Born in Bologna (Italy) on march 28th 1954.
Doctor degree in Chemical Engineering on march 25th 1981 at the
University of Bologna.
From march 1st 1983 Researcher at the Institute of Chemical
Plants of the University of Bologna.
From july 14th 1987 Associate Professor at the Institute of
Industrial Chemistry of the University of Genoa.
Currently Associate Professor from november 1st 1990 at the
Department of Chemical and Mining Engineering and
Environmental Technologies (presently Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, DICAM) of the University of
Bologna. A list of the various courses for the Chemical
Engineering Degree, that he taught or is
teaching, includes : "Chemical Processes and Plants,
Part II" and "Plants and Processes for the Food Industry", "Chemical
Reactor Engineering", "Engineering of Separation Processes",
"Photocatalytic Processes and Environmental Applications", "Pharmaceutical Technologies".
He is the coauthor of the plan for the treatment of the waste waters from olive oil mills produced in Liguria region (1988-1990).
He has been the main researcher for the modeling, chemical characterization and gas effluent treatment line in the National Program for Environmental Research Theme n.15. ref. 149115 - 12611374, Sub-theme 1 (In-Situ Vitrification of Contaminated Soils) funded of the Italian Ministry of University and Research.
The research is carried out through a chemical
engineering approach in different fields, such as radiant
energy transport, photocatalysis, ozonation, water detoxification
and green chemistry. The focus for all these subjects is on
the "process intensification", which is usually obtained through
the coupling of reaction and separation or different "Advanced
Oxidation Technologies". The aim of process intensification is
a substantial enhancement of the yield and of
the exploitation of the primary resources. In other words,
sustainability is the actual goal, as it is nowadays
required for the development of the chemical industries. The results can be applied in the field of water purification, sustainability and green chemistry. Some of the obtained results have been patented, such as the green synthesis of aromatic aldehydes (for instance vanillin) by photocatalysis and an eco-friendly method for the production of bromine.
He published several articles on international scientific journals and some chapters on scientific books, mostly in the field of photocatalysis. On this subject, the attention is on the coupling of photocatalysis with membrane separation processes for water purification and green synthesis, on the proper design of photocatalytic reactors and on the correct kinetic analysis of this type of reactions.
For a description of the research activity, see "Research".
