Ricerc@Sapienza

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising technology for the production of high quality bio- crude. Aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the addition of iron powder into the HTL process of oak wood biomass. Fe in HTL conditions should be oxidized by water into Fe 3 O 4 producing H 2 in situ which is responsible for the increase of bio-crude yield. Furthermore, the presence of Fe contributes to enhance bio-crude quality due to the presence of Fe 3 O 4 which is recognized to have catalytic activity in hydrogenation reactions.

Magnetic nanoparticles embedded in polymer matrices have excellent potential for electromagnetic device applications, like electromagnetic interference suppression or strain sensing applications in the structural health monitoring domain. In this work, polymer nanocomposites of polypropylene loaded with varying concentrations of magnetite nanoparticles (from 2 to 40 wt%) have been synthesized by an ex situ process. The magnetite nanoparticles were produced using a simple co-precipitation technique.

An enzymatic treatment with cell wall degrading enzymes aimed at improving the recovery of lipids from Chlorella sorokiniana was investigated. Six commercial enzyme preparations containing cellulase, pectinase, lysozyme and three different hemicellulases were preliminary tested. The most effective preparations were then used as basic components for the formulation of enzyme cocktails with high cell wall degrading activity. Experiments were carried out according to the mixture design methodology.

The stability of lycopene in two vegetable oils, sunflower seed oil (SSO) and grape seed oil (GSO), was investigated by analyzing the carotenoid degradation kinetics in the temperature range of 10–40°C. A tomato oleoresin containing 6% (w/w) of lycopene was used to prepare lycopene-enriched oil samples. Analysis of kinetic data showed that lycopene degradation follows first-order kinetics, with an apparent activation energy of 70.7 kJ mol–1 in SSO and 69 kJ mol–1 in GSO. The estimated half-life of lycopene was found to depend on oil type and storage temperature.

Uncoated and nano iron-based coated biomass were employed as packing material in lab-scale and large-lab-scale columns for the removal of Cr(VI) from synthetic wastewaters. A remarkable Cr(VI) removal efficiency (up to about 65%) was observed in large-lab-scale configuration, thus allowing to treat notable amounts of effluents volumes (30–70 L, basing on the inlet flow-rate) at fixed bed height of 38 cm and a sorbent mass of 850 g and 790 g of uncoated and coated material, respectively.

Poly(Ethylene 2,6‐Naphthalate)—PEN has been used as matrix for laminates with the aim to develop woven fiber reinforced composites with a service temperature as high as 100°C. Three different classes of fibers have been considered as reinforcement in woven fabric form: carbon, polymers (Twaron and Vectran) and mineral (basalt). Composites were manufactured by using the film stacking technique, alternating layers of balanced plain weave fabrics (0/90) and films of amorphous PEN. The manufacturing process was optimized to obtain a good impregnation of fibers and very low void content.

Stellite 6 is a cobalt-base alloy commonly used for coatings useful in wear and corrosion protection of several components over a wide range of temperatures. Stellite coatings can be obtained by many deposition techniques: plasma transferred arc (PTA) is certainly an optimal choice that gives thick, dense coatings, but thermal spray techniques like high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) are also widely used to deposit such materials.

We investigate numerically the homogenization process of a diffusive species in a mixing channel of arbitrary length downstream a microfluidic cross-junction. The channel length, λα, necessary to achieve a prescribed level of mixedness, α, is targeted as primary quantity of interest, and its dependence on the Reynolds number, Re, on the flow ratio between the impinging currents, R, and on the Schmidt number of the solute, Sc, is analyzed.

A carbon nanotube (CNT)/gold nanoparticle (NP) nanocomposite was synthesized by simultaneously reducing the Au ions and depositing Au NPs on the surface of a CNT. The functional groups were investigated with Fourier transform infrared spectra. From the Raman spectra, the D-band and G-band of the CNT were identified. The deposition of nanometer-sized Au NPs on the CNT sites was observed by transmission electron microscopy.

Unprecedented hydrolysis reactions are observed in the gas phase in clusters containing doubly-charged vanadium oxides and hydroxide anions, SO2and H2O. The experimental and computational study shows the cooperative effects of the vanadium species, V2O62-and HV3O92-, and sulfur dioxide on the enhancement of the hydrogen bonds of water that allows the acid-base reaction and charge separation in the doubly-charged ion.