Ivano Vassura was born in Ravenna on 6th August 1970.
Degree of secondary school as industrial chemistry technician, Ravenna 1989. First degree in Environmental Sciences, with full mark (110 out of 110 ‘cum laude'), University of Bologna, Department of Environmental Sciences, Ravenna 1995. In the course of the university studies he have received the Soroptimist International award for the best school rank, Ravenna 1991 and the Associazione degli Industriali award for outstanding thesis, Ravenna 1996.
From 1998 to 2001 he studied for the PhD degree at the Faculty of Sciences of Bologna University. In 2001 he received the PhD degree in Environmental Sciences: Safeguard and Management of Natural Resources, University of Bologna, Faculty of Sciences. The title of dissertation was “Industrial Pollution Study on the Industrial and Lagoonal Areas near Ravenna”.
From 2001 to 2003 research fellow at the Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician” (University of Bologna) in the framework of the European Project: European Coal and Steel Community -Improved Manufacture of Coke for Non-Ferrous Applications with Environmental, Operational and Market Benefits. The research activity concerned Pyrolytic characterisation of organic materials for coke production.
From 2003 to 2005 research fellow at the Industrial Chemistry and Materials Sciences Department (University of Bologna) in the framework of the research project: The waste recycling: Evaluation of emerging topics.
From 2005 to 2014 he was Researcher in Environmental Chemistry and Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna.
Since 2014 he is Associate professor in Environmental Chemistry and Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna.
Institutional activities and academic assignments
Since November 2019 he is president of the scientific committee of the Rimini Campus Library.
Since January 2019 he is a member of the Council of the PhD Programme "Future Earth, global change and societal challenges".
Since June 2018 he is Director of Organisational Unit (UOS) Rimini of Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari".
From 2012 to 2014 he has been a member of the Board of the Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari".
From 2013 to 2018 he has been the coordinator of the Working Unit “Industrial Ecodesign, waste recovery and product life cycle” of the of the Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research “Renewable Resources, Environment, Sea and Energy” (formerly “Energy & Environment”) of the University of Bologna.
Scientific activity
From 1994 to 2003 his research was focused on environmental monitoring and macromolecule characterization. The main topics were: Biogeochemistry of mercury in impacted wetlands (Ravenna Lagoon). Development of analytical methods for Hg speciation. Analysis and source apportionment of PAHs in environmental matrices. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). Structural characterization of natural organic matter (polysaccharides, humic acids, atmosphere and sea particulate matter). Development of novel procedures in reactive analytical pyrolysis. Thermal behavior of coals and related materials.
In 1999 he was visiting PhD student at the Laboratory for Oceanographic and Environmental Research, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA, where he worked on development and optimization of analytical techniques for the determination of mono-methyl mercury in sediments and in environmental matrices.
Since 2003 he carried out research projects at the Industrial Chemistry and Materials Science Department (nowadays: Industrial Chemistry Department “Toso Montanari”) in the field of waste management and environmental monitoring. The main topics of his research were: i) integrated environmental monitoring of solid waste treatment plant emissions. Specifically have been developed and experimented new environmental sampling strategies and applied the most recent data analysis approaches applied to source apportionment valuations; ii) the expertise in the field of particulate matter has been applied to the characterization of the pellet stove emissions iii) chemical characterization of waste and environmental matrices: bulk analysis, TGA, pollutants burden determination, leaching test (pH stat; compliances test, up flow test, etc.); iv) studies of the environmental sustainability of processes: specifically the life cycle assessment methodology has been applied to several case studies and scenarios; v) study of metals corrosion exposed to atmospheric agents and development of new approach to evaluate the particulate matter effects; study of Pyrolysis-GC/MS as powerful tool for microplastics identification.
He is the co-author of 95 publications on international refereed journals, and more than one hundred communications at national and international congresses.
Teaching
He is university lecturer for “Environmental chemistry”, “ ”, “Environmental Technologies and Certification” and "Waste management and environmental assessment", "Sustainability Indexes and Circularity of Resources (Module 2)", "Waste Management and Control of Pollutants with Laboratory (Module 2)".
