Chemical and biological processes applied to environmental remediation and protection
The laboratory research activity deals with the development of sustainable processes and products for the environmental recovery and protection. In particular, the activity focuses on both methods and technologies for contaminated areas remediation and recovery and on wastewater and organic waste treatment and simultaneous valorization towards bioenergy and bioproducts generation, fitting with the concept of circular economy. Principles and methodologies of chemical engineering as well as industrial and environmental biotechnology are applied and combined. For this purpose, the laboratory is equipped with chemical and biological reactors of different types (PFR, CSTR, SBR, packed columns, etc.) and scales (from laboratory scale to micro-pilot), as well as with a wide range of analytical instruments (GC, TOC, IC, UV-
Vis, RGD) for monitoring the main process parameters. The experimental activity frequently extends to pilot and demonstration scales with applications on real sites and in the context of European projects and/or in collaboration with companies.