Ricerc@Sapienza

The application of photovoltaics has been rapidly increasing over the past two decades driven by the idea that it could provide a fundamental contribution to the transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy based economies. However, long-term sustainability of photovoltaics will be largely dependent on the effectiveness of the process solutions that will be adopted to recycle the unprecedented volume of end-of-life panels expected to be generated in the near future.

Energy sustainability of new service buildings should considers the use of envelope materials able to minimize thermal dispersions avoiding at the same time environmental and landscaping impacts specially in the small islands of Mediterranean sea generally characterized by high environmental and landscaping values. In this context, the paper provides an analysis of local materials for the design of low-energy service buildings in touristic islands, according with the concept of re-use.

The possible optimization of metal recovery from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) and Central Processing Units (CPUs) has been investigated. Usual practice is to primarily recover metals with the highest market price. In contrast, the present work shows how strategic considerations of the value share (%) of metals content and data regarding the environmental impact of their recovery can instruct about the best strategies to adopt, pointing at the metals to be recovered as a priority depending on the case.

Electrowinning represents a promising methodology for recovery of strategical, scarce metals. In this study, an indium electrowinning process using a sulfate electrolyte on stainless steel, nickel, titanium, aluminum and copper (SS, Ni, Ti, Al and Cu) cathodes was investigated. Firstly, cyclic voltammetry carried out at 15 mV/s scanning rate and 25 °C temperature evaluated the suitability of electrolyte and the surface reactivity on different metal cathodes. Subsequently, indium was deposited using a current density of 25 A/m2 for 22 h at 40 °C and pH 2.3.

A novel approach, based on micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF), was developed to define
an efficient and fast automatic recognition procedure finalized to detect and
topologically assess the presence of the different elements in waste electrical and
electronic equipment (WEEE). More specifically, selected end-of-life (EOL) iPhone
printed circuit boards (PCB) were investigated, whose technological improvement
during time, can dramatically influence the recycling strategies (i.e. presence of

This work investigates the feasibility of using coffee silverskin (CSS), one of the most abundant coffee waste products, as a reinforcing agent in biopolymer-based composites.

This article presents an experimental investigation of the effects of temperature and atmosphere on the tensile behaviour of basalt fibres. The heating conditions have been chosen in order to mimic those used in thermal recycling of polymer matrix composites. The change of properties is investigated at room temperature on fibres heat-treated for 1 h up to 600 °C in air and in inert atmosphere (argon).

Environmentally sound management of plastic waste is a fundamental achievement in order to move towards circular economy and sustainable patterns of consumption and production. In this work, different emerging applications for plastic waste monitoring and recycling based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology, coupled with chemometric logics, are presented and discussed. Marine microplastics, one of the main environmental concerns, can be recognized and characterized by HSI, providing at the same time information related to the particle morphological and morphometrical attributes.

This work aimed to develop and propose methods for evaluating the metal degree of liberation to characterize the metal deportment/concentration and liberation/association of mechanically processed waste Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) that hold the complex and heterogeneity structure and metal distribution/association. Waste PCBs passed through a series of mechanical processing (i.e.

The compliance of the chemical and environmental requirements for using woody biomass fly ash (WBFA) as a mineral admixture in cement-based materials was studied in terms of the use of the cement-biomass fly ash concrete where the fluids surrounding and interacting with it renew themselves over time. The study was preceded by a preliminary characterization of WBFA whose results showed that the European chemical requirements (EN 450-1, 2012) established for the reuse of coal fly ash in cement-based materials (there is no normative for WBFA) were met except for the chloride content.