies
  • Thermally active building systems
  • Vehicle-to-building.
Prof. Annamaria Buonomano
University of Naples Federico II
Napoli, Italy
Annamaria Buonomano obtained a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Engineering Management summa cum laude in 2004 and 2006 from University of Naples Federico II and a Ph.D. in Energetics from University of Palermo in 2010. She was visiting scholar at the Energy Performance of Buildings Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, USA) in 2009, researcher at the Ben Gurion National Solar Energy Center of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research of University of Ben-Gurion (Sde Boqer, Israel) in 2011, and several times visiting scientist at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), where she was appointed as Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2017. She is actively involved in research topics regarding building energy efficiency, with a particular focus on the development of performance simulation models and investigation of innovative building-plant solutions, based on integrated construction techniques, innovative HVAC systems and novel renewable energy technologies including solar heating and cooling systems, concentrating photovoltaic solar thermal systems, polygeneration, vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-buildig and related advances concepts (B2V2B or V2B2). She is also involved in collaborative research activities relative to the design of net zero energy buildings and communities through the integration of passive solar thermal systems in buildings and the use of electric vehicles to add flexibility to buildings.
Prof. Soteris Kalogirou
Cyprus University of Technology
Limassol, Cyprus
Professor Soteris Kalogirou is at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences and Engineering of the Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus. He is currently the Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology. In addition to his Ph.D., he holds the title of D.Sc. He is a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and Founding Member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts.

For more than 35 years, he is actively involved in research in the area of solar energy and particularly in flat plate and concentrating collectors, solar water heating, solar steam generating systems, desalination, photovoltaics, and absorption cooling.

He has a large number of publications as books, book chapters, international scientific journals and refereed conference proceedings. He is Editor-in-Chief of Renewable Energy and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Energy, and Editorial Board Member of another seventeen journals. He is the editor of the book Artificial Intelligence in Energy and Renewable Energy Systems, published by Nova Science Inc., co-editor of the book Soft Computing in Green and Renewable Energy Systems, published by Springer, editor of the book McEvoy’s Handbook of Photovoltaics, published by Academic Press of Elsevier and author of the books Solar Energy Engineering: Processes and Systems, and Thermal Solar Desalination: Methods and Systems, published by Academic Press of Elsevier.

He is a member of World Renewable Energy Network (WREN), American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Institute of Refrigeration (IoR) and International Solar Energy Society (ISES).
Prof. Adolfo Palombo
University of Naples Federico II
Naples, Italy
Adolfo Palombo obtained a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering summa cum laude in 1992 and a Ph.D. in Thermo-Mechanical Systems in 1997 from University of Naples Federico II. He was visiting scholar in the Energy and Analysis Program, Energy and Environment Division, at the LBNL, Berkeley, U.S.A. in 1995. He is actively involved in research fields concerning energy technologies for transportation systems as well as for civil, hospital and industrial applications, such as heating and cooling, thermo-fluid dynamic measurements, power systems, renewable energies, innovative HVAC systems for energy efficiency and NZEBs. He is also involved in the development of dynamic building energy simulation tools for the assessment of energy, economic, and environmental performances of the investigated innovative systems. He is responsible of several MoUs with European and USA universities and research institutes with the aim to further collaborative research and teaching activities on energy applications. He is also responsible of several funded research projects regarding the energy efficiency of systems. He is member of: Experts committee for reviewing and evaluating research projects funded by Italian Ministry for Industry (CSEA); Management Committee of the national technological cluster Blue Italian Growth (BIG); Management Committee of the IBPSA-Italy. He was member of: Board of experts in the permanent supervisory committee of the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA); Analysis committees at the direction for audits of Italian Energy Services Management (GSE SpA); Management Committee of Action TU1205 (Building Integration of Solar Thermal Systems, BISTS) of the European COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Invited papers (34)
SPECIAL SESSION: Clean energy technologies and systems for sustainability
Session resume:

The growing demand for energy and associated environmental issues are crucial global challenges that have been attracting increasing attention from a diverse range of academic, industrial, government and policy stakeholders. Clean energy technologies and systems can tackle these important challenges and support sustainable development and growth. This special session focuses on research advances, case studies and practices to improve clean energy supply and energy efficiency in a variety of applications, which covers methods, processes, components, and systems for the high-efficiency and low-emission collection, recovery, utilisation, conversion and storage of energy for heating, cooling and power provision, with emphasis on innovative technologies and renewables exploitation including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, amongst other. The themes of this special session include, but are not limited to the following topics:

  • Advanced solar energy technologies for heating, cooling and power provision
  • Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
  • Decarbonisation of heating and cooling
  • Energy policy and economic assessment for sustainability
  • Energy saving strategies in buildings
  • High-performance energy conversion devices/components
  • Hydrogen related technologies including generation, storage, transportation and utilisation
  • Renewable energy technologies and hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES)
  • Thermal energy storage and large-scale electrical energy storage via thermal processes
  • Waste-heat recovery and conversion to heating, cooling and/or power with advanced cycles

Prof. Christos N. Markides
Imperial College London
London, United Kingdom
Christos N. Markides is Professor of Clean Energy Technologies in Department of Chemical Engineering of Imperial College London, where he heads the Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Applied Thermal Engineering, on the Editorial Board of the UK National Heat Transfer Committee, the Scientific Board of the UK Energy Storage SUPERGEN Hub, and is a member of the Assembly of World Conferences on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, the Global Energy Association, and the International Energy Storage Alliance. His current research interests focus on high-performance processes, technologies and systems for the recovery, utilisation, conversion or storage of energy for heating, cooling and power, with emphasis on renewable, solar and waste heat, thermodynamics of and heat/mass transfer effects in heating/cooling devices and heat-to-power conversion technologies, and advanced experimental techniques for detailed flow, heat/mass transfer in turbulent, multiphase and interfacial flows.
Dr. Jian Song
Imperial College London
London, United Kingdom
Dr Jian Song is the Deputy Group Leader of the Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory at Imperial College London, and he is the Managing Editor of Applied Thermal Engineering and Review Editor of Frontiers of Energy Research. Dr Song received his PhD degree from Tsinghua University in 2018 (Outstanding PhD Thesis Award by CSICE, Beijing Outstanding Postgraduate Award, Wu Zhonghua Outstanding Postgraduate Award). He won Zijing Scholar Fellowship and joined CEP Laboratory in 2018. He visited the Whittle Laboratory at University of Cambridge in 2016 and gained engineering experience during the internship in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Takasago Japan in 2015.
Dr Song’s research focuses on clean energy technologies for sustainability, in particular the hybrid utilisation of renewable energies (solar, geothermal, biomass, etc.), innovative systems for heat and power provision and high-performance power conversion components, aiming to achieve efficient energy conversion and support sustainable development.
Prof. Pietro De Palma
Politecnico di Bari
Bari, Italy
Pietro De Palma is professor of Energy Systems at Politecnico di Bari since 2003. His main research interests are: 1) energy systems; 2) wind energy; 3) alternative fuels for internal combustion engines; 4) combustion and ionized-flow modelling; 5) design of numerical methods for compressible and incompressible flows; 6) stability analysis of wall-bounded flows; 7) turbulence and transition modeling; 8) numerical analysis of complex flow in turbomachinery; 9) microfluidics and particle methods. He has co-authored about 90 journal papers and book chapters, and about 100 conference papers. He is group leader for the research line “Advanced numerical methods for the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations” of the Center of Excellence in Computational Mechanics at Politecnico di Bari. He has been invited to present his research work at several international conferences: in Europe (1998, 2000, 2005); in India (2005); in US (1997, 2000); in Japan (2000). He is or has been: 2009-2012: member of the Board of Directors of Polytechnic of Bari. 2012-2018: Deputy head of the Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management. March 2017-: Director of the Ph. D. School of Polytechnic of Bari. December 2017:- Member of the “Apulian Science Academy” and from 2019 member of the Boards of Directors.

Invited papers (11)
SPECIAL SESSION: Integration of Smart Cities and Smart Industry for Circular Economy: Energy, Water and Waste to Secondary raw material for Sustainable Future
Session resume:

Based on the considerable success at several previous SDEWES conferences and due to the high demand, it has been decided to organise this session again in 2021, this time for the 16th SDEWES conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The focus of the session is in line with the most recent research developments. The topics within the interests of this special session are the integration of energy, water and waste to secondary resources towards Smart Cities, Smart Industry and Smart Agriculture which can be a powerful tool to boost the sustainability in civic, industrial, agriculture and other activities. Due to the immense importance of knowledge dissemination and transfer, presentations are also invited into the field of knowledge management and especially knowledge transfer. The research scope to be considered include smart cities, industrial processes and sites supply chain networks, municipalities and cities, regions and economies.

 

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Dr. Yee Van Fan
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
Dr Yee Van Fan, MPhil, is a Senior Researcher in Digitalisation, Circular Economy & Net Zero at Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford and a Researcher in the Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory, NETME Centre, Brno University of Technology. She serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier), Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilisation and Environmental Effects (Taylor and Francis), and Subject Editor of Energy (Elsevier) under the topic of Energy-Economic-Environment. Yee Van's research interest lies in material recovery and clean energy, supported by sustainability analysis, optimisation, and scenario modelling. Her research to date emphasises life cycle analysis of the solid waste management sector from micro to macro scales. This ranges from assessing optimal treatment strategies for waste collection and management systems to forecasting GHG emissions from waste flows by understanding relationships with demographic and socioeconomic factors. Her current research focuses on digitalisation as a potential enabler of net zero and circular economy targets.
Prof. Petar Sabev Varbanov
Szechenyi Istvan University
Gyor, Hungary
Prof Dr Habil Petar Varbanov is a Senior Researcher at the Szechenyi Istvan University in Gyor, Hungary. He obtained his PhD in Process Integration at a prestigious British University – UMIST, Manchester, with distinction. For performing research on minimising and mitigating Climate Change he was awarded a scholarship from the UK Tyndall Centre. Later he was awarded a prestigious Marie Curie EIF Fellowship and successfully performed research on Optimising the Start-up of Distillation Columns at the Technische Universität Berlin. This was followed by a Marie Curie ERG Fellowship for assisting his integration into the University of Pannonia – Hungary, where he is a Deputy Head of the Centre for Process Integration and Intensification CPI2. His experience covers energy saving, optimisation of energy supply networks, Process Synthesis and Process Operation. His research has been successfully implemented in collaboration with industrial partners: e.g. BP (UK) and MOL (Hungary). He has been contributing to 25 research and consultancy projects (most within the EC funding schemes) and has published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is a co-author of four books and several chapters in books.
He has been the Editor for “Energy – The International Journal” published by Elsevier.
Prof. Jiří Jaromír Klemeš
Brno University of Technology - VUT Brno
Brno, Czech Republic
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Cleaner Production. The founder and President for 24 y of PRES (Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction) conferences. Chairperson of CAPE Working Party of EFCE, a member of WP on Process Intensification and of the EFCE Sustainability platform. He authored and co-authored more than 700 papers, h-index reaching 65. A number of books published by Elsevier, Woodhead, McGraw-Hill; Ashgate Publishing Cambridge; Springer; WILEY-VCH; Taylor & Francis).
Several times Distinguished Visiting Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and University Technology Petronas, Malaysia; Xi’an Jiaotong University; South China University of Technology, Guangzhou and Tianjin University in China; University of Maribor, Slovenia; Brno University of Technology and the Russian Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Moscow. Doctor Honoris Causa of Kharkiv National University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” in Ukraine, the University of Maribor in Slovenia, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Romania. “Honorary Doctor of Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia”. Awarded with “Honorary Membership of Czech Society of Chemical Engineering", "European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) Life-Time Achievements Award" and "Pro Universitaire Pannonica" Gold Medal.

Invited papers (45)
SPECIAL SESSION: From particle physics to sustainable world: Celebrating the achievements of Ivo Šlaus
Session resume:

Contemporary global interconnected crises of epidemics, economy, environment, society and institutions are getting more complex than ever, which requires urgent measures based on knowledge. This session is devoted to brainstorming for new educational, scientific and technological approaches including circular economy and supply chains, sustainable consumption and production as well as new approaches in education for sustainable development. The session should also reflect the legacy of Professor Ivo Šlaus on the occasion of his birthday with respect to all above-mentioned topics. Special emphasis will be given to advances in applications of physics, nanotechnologies and quantum technologies in sustainable development, and the social impact of these activities. The session is organized in cooperation with the World Academy of Art & Science, Club of Rome - European Research Centre and National Associations, and European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production Society.

Prof. Aleksander Zidanšek
Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Aleksander Zidansek is Professor of Physics at University of Maribor, researcher at Jozef Stefan Institute, and Secretary General of the Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School. Dr. Zidansek holds Ph.D. in Physics and Master Degrees in Physics and Business Administration, with specialization in sustainable development management. Prof. Zidansek is active in both solid state experimental physics and in research of renewable energy. He has been involved in a number of national and international research and education projects in solid state physics, security and in sustainable development. He received a Fulbright Grant for research at Montana State University with Prof. V. H. Schmidt in 1995/1996. He became associate member of tt30 in 2001 and associate member of the Club of Rome in 2005 (www.clubofrome.org). He is Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science since 2012 and Trustee since 2021.
Prof. Uroš Cvelbar
Jožef Stefan Institute
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Uroš Cvelbar is Professor of Nanotechnologies and researcher at Jožef Stefan Postgraduate School and head of Department of Gaseous Electronics (F6) at the Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana. He is Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, an executive board member of Electrochemical Society associated editor to several international journals from the field, etc. Prof. Cvelbar holds Ph.D. in Material Science, MScBA and BC in Physics, and specialises in nanotechnology, plasma processing, quantum technologies, environmentally sustainable processes, monitoring and energy harvesting. He has been involved in numerous domestic and international projects, has many patents, invited talks and over 200 scientific papers.
Prof. Rebeka Kovačič Lukman
University of Maribor
Celje, Slovenia
Assoc. prof. dr. Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, she has a PhD in chemical engineering of University of Maribor. She has an outstanding number of citations (considering her age and research field). She has over 2000 pure citations; her h-index is 14. Her papers are in 1% highly cited papers in the research field in WoS. She is an invited conference speaker and invited lecturer at foreign universities, she has evident record of being a coordinator over 25 of international projects (including, Erasmus +, H2020), national projects as well as research projects financed by the Slovenian Research Agency. From 2016 she is a guest editor in the Journal of Cleaner Production, and 2019 Sustainability journal. Rebeka is a member of international committees (e.g. a member of the International Committee of European Round Tables for SCP, a board member of ERSCP Society, and a member PREPARE network, where she was a president from 2016–2018). Rebeka was involved in establishing a study programme and curriculum of circular economy courses. Rebeka was from 2013-2015 a president of the supervisory board Snaga, a waste management company. It is necessary to mention that was a visiting researcher at the University of Manchester, GB, and carried out a study visit to Yale University, USA, TU Delft (NL). After completing doctoral studies, she was a visiting researcher at the Norwegian Technical University (NTNU) in Trondheim. In addition to her doctoral studies she completed a postgraduate study of Industrial ecology at the NTNU. From 2010-2016, she was employed in the industry at the managerial positions. She has been a mentor by bachelor and master thesis, and is a mentor currently to 4 phd students. She has been lecturing life cycle assessment and circular economy (also at the University of Technology Graz), innovations in supply chains, including CE at the University of Maribor (at all levels, BSc, MSc, and PhD). She is also lecturer at the Doctoral School at the University of Maribor. Currently she is a core group member by the European Commission for financing CE in all the EU Member States. In 2019 this working group published a document “Accelerating the transition to the circular economy: improving access to finance for circular economy projects“.

Invited papers (11)
SPECIAL SESSION: Valorisation of Brines for the Recovery of Energy and Raw Materials
Session resume:

Concentrated brines, generated by anthropic activities or available from natural resources, have attracted the interest of scientific and industrial communities as a novel, sustainable and still unexplored source of energy and raw materials. When such brines have anthropic origins, their re-use and valorisation is even more important as it helps minimising the potential environmental impacts arising from their disposal in receiving water bodies. Several different concepts have been proposed so far for the valorisation of brines for energy production via the so-called Salinity Gradient Power technologies, which allow for the production of electrical energy from the controlled mixing of saline streams at different concentration. On the other side, brines can be a valuable source for raw materials, many of which listed among the EU critical raw materials for their economic relevance or supply risk, such as Magnesium, Lithium and other Trace Elements. Different strategies have been proposed for the “mining” of minerals from brines, which depend on the type of brine, its composition and on the features required for the recovered material. All this is strongly connected with the new frontiers of separation technologies, process intensification, energy integration and circular economy approaches.

This special session will represent a platform to share new ideas, application examples and perspective analysis of the large potential of brines valorisation processes.

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Prof. Andrea Cipollina
Università degli Studi di Palermo
Palermo, Italy
Prof. Andrea Cipollina is an Associate Professor of Chemical Process and Plant Design. His main research areas are: Brines valorisation; Desalination and Renewable Energy coupling; Salinity Gradient Power. In all R&D areas the activities of Prof. Cipollina ranged from computer aided process modelling and optimisation to experimental characterisation of innovative systems for the development of novel technologies, but also prototype systems design, construction and operation. He published more than 100 journal papers on these topics and 3 books on desalination and salinity gradient power technologies. In the last 12 years he has conducted and coordinated research activities in more than 10 EU projects, with the last 5 years, in particular, mainly focused on the topic of brines valorisation for energy and raw materials harvesting. He coordinates the EU-funded SEArcularMINE project (www.searcularmine.eu), aiming at the development of technologies for the recovery of magnesium, lithium and other trace elements from saltworks brines, coupled with new solutions for energy harvesting and utilization. He was awarded with the Senior Moulton Medal 2013 by the Board of Institution of Chemical Engineering (UK). He is a member of the European Desalination Society.
Dr. Alessandro Tamburini
Università degli Studi di Palermo
Palermo, Italy
Alessandro Tamburini is assistant professor in Chemical Process and Plant Design at the University of Palermo. His research is focused on the experimental and numerical analysis of complex systems including multiphase stirred tanks and membrane-based units. Research interests and activities involve the following topics: stirred tank reactors, membrane-based separation, and brine valorisation technologies, including Salinity Gradient Power (SGP) for energy recovery from brines and other applications. He has published more than 100 works on these topics in journal papers, book chapters or conference contributions. He has participated in many EU-funded and national projects on water desalination and brines valorisation technologies for energy and raw materials recovery. He is currently involved in five EU projects of the Horizon2020 program, being the UNIPA responsible for the REWAISE (Resilient Water Innovation for Smart Economy) project (www.rewaise.eu). He was awarded with the Senior Moulton Medal 2013 by the Board of Institution of Chemical Engineering (UK). He is a member of the European Desalination Society and of the Associazione Italiana di Ingegneria Chimica.
Prof. Giorgio Micale
Università degli Studi di Palermo
Palermo, Italy
Giorgio Micale is a Full Professor of Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes. Core research topics are the study of Conventional and Renewable Energy Desalination processes, Salinity Gradient Power processes, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Mixing and Multiphase Flows, Computer Aided Process Engineering. He currently leads the University of Palermo team within a number of closed and ongoing EU H2020 projects building-up significant expertise in the area of electro-membrane processes, desalination and salinity gradient power technologies and brine valorisation processes. He is currently the scientific responsible for UNIPA of the ZERO BRINE (Re-designing the value and supply chain of water and minerals: A circular economy approach for the recovery of resources from brine generated by process industries) and WATER-MINING (Next generation water-smart management systems: large scale demonstrations for a circular economy and society) projects (www.zerobrine.eu; www.watermining.eu). He was awarded with the Senior Moulton Medal 2013 by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK). He was a member of the Board of Directors of the European Desalination Society during the years 2012-2017
Prof. Jose-Luis Cortina
Barcelona Tech UPC
Barceñona, Spain
JDr José Luis Cortina is a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering. Main research research topics are the study of Separation Processes and their integration to develop Resource Recovery Processes from Urban, Chemical, Mining and Agro-food waste. He currently leads the Resource and Recovery and Environmental Management Research group at the Multiscale Science and Engineering Research Center of the BarcelonaTECH UPC within a number of closed and ongoing EU H2020, Life and EIT projects building-up significant expertise in the area of pressure, concentration and electro driven membrane processes and ion-exchange and sorption processes to promote valorisation of secondary sources of critical materials or added value bio-active compounds. He is currently the scientific responsible for Barcelona Tech of the Searcularmine ((www.searcularmine.eu), Sea4value ((www.sea4value.eu), Enrich (www.life-enrich.eu) and Recop projects and he is Senior Research advisor of the Water Technology Center (CEtaqua). He received the Ion Exchange Award from the Society of Chemical Industry (UK) in 2008.

Invited papers (9)
SPECIAL SESSION: The transition toward a decarbonized energy system: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources
Session resume:

The twenty-first century is facing several energy and environmental worldwide problems, such as climate change, the increasing energy demand, the depletion of fossil fuels, pollution and the urgent need to mitigate the production of greenhouse gas emission. All these issues significantly affect the economic, energy and social policies of Countries around the World. In particular, in recent decades, a significant global growth in energy demand has been recorded, mainly due to the increasing needs of developing Countries.

For these reasons, many researches aimed at maximizing the exploitation of renewable energy sources and/or providing significant savings implementing suitable energy efficiency actions.

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Prof. Francesco Calise
University of Naples Federico II
Naples, Italy
Francesco Calise was born in 1978 and graduated cum laude in mechanical engineering from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy in 2002. He obtained the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical and Thermal Engineering in 2006. From 2006 to 2014, he is a Researcher and Assistant Professor of applied thermodynamics at the University of Naples Federico II. In 2014 he has been entitled as Associate Professor at the University of Naples Federico II. His research activity has been mainly focused on the following topics: fuel cells, advanced optimization techniques, solar thermal systems, concentrating photovoltaic/thermal photovoltaic systems, energy saving in buildings, solar heating and cooling, Organic Rankine Cycles, geothermal energy, dynamic simulations of energy systems, renewable Polygeneration systems and many others. He was invited lecturer for some courses or Conferences (UK and Finland). He teaches several courses of energy management and applied thermodynamics at the University of Naples Federico II for BsC, MS and PhD students. He was a supervisor of several Ph.D. degree theses. He is a reviewer of about 30 international Journals. He was involved in several Research Projects funded by EU and Italian Government. He is Member of the Editorial Board of 10 International Journals. He was a Conference Chair and/or member of Scientific Committee in several session of International Conferences. He is Vice-Chair Cross Reader for the FET OPEN Projects funded by EU
Dr. Maria Vicidomini
University of Naples Federico II
Naples, Italy
Maria Vicidomini was born in 1988 and graduated cum laude in Environmental engineering at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy in 2013. From 2013 to 2014, she was a fellow researcher at the University of Naples Federico II. She obtained the Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering in 2018. In 2019 she has been entitled as Researcher at the University of Naples Federico II. Her research activity has been mainly focused on the development of dynamic simulation models for the energy, exergy, economic and environmental analysis and impact of innovative systems for distributed polygeneration systems, supplied by renewable energy (geothermal, solar, wind energy) and natural gas. Building Integrated Solar Thermal Systems and internal combustion engines for the production of heat, cool and power. Solar heating and cooling systems. Solar desalination systems. Hybrid renewable system based on wind, solar and geothermal energy. Electrical storage. Electric vehicles. Her research activity is also developed in cooperation with several international institutions (Portugal, Iran, Turkey, Denmark, China, Croatia, Poland, Germany, Canada). She was a supervisor of several BsC, MS and PhD students at the University of Naples Federico II. She is a reviewer of about 15 international Journals. She was guest editor in special issues on International Journals. She is a member of the scientific committee of several international conferences and she is also involved in the organizing committee of the CEER 2020 Conferences. She was a conference chair and presenter in several sessions of International Conferences.
Prof. Laura Vanoli
Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope
Napoli, Italy
Laura Vanoli is a full professor of Applied Thermodynamics at the Engineering Department of the University of Naples Parthenope. In 1997 she obtained her five years master degree with honours in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cassino. In 1999 she gained her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the same University. From November 1999 to October 2003 she was an assistant professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Cassino. From November 2003 to January 2005 she worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Food Science of the University of Naples Federico II. In September 2004, she was visiting researcher at the Energy Management Institute of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (USA). From January 2005 to October 2008 she has been working as an associate professor at the Department of Food Science of the University of Naples Federico II. From November 2008 to December 2016 she was an associate professor at the Engineering Department of the University of Naples Parthenope. From December 2016 to February 2019 she was a full professor at the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale.
Her research interests cover: thermodynamic and thermo-economic analysis of advanced energy systems, energy saving, renewable energy sources, thermo-fluid-dynamic measurement. Over the last ten years, she has been working on simulation optimization and exergy analysis of hybrid SOFC-gas turbine power systems, dynamic simulation and thermoeconomic analysis of polygeneration systems based on renewable technologies and sources. On these subjects, she has written more than 100 scientific papers, mostly published in International Journals and Proceedings of International Conferences.
She has coordinated and participated in several research projects funded by the Italian Ministry for Research (MIUR), and private companies. She thought several modules at the Universities of Cassino, Napoli Federico II and Napoli Parthenope: Energetics for Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Applied thermodynamics for BA degree in Food technology, Applied thermodynamics for BA degree in Industrial Engineering, Exergy analysis for BA degree in Management Engineering, Energy Management for Master degree in Management Engineering.
Since 2015 she has been an adjunct researcher at the Engines Institute of the Italian National Research Council.
Currently, she is the coordinator of the Ph.D. international program in Energy Science and Engineering of the University of Naples “Parthenope”.
Dr. Diana D'Agostino
University of Naples Federico II
Naples, Italy
Diana D’Agostino (Naples, Italy, 1987) is an Engineer graduated cum laude on 2013 in "Construction Engineering" at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy), with a thesis on Net Zero Energy Buildings. From 2012 to 2014 she collaborated with an engineering firm, focusing on projects in the energy sector. From 2015 to 2017 she won three scholarships at the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) of the same University, within the “I-TOWN” European project: her research activity focused on the optimization of building-plants system with reference to energy efficiency and performance of air conditioning systems. Since January 2018 she is a Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering at the DII. On 13th of October she earned the Ph.D. degree. From December 2021 she is a research fellow at DII.Her main research topics are: use of low enthalpy geothermal energy source in air conditioning systems, particularly by earth-to-air heat exchangers and geothermal heat pumps; Nearly, Net or Plus Zero Energy Buildings; energy refurbishment of existing and historical buildings; systems that use solar renewable energy, such as photovoltaic, concentration photovoltaic, solar thermal and CPV/T (concentrating photovoltaic/thermal). She reviewed several articles in the field of energy and engineering on International Journals indexed on Scopus and since April 2020 she is an editorial board member of Journal of Advanced Thermal Science Research. She was co-supervisor of more than 40 Master’s Degree theses in Engineering. Since 2020 she participates to Med-EcoSuRe (Mediterranean University as Catalyst for Eco-Sustainable Renovation), a project funded by the European Union, under the ENI CBC MED program: this program is aims to promote cross-border cooperation in the Mediterranean region in order to identify the best strategies for the energy and eco-sustainable retrofitting of buildings. She was a conference chair of the International Conference SDEWES 2020.

Invited papers (28)
SPECIAL SESSION: Developing energy-efficient and environment-friendly process equipment, process control and maintenance solutions for sustainable process manufacturing
Session resume:

Sustainable process manufacturing (chemical, petrochemical, pulp&paper, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, etc.) is expected to use minimum resources while minimizing environmental impact and keeping costs to society at an acceptable level. In this context, the availability of energy-efficient and environmental-friendly process equipment, process control approaches and maintenance practices is of primary importance. Applications of methods and tools to support engineering decisions, such as mass-balance, thermodynamic and environmental-impact analyses, process integration techniques, advanced simulation methods and optimization techniques, is also a key issue to highlight the importance of choosing the best options. This Special Session is focused on research advances, case studies and practices to improve energy and resource efficiency of process industries, and to reduce their environmental impacts through applications of innovative process equipment, process control strategies and maintenance  approaches. The themes of this special session include, but are not limited to: design and operation of  process equipment to facilitate sustainable performance of process plants, process control approaches to enhance energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact, as well as maintenance solutions to safeguard safe and efficient operation of process systems.

Prof. Mariusz Markowski
Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology
Płock, Poland
Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in Poland, and head of Faculty’s Department of Process Equipment. Before joining WUT in 1998, he has gained 12 years industrial experience as process designer in the engineering companies specialized in oil refining and petrochemical works, and heat and power systems. He has also served as industrial audit expert for The Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) in Warsaw, and as a lecturer at continuing education courses organized by KAPE. His main research field is energy integration and efficient use of energy in process plants. He is author or co-author of articles published in, among others, Applied Energy, Applied Thermal Engineering, Energy, Energy Conversion & Management, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, and of papers presented at major international conferences including PRES and Int. Conf. Heat Exchangers Fouling and Cleaning. He has also contributed to the monograph Process Systems Engineering Vol. 5: Energy Systems Engineering published by Wiley-VCH.
Dr. Marian Trafczynski
Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology
Płock, Poland
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in Poland. Before joining regular WUT staff in 2013, he gained industrial experience as a process engineer with engineering companies. He served as an industrial audit expert for The Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) in Warsaw. Since 2023, he has been the head of the CERED Centre of Excellence at Plock Campus of WUT. His research interests include rational energy utilisation in industrial equipment and mathematical modelling of heat and mass transfer equipment. He has been the lead author of several articles published in, among others, Applied Energy, Applied Thermal Engineering, Energies, Energy, Energy Conversion & Management, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, and several more papers presented at major international conference series, including PRES, SDEWES and Int. Conf. Heat Exchangers Fouling and Cleaning. He is a Special Issue Editor in the Optimisation and Engineering Journal at Springer and a reviewer of several high-impact research journals and the above-mentioned conferences.
Prof. Krzysztof Urbaniec
Warsaw University of Technology
Plock, Poland
Professor emeritus at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in Poland; founder and former head (2004-2019) of the Faculty’s Centre of Excellence in the Reduction of Environmental Impact of Process Industries. Before joining WUT in 1989, he has gained industrial experience as head of R&D with engineering company CHEMADEX, Poland, and has also served as a lecturer at Lund University, Sweden. In the period 1989-2021 he has been active at WUT Department of Process Equipment, teaching and conducting research on equipment units for various processes of chemical and food-processing industries and environment protection systems, as well as contributing to, or coordinating international projects on university-level education, technological research and technology transfer. Author or co-author of 16 monographs and handbooks published by a.o. Bartens, Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Woodhead and of more than 200 papers including ones published in high-impact journals Applied Energy, Applied Thermal Engineering, Energy Conversion & Management, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, J. Cleaner Production, J. Environmental Management, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews. He has presented papers at major international conference series including PRES, SDEWES and World Hydrogen Energy Conference. He is a member of the International Scientific Committees of conference series PRES and SDEWES.

Invited papers (8)
SPECIAL SESSION: Renewable Fuels and New Technologies in Sustainable Combustion
Session resume:

Prof. Milan Vujanović
University of Zagreb
Zagreb, Croatia
Milan Vujanović is a researcher and team leader of CFD Combustion Research Group and head of the Power Engineering and Energy Management Chair at Department of Energy, Power Engineering and Environment, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb.
Prof. Vujanović holds PhD in “numerical modelling of multiphase flow in the combustion of fuels”. His research is in the areas of modelling and simulation of turbulent combustion, pollution formation, multiphase flows and sprays, and also in the areas of sustainable energy, environmental protection and climate change. He holds lecturers within courses “Combustion and Radiation Modelling”, “Numerical Methods in Continuum Mechanics” and “Energy Engines”. He has over 100 publications in Scientific Journals, Books and International Conferences Proceedings to his credit.
Prof. Vujanović is a consultant to many industries and several public authorities. He is a member of the Combustion Institute, member of the European Research Community on Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, and member of the Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems.

Invited papers (21)
SPECIAL SESSION: Future energy systems technologies and models fostering Green Deal targets across buildings, electricity and mobility sectors
Session resume:

EU Green Deal promotes an increasing commitment for the transition from fossil-based energy systems to the renewable-based ones. The application in each context calls for tailored technologies, modelling techniques and planning strategies especially with the intent of involving built environment, power grid and transportation. Changes are also pushed into the market, requiring modified or even new actors and subsequent role. Hence, this Special Session will mainly focus on:

  • Technologies for Future energy systems;
  • Modelling and planning at different scales, technologies and connection, e.g. from Grid-connected National Wind farm to off-Grid solar thermal for rural areas’ buildings;
  • Smart Energy System approach coupling electricity, heating/cooling and transport sectors;
  • Innovative systems layouts such as poly-generation;
  • Blue energy technologies: offshore wind, floating PV, wave and tidal current converters;
  • Energy analytics and techno-economic optimization for selecting the best configuration;
  • Storage technologies for increasing variable RES penetration;
  • Building energy systems for Sustainable Cities;
  • Energy policies and strategies for achieving decarbonization targets at different scales.

Prof. Benedetto Nastasi
Tor Vergata University of Rome
Rome, Italy
Benedetto Nastasi is Assocciate Professor & Senior Energy Planner at Department of Industrial Engineering at Tor Vergata University of Rome. He got the PhD title with Honors from Sapienza University of Rome with a dissertation in Energy Systems Planning and Design. The core of his thesis was published in Energy (Elsevier) and became one of the Most Cited Paper 2016. He was rewarded for the Best Poster at 2nd SEE SDEWES Conference 2016 and Best Senior Researcher at SES4DH Conference 2018. Previous affiliations include TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, International Solar Energy Society and Guglielmo Marconi University, Italy. He is Editor at Renewable Energy (Elsevier) and Energies (MDPI), Associate Editor of Sustainable Buildings (EDP Sciences), Guest Editor at Frontiers in Energy Research, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and Energies. His work is related to Power-to-What solutions for energy systems design with a specific focus on Built Environment. He authored more than 90 publications (H Index 37 in Scopus database).
Prof. Davide Astiaso Garcia
Sapienza University of Rome
Rome, Italy
Davide Astiaso Garcia is Associate Professor of Thermal Sciences, Energy Technology and Building Physics at Sapienza University of Rome and General Secretary at Italian Wind Energy Association (ANEV). He is currently the Project Coordinator of the EU Interreg Med project PRISMI PLUS “Transferring a toolkit for RES Integration in Smart Mediterranean Islands and rural areas”, and is currently involved as Principal Investigator for Sapienza University of research team in two H2020 projects (GIFT - Geographical Islands FlexibiliTy - and ILIAD - INTEGRATED DigitaL Framework FOR Comprehensive MARITIME DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICES), and one EEA project ( YENESIS - Youth Employment Network for Energy Sustainability in ISlands).
His full operating skills include, among others: Renewable energies, smart energy systems, energy efficiency in buildings, energy modelling, energy forecasting, environmental impact assessments, pollution risk management, indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring and mitigation measures.
He is contracted by the European Commission Research Executive Agency (REA) as expert for the evaluation of the project proposal under H2020 calls “FET OPEN (Future Emerging Technologies)”. He is Editor at Journal of Energy Research and Reviews and Guest Editor at Applied Science and Frontiers in Energy Research. He is author of more than 100 scientific publications mainly concerning energy themes (H index 30 in Scopus database).
Prof. Daniele Groppi
Tuscia University
Rome, Italy
Daniele Groppi is assistant professor at Tuscia University. Daniele Groppi obtained his PhD in Sapienza University of Rome with a thesis entitles "The role of sector coupling in planning the transition of a smart energy island". His research fields are energy planning, energy systems modelling and design. Within his Ph.D. project, he analysed Smart Energy Systems in order to increase the RES penetration of energy island systems by fully exploiting the synergies offered by sector coupling and demand side management solutions aiming at an optimal energy use. He has been collaborating in several EU funded projects such as the PRISMI project (https://prismi.interreg-med.eu/) where he dealt with the energy plan of Favignana island, Italy; and the GIFT project (https://www.gift-h2020.eu/) in which he will analyse the flexibility potential of the local energy community in the island of Procida, Italy, and will then investigate on the introduction of a capacity market on the island. Results of his work have been published in more than 50 papers in Scopus database leading to a h-index of 23.

Invited papers (15)
SPECIAL SESSION: Waste derived Biomix fuels for high efficiency and low emission application
Session resume:

Prospects of using waste derived biofuels in the internal combustion engines are increasing day by day due to the limited fossil fuel reserves and their negative impacts on the environment and human health. Although, electric vehicles are future solutions for mobility; use of conventional engines will continue in heavy-duty vehicles, marine, power generation and in other application as electrification of these sectors are yet to be feasible. Biofuels are now important part of the energy mix. However, along with the challenges of producing high quality biofuels, finding sustainable waste resource is a challenge. The bio-mix concept helps to produce high quality biofuels from various resources and mix them together to meet the international standards (for example – biodiesel- biodiesel mixing). Another important aspects of the biomix fuels are novel combustion concepts for achieving high thermal efficiency and low exhaust emissions, examples are – variable compression ignition (VCR), homogeneous charged compression ignition (HCCI), reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) concepts. This special session will draw researchers working on the biofuels and their advanced combustion in the engines. The session will stimulate the discussion around these areas and will help progress R & D aspects in sustainable biofuels and combustion areas. The motivation for proposing this session has come partly from a UK-India collaboration project we are working on this research theme.

Dr. Abul Kalam Hossain
Aston University
Birmingham, United Kingdom
I am working as a Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering in Aston University (Birmingham, UK). My research interests and expertise are in developing small-to-medium scale sustainable renewable energy systems for poly-generation application including electricity, cooling, heating and desalination. Specific areas of interests include renewable biofuels for mobility and co-generation/tri-generation; engine waste energy recovery; 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels production, characterisation and upgradation; new and novel low temperature combustion techniques in IC engines, combustion and emission characteristics. I have gained wide experience and skills throughout my career in industry and academic R&D activities. I collaborate with several UK and international universities and industry partners.
Dr. Ganesh Duraisamy
College of Engineering Guindy
CHENNAI, India
Dr. Ganesh Duraisamy is Associate Professor at Internal Combustion Engineering Division of Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, India where he has been working from 2003. He obtained his Master Degree and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Anna University. Dr Ganesh Duraisamy 's research focus is on High Efficiency Advanced combustion modes for on-road and off-road engine applications, Hybrid and Electrical vehicles. He has published 40 research publications with h-index of 10 and 1308 citations. He is also a member of combustion Institute - India and SAE. He has collaboration with industry partners and bilateral projects with international universities.

Invited papers (8)
SPECIAL SESSION: Harnessing the resource potential of our seas in a sustainable manner
Session resume:

The sea represents a huge resource for renewable energy (Blue Energy - BE). BE is the energy which can be harnessed from the ocean or the marine wind and it is comprised of five main types according to the origin of the extracted power, namely marine (offshore) wind, surface waves, tides/currents, and thermal and salinity gradients. Although the growth of offshore renewable energy technologies has so far been relatively slow compared to those onshore, it is anticipated that in the future BE will substantially contribute to the energy demands of coastal and insular areas, at the same time protecting and conserving the marine environment.

The Blue Growth Strategy proposed by the Commission in 2014 emphasized that harnessing the economic potential of BE in a sustainable manner represents a key policy area for the EU, which requires the involvement of the widest possible range of stakeholders in order to optimize capacity building and to achieve the necessary critical mass. The BE sector was, in fact, indicated as one of five developing areas in the ‘blue economy’ that could drive the creation high-quality jobs and pave the way for a new breed of science-trained professionals, enhancing eco-efficient value creation all along the value and supply chain. Moreover, exploiting this indigenous resource would help reduce the EU dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation, and enhance energy security. In particular, islands and remote coastal regions can especially benefit from BE development, as it would provide a viable alternative to expensive and heavily polluting fossil fuelled plants, and contribute to their energy self-sufficiency.

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Prof. Hrvoje Mikulčić
University of Zagreb
Zagreb, Croatia
HRVOJE MIKULČIĆ defended his PhD thesis in 2015 at the Department of Power Engineering, Energy and Environment, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb. His main research area includes: Numerical modelling of fluid flow; Solid fuel combustion; Endothermic calcination reaction; Pollutant formation, Greenhouse gasses emissions analysis and accounting; Energy intensive industry; Energy system analysis; Renewable energy; Multiphase flows; Waste-to-Energy, Carbon capture and utilization; Pollution reduction; Offshore wind; Green ammonia.
From 2009 till 2018 he worked on the research project “Numerical modelling of multiphase flow and combustion processes” financed by the Austrian Institute for internal combustion engines AVL List GmbH. He has also been working on the national scientific project: Smart energy storage for sustainable development of energy systems, financed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia. From 2016 till 2019 he was a project manager of a European INTERREG MED project PELAGOS - Promoting innovative networks and clusters for marine renewable energy synergies in Mediterranean coasts and islands. From 2019 he is a project manager of a European INTERREG MED project BLUE DEAL - Blue Energy Deployment Alliance, responsible for the Croatian part of the project.
He is an author of 79 scientific papers, in scientific journals (SCI). His current Scopus h-index is 27. He is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Cleaner Production (IF2020= 7.246). From 2014 he serves as a SDEWES Special Issue Guest Editor in the Journal of Cleaner Production (IF2020= 9.297), in the Journal of Environmental Management (IF2020= 6.789), in Optimization and Engineering (IF2020= 2.760), and from 2020 in the international journal Fuel (IF2020= 6.609).

Invited papers (11)
SPECIAL SESSION: Bio-Electrochemical Systems as Sustainable Technologies for Implementing Innovative Remediation and Energy Harvesting Technologies
Session resume:

The special session is part of an itinerant networking program within the EU COST Action PHOENIX CA19123 H2020, a European research framework among the topics of sustainable urban development and environment protection with a key focus on bio-electrochemical systems (BES).

BES are cost-effective biotechnologies that could be used as bio-remediator, biosensor and bioreactor. BESs are exploited in multiple fields, here we focus on Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) as bio-electrochemical converters for rendering organic waste, polluted soils, and water, into a useful resource that is transformed in energy and nutrients. Such technologies rely on the microbial metabolism for reduction of organic content as well as electricity generation as well as being used as electrolyzers. Such systems have the capability to work symbiotically with their surrounding environment, combining decontamination with electrical usage thus practically facilitating an eco-circular concept. Although MFCs – of all types of BES – is the only type that generates (as opposed to consume) electricity, this is currently less than what would be required by conventional power consumer electronics. Recent advances in the field of low power electronics enable the exploitation of these sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies, bringing the “power gap” for direct use and improving their capability to work as energy harvester, feeding network of sensors or acting as a sensor themselves.

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Prof. Domenico Borello
Sapienza University of Rome
00184, Italy
Domenico Borello is Professor of Power Systems at Sapienza University of Rome. He’s got his Ph.D. in 2000 in Energy Systems. He has a specific interest in energy conversion processes with a specific focus on innovative, sustainable technologies. He is currently managing a research group including one Assistant professor, 3 Post Docs, 3 Ph.D. students. He is leading the Fuel Cells and Biomass Gasification labs at DIMA. In the first one, experiments on terrestrial microbial fuel cells are currently carried out aiming at understanding their capabilities for soil decontamination as well as for energy harvesting. He is a member of the PHOENIX Cost Action CA19123, where he is leading the Working Group 4 Point of Load.
In the biomass gasification lab experiments on gasification and energy valorisation of biomass from phyto-assisted bioremediation are currently carried out aiming at understanding the syngas properties as well as the fate of the phyto-extracted contaminants.
He is author of about 130 peer reviewed research contributions to international journals&conferences. His Scopus H-index is equal to 23.
Dr. Valeria Ancona
Italian National Research Council, Water Research Institute (IRSA-CNR)
Bari, Italy
Dr. Valeria Ancona is Research Scientist at Water Research Institute –National research Council (IRSA-CNR), Bari – Italy. She’s got her Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemistry, in 2008. Her main field of interest has been soil decontamination technologies, chemical, spectroscopical and microbial techniques for characterization of environmental matrices (soil, surface and groundwater). Also, she is currently studying the effectiveness of BES techniques in promoting soil decontamination from organic toxic compounds. She has been involved in regional and national projects on plant-assisted bioremediation for recovering soil pollution and producing renewable energy from biomass. Her scientific activity has produced more than 80 contributions: papers published in national and international scientific journals (ISI), conference proceedings and technical reports (Scopus h-Index 11). She has been involved in national and international projects on ecosystem contamination (PCBs, metals) and in bio-assisted remediation processes. Among other, she is involved in the Phoenix Cost Action (CA19123 - Protection, Resilience, Rehabilitation of damaged environment) as Gender Advisory Board. Tutor and co-tutor of students for master and PhD degree theses. Referee for various international scientific journals. She received the Atlas Award from the Elsevier in 2017
Dr. Paola Grenni
Italian National Research Council
Roma, Italy
Dr Paola Grenni is a Senior Research Scientist at Water Research Institute –National research Council (IRSA-CNR), ROME – ITALY. She obtained the master Degree (M.Sc.) in Natural Science (summa cum laude) from University of Trieste and the Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the Milano Bicocca University. Her main field of interest has been microbial ecology in soil, sediments, surface and groundwater. Experimental activity includes methods for assessing microbial activity and diversity, as well as molecular methods, together with ecotoxicological methods. She is the author of about 100 publications including research papers in peer-reviewed journals and some book chapters (Scopus h index 23). She has been involved in national and international projects on ecosystem contamination (pesticides, their transformation products and fertilizers; pharmaceuticals; PCBs; anionic surfactants; metals) and in bioassisted remediation processes. Among other, she is also involved as Italian MC Member of the Phoenix Cost Action (CA19123 - Protection, Resilience, Rehabilitation of damaged environment).
Expert consultant in the evaluation of research projects and referee for various international scientific journals; Editorial board of various Journals and editor of books. Tutor and co-tutor of students for master and PhD degree theses. She received the Atlas Award from the Elsevier in 2017.
Prof. Ioannis Ieropoulos
University of the West of England, Bristol
Bristol, United Kingdom
Ioannis A. Ieropoulos is Professor of Bioenergy & Self-Sustainable Systems and co-founder and Director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, UWE. He has an interest in waste utilisation and energy autonomy and produced the EcoBot family of robots and RowBot, which have their own MFC microbiome and operate completely devoid of conventional power sources. He has been an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow (2010-2015) and is currently a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grantee on the "Urine-tricity/PEE POWER®" project, advancing the MFC technology for sanitation improvement in Developing World Countries. He leads projects, focusing on robotics, biodegradable & functional materials, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Commission (FP-6, FP-7 and H2020) with a focus on living architecture. He has published >100 peer reviewed journal papers, generated >£10M of research income in the last 10 years and holds 2 patents on MFC stack development, configuration, modulation and control.
Dr. Andrea Pietrelli
Universite Lumirere Lyon 2
LYON, France
Dr Andrea Pietrelli is Research Scientist at University Lyon 2, Lyon, France. He was awarded with two PhD titles from the Department of Information, Electronics and Communications in ICT at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and from the Ampere Laboratory in Electrical, Electronics and communications engineering at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France. He obtained the master Degree (M.Sc.) in Communications Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome. His research activity has focussed on bio-electrochemical systems, energy harvesting technologies, low power electronics, wireless sensor networks, ground penetrating radar systems, microbial fuel cells scaling-up, and environmental monitoring applications. He is the Chair of the H2020 COST Action (CA 19123) PHOENIX Protection, Resilience and Rehabilitation of Damaged Environment.

Invited papers (6)
SPECIAL SESSION: Plant Assisted Bioremediation of Contaminated Areas: A Sustainable Technology for Recovering Soil Pollution and Energy Conversion in a Framework of Circularity
Session resume:

Plant-assisted bioremediation (PABR) technology is currently getting popular as an environmental-friendly and sustainable strategy in comparison with traditional thermal and physico-chemical approaches.  It has been successfully applied to multi-contaminated soil and water ecosystems. This session will focus on PABR case studies at lab and field scales for recovering soil from various contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals, oil-products, emerging contaminants (e.g. pharmaceuticals, microplastics) alone or in chemical mixtures. Different treatments such as the use of soil amendments (e.g. compost, biochar, etc.), biosurfactants, nanomaterials (e.g. Nano-TiO2, -Fe3O4, NZVI, etc.), will be assessed as useful strategies for enhancing the efficiency of PABR technology. Particular attention will be focused on the characterization of soil microbial communities in the rhizosphere and the chemical dialogue between plant root and microorganisms (e.g. root exudates), in order to evaluate the new achievements and further research needs in the study of plant-microorganism’s interactions, which play a key role in promoting PABR technology.

Moreover, the potential of converting PABR biomass for energy use will be also considered. Different conversion solutions can be applied on PABR biomass such as combustion, gasification, torrefaction and pyrolysis aiming at producing biofuel (liquids or gaseous) to be used in transport or in (co-)generation power plant. Specific actions should be considered for separating and possibly reusing the extracted contaminants, in an attempt to enforce complete circularity. Finally, the sustainable PABR technology capabilities in restoring contaminated areas and providing energy will be discussed in the light of the recent EU GREEN DEAL actions, which aim to transform EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.

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Dr. Valeria Ancona
Italian National Research Council, Water Research Institute (IRSA-CNR)
Bari, Italy
Dr. Valeria Ancona is Research Scientist at Water Research Institute –National research Council (IRSA-CNR), Bari – Italy. She’s got her Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemistry, in 2008. Her main field of interest has been soil decontamination technologies, chemical, spectroscopical and microbial techniques for characterization of environmental matrices (soil, surface and groundwater). Also, she is currently studying the effectiveness of BES techniques in promoting soil decontamination from organic toxic compounds. She has been involved in regional and national projects on plant-assisted bioremediation for recovering soil pollution and producing renewable energy from biomass. Her scientific activity has produced more than 80 contributions: papers published in national and international scientific journals (ISI), conference proceedings and technical reports (Scopus h-Index 11). She has been involved in national and international projects on ecosystem contamination (PCBs, metals) and in bio-assisted remediation processes. Among other, she is involved in the Phoenix Cost Action (CA19123 - Protection, Resilience, Rehabilitation of damaged environment) as Gender Advisory Board. Tutor and co-tutor of students for master and PhD degree theses. Referee for various international scientific journals. She received the Atlas Award from the Elsevier in 2017
Prof. Domenico Borello
Sapienza University of Rome
00184, Italy
Domenico Borello is Professor of Power Systems at Sapienza University of Rome. He’s got his Ph.D. in 2000 in Energy Systems. He has a specific interest in energy conversion processes with a specific focus on innovative, sustainable technologies. He is currently managing a research group including one Assistant professor, 3 Post Docs, 3 Ph.D. students. He is leading the Fuel Cells and Biomass Gasification labs at DIMA. In the first one, experiments on terrestrial microbial fuel cells are currently carried out aiming at understanding their capabilities for soil decontamination as well as for energy harvesting. He is a member of the PHOENIX Cost Action CA19123, where he is leading the Working Group 4 Point of Load.
In the biomass gasification lab experiments on gasification and energy valorisation of biomass from phyto-assisted bioremediation are currently carried out aiming at understanding the syngas properties as well as the fate of the phyto-extracted contaminants.
He is author of about 130 peer reviewed research contributions to international journals&conferences. His Scopus H-index is equal to 23.
Dr. Anna Barra Caracciolo
Italian National Research Council - Water Research Institute (IRSA-CNR)
Roma, Italy
She is an Ecologist PhD and Research Director at IRSA-CNR. Her current research field is the study of contaminant fate with particular regard to the role of the natural microbial community in removing chemicals (bioremediation) alone or in support to plants (phyto-assisted bioremediation). She teaches Bioremediation in the Ecological Master Course at Rome Sapienza University. She is member of the European Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). She is the Coordinator of “AZeRO antibiotic Project” – funded by LAZIO INNOVA (Lazio Region) and is responsible of “innovative method design for identification of microorganisms involved in bioremediation “in the Project “Green Solutions” (FESR-FSE 2014-2020). She is author of 200 publications including research and opinion papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and Meeting Proceedings. Her Scopus H-Index is equal to 26.

Invited papers (4)


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