Dissertation topics suggested by the teacher.
Internal theses (with the possibility to do the Internship)
Theme 1. The risk of offshore gas blowouts: state-of-the art and modelling
Target. Students LM Chemical and Process Engineering, LM Environmental Engineering (curriculum Tecniche e Tecnologie Ambientali)
Activity. The present global energy crisis has evidenced that the exploitation of gas from subsea reservoirs will go on in the next years. Among the most severe accidents occurring during the production of gas, there are blowouts from the extraction well. As a first task, it is necessary to outline the state-of-the art of the risk analysis of blowouts, carrying out the historical analysis of past accidents, retrieving the occurrence frequencies of blowouts, finding out the models available to estimate the consequences (in particular, of submarine blowouts). As a second task, some of the these models will be applied to a set of case studies.
Theme 2. Emergency Response Gap Analysis in case of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico
Target. Students LM Chemical and Process Engineering, LM Environmental Engineering (curriculum Tecniche e Tecnologie Ambientali)
Activity. Once an oil spill at sea has occurred, it is necessary to face it through emergency response, that is with containment and mechanical recovery, application of dispersants, in-situ burning of the floating oil slick. However, the environmental conditions - for instance, the wind speed, the wave height, the visibility conditions, the temperature conditions - can assume values that limit or impede emergency interventions. A method, implemented in a custom software code, is available to evaluate the time per year during which emergency response is not feasible. The thesis consists in the application of this method the the Gulf of Mexico: the student will be required to retreive the data of the environmental factors, to apply the method to the case study area, and to discuss the results.
Theme 3. Assessment of the consequences of oil spills in the Mediterranean Sea
Target. Students LM Chemical and Process Engineering, LM Environmental Engineering (curriculum Tecniche e Tecnologie Ambientali)
Activity. Though the OSCAR software, which allows the evaluation of the fate and trajectory of an oil spill at sea, the student will estimate the consequences of oil spills in the Mediterranean Sea, off Italy. The software will be run first in the stocastich mode, that is assuming several different sets of environmental conditions, in order to determine the conditions that cause the most severe contamination of the sea surface, of the water column, of the shoreline, and of the sea floor. Once the worst scenarios are determined, the student will evaluate them launching the software in the deterministic mode, in order to obtain detailed results about the risk caused by the oil to the environment.
Thesis 4. Assessment of the costs of offshore oil spills
Target. Students LM Chemical and Process Engineering, LM Environmental Engineering (curriculum Tecniche e Tecnologie Ambientali)
Activity. After an extensive bibliographical research aimed at retrieving oil spill cost models and cost data available in literature, some of these models are applied to reference case studies. For each case study the oil fate is assessed through specific software, determining the impact of the oil on the sea surface, the water column, the coastal areas, and the sea bed. Then cost models are applied to the polluted sea compartments and results are compared and discussed.
Theses during the Erasmus+study mobility
The teacher has charge of the agreements with:
- Universitat Politecnica Catlunyia, Barcellona (E)
- Università di Mons (B)
- NTNU Trondheim (N) (in collaboration with prof. Giacinti Baschetti)
- Fachhochschule Muenster (D)
- Technische Universitaet Dortmund (D) (to be verified)
External theses (with the possibility to do the Internship)
Consulting companies:
- Arthur D. Little, Milano (MI)
- Auriga Consulting, Fano (PU) and other sites in Italy
- CLEA Ingegneria, Bologna (BO)
- Colligo Ingegneria, Casalecchio di Reno (BO)
- Ecosurvey, Bologna (BO)
- Icaro, Cortona (AR)
- IDF - Ingegneria del Fuoco, Funo (BO)
- IES - Industrial Engineering Services (SA)
- IGEAM Consulting, Ravenna (RA) and other sites in Italy
- Saipex, Prato (PO)
- Zoppellari, Gollini e associati, Ravenna (RA) e Bologna (BO)
Public authorities
- ARPAE Emilia Romagna - sezione rischio industriale, Bologna (BO)
- Protezione Civile Emilia Romagna, Bologna (BO)
Production companies
- API Raffineria, Falconara (AN)
- Barilla, Parma (PR)
- Baschieri & Pellagri, Castenaso (BO)
- Cabot Italiana, Ravenna (RA)
- Celli Group, San Giovanni in Marignano (RN)
- Chiesi Farmaceutici, Parma (PR)
- Colorificio Sammarinese, Repubblica di San Marino (RSM)
- Endura, Ravenna (RA)
- Gruppo PIR, Ravenna (RA)
- IMA, Ozzano Emilia (BO)
- Mater Biotech - Novamont, Adria (RO)
- Raffineria ISAB, Priolo Gargallo (SR)
- Raffineria Saras, Cagliari (CA)
- SOL, una delle sedi italiane
- Versalis, Ravenna (RA)
