Energy and Environment Laboratory (LEA)

The Energy and Environment Laboratory (LEA) includes, among its main objectives, the commitment to be a valid tool for daily teaching, research and consultancy activities towards third parties (public and private entities) in the field of problems/opportunities inherent to territorial energy planning, rationalization of consumption and energy efficiency in the various energy production and management systems. In this field, particular attention has been paid in recent years, through various national/international collaborations and funded research projects, to new thermochemical and biochemical technologies for the conversion of residual biomass for the production of bio-fuels and advanced carbon materials. For its purposes, the LEA Laboratory uses modern technologies and measurement instruments, capable of ensuring the implementation of experimental and environmental monitoring activities, as well as energy analyses on biomass and biofuel samples. The LEA equipment for the energy valorization of residual biomass, together with other available analytical-instrumental equipment, includes a fixed-bed horizontal torrefaction and pyrolysis reactor, borrowed from the British standard for the determination of the quality of coals (Gray King apparatus); a laboratory-scale stainless steel down-draft (drop-tube) gasification reactor; a 500 ml hydrothermal carbonization reactor (HTC, wet pyrolysis), stirred and cooled, capable of treating wet biomass at temperatures and pressures of up to 300 °C and 150 bar respectively; an unstirred HTC reactor with a volume of 50 ml and three hydrothermal liquefaction reactors (HTL) with a volume of 25 ml each, with operating temperatures and pressures of up to 350 °C and 180 bar. The LEA Laboratory is located within the “KORE Platform” of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Enna “Kore”. Currently, the team research unit at the LEA collaborates with several national (within a Project of Relevant National Interest – PRIN) and international (Imperial College of London (UK), Queen Mary University of London (UK), Cornell University of Ithaca (NY), USA, etc.) universities/research institutes in the thermochemical valorization of residual biomass through innovative and environmentally sustainable processes.

Project objective

The research carried out by team of researchers affiliated with the LEA Laboratory focuses on the development of technologies for energy saving and the production of energy from renewable sources, with particular attention to the valorization of residual biomass, with a view to the circular economy of resources and the mitigation of the environmental impact of energy production systems.

Specifically, particular attention has been paid in recent years to thermochemical technologies for the conversion of residual organic waste such as forestry, agricultural, agro-industrial waste, civil treatment sludge, etc., for the production of solid (pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization), liquid (pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction) and gaseous (gasification) fuels.

The research activities currently underway concern:

• Hydrothermal conversion technologies – carbonization (HTC) and liquefaction (HTL) – aimed at the valorization of organic waste with a high moisture content for the production of bio-fuels (solid and liquid) and advanced materials to be used in the field of environmental mitigation (activated carbons for water and air remediation) and/or electrode materials (carbon electrodes).
• Hydrothermal processes for the reduction and valorization of sludge and digestate of anaerobic sludge (both civil and agro-industrial), for the production of soil improvers, for increasing biogas production and the recovery of nitrogen and critical and strategic resources such as phosphorus.
• Thermochemical treatments of residual biomass to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion processes for the production of biogas and subsequent up-grade to biomethane and hydrogen for sustainable mobility.
• Synthesis of nanostructured carbon materials: starting from residual biomass, produce through HTC/HTL and/or pyrolysis compounds that, with the use of subsequent processes, can give life to “carbon nanowires and nanotubes” for mechanical, electrical and electrode applications.
• Direct production of green hydrogen through anaerobic digestion by specific highly efficient bacteria powered by sunlight and residual organic substances.
• The recovery of organic substances with high added value (antioxidants, compounds usable in nutraceuticals, etc.) by liquid phase extraction from wet waste from the agro-industry.