Research Projects

DRASTIC: Digitalized smart and sustainable concrete development.

Duration: 2023-2025 | Leader: Prof. Francesco Fabbrocino

Funding Body: PRIN 2022, PNRR.

The construction industry has a massive environmental impact. Cement and concrete production generate up to 8% of global CO₂ emissions. This project aims at investigating new types of advanced and smart concrete mixes that can sense the environment and the material status. Novel material formulations will be analysed and tested according to small scale specimens to retrieve data to be used with a digital twin based on a multidisciplinary optimization algorithm based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, in particular, Machine Learning (ML) tools.

TReE: Transition to ecological economy through circular models for architectural and infrastructural reuse.

Duration: 2023-2025 | Leader: Prof. Francesco Fabbrocino

Funding Body: PRIN 2022.

TReE offers the interpretation of the circular adaptive reuse paradigm to cultural built heritage and its effective management, implementing the “circular city model”, which mimics the nature organization structure of trees/forests, that receive energy from the sun and contribute to the decarbonization through a perfect metabolism. The objective of TReE is to develop and validate multidimensional and multicriteria evaluation tools to support decision making in adaptive reuse processes towards circular and sustainable cities.

• Historic Villages Regeneration: Circular ecological heritage community models.

Duration: 2023-2025 | Leader: Prof. Mariarosaria Angrisano

Funding Body: PRIN 2022, PNRR.

With climate change advancing rapidly, cities are becoming less livable. In this contexts, rural historic villages have the potential to gain attractiveness as they could offer healthier environment, work-life balance, as well as unique cultural identity, if basic digital, social, cultural, energy and transport services are developed. 

This research aims to test the feasibility of establishing self-sufficient ecological communities in historic villages, exploring innovative approaches to circular territorial regeneration through the cooperative and collaborative models of the third sector, ensuring stakeholders’ engagement through co-design and co-programming processes.

• USEFUL³: Upcycling of agro-induStrial by-products to improvE Food chain sUstainability, reduce polLution, and increase animaL heaLth and productivity.

Duration: 2023-2025 | Leader: Prof. Grazia Policastro

Funding Body: PRIN 2022, PNRR.

USEFUL³ aims to develop an integrated biorefinery for the reuse of agro-industrial by-products. Specifically, the effects of hazelnut and pomegranate by-products will be investigated as potential anthelmintics, with specific applications in sheep farming. The residues from the extraction process will be further valorized via anaerobic digestion for energy recovery. Finally, the environmental sustainability of the process will be assessed through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

• ORIONE

Duration: 2024-2025 | Leader: Prof. Grazia Policastro

Funding Body: FRC.

The research project aims to apply advanced techniques for optimizing biorefining processes. These processes focus on the recovery and valorization of innovative materials, thus establishing the foundations for a more efficient and sustainable economy. The project intends to provide innovative solutions by promoting the development of eco-sustainable industrial practices and creating added value through resource recovery.

• CIR-TECH: Sustainable materials and technologies for the reuse of historic buildings in a circular perspective

Duration: 2024-2025 | Leader: Prof. Ippolita Mecca

Funding Body: FRC.

With the rapid advance of climate change, cities are becoming less livable, recording greater effects of “heat islands” and overall unhealthy environmental conditions. 

The reuse of historic buildings can play a key role in achieving climate and well-being objectives by strengthening the cultural identity, social cohesion and cooperative capacity of communities. The objective of the project is to identify appropriate sustainable methodologies, materials and technologies for the reuse of historic buildings that are in line with current regulations and structurally compatible.

BIOforTE: Green biomass fractionation for development of new 3D printed sustainable biocomposite materials for tissue engineering 

Duration: 2023-2025 | Leader: Prof. Gianluca Cavalaglio

Funding Body: PRIN 2022, PNRR.

The project aims to develop an efficient and sustainable methodology for producing biomaterials as an alternative to plastics for use in 3D printing for biomedical applications, in particular, the production of an innovative bio-composite for applications in the biomedical sector. The bioproduct will be composed of polylactic acid (PLA), lignin, and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), all entirely derived from lignocellulosic biomass through “green” processes. Additionally, a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of the entire process will be carried out to optimize the energy and environmental performance of each phase.

 BIOMAPS: Sviluppo di materiali, tecniche e tecnologie innovative e processi sostenibili per l’ottenimento di bioprodotti in ambito industriale, civile e medicale

Duration: 2024-2025 | Leader: Prof. Gianluca Cavalaglio

Funding Body: PRA 2024.

The project aims at investigating the potential use of innovative materials and bioproducts derived from renewable sources for applications in various sectors (industrial, civil, medical). The main objective is to optimize techniques and processes in terms of environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and economic feasibility, while contributing to the ongoing ecological and energy transition at both the European and national levels. The expected scientific impact will drive progress in the fields of the circular economy, green chemistry and ecological transition, through the development of innovative processes for the use of sustainable materials for the production of bioproducts.

• Nanotechnology in Green Construction: Opportunities and challenges of nanotechnology in advanced and green construction materials.

Duration: 2022-2025 | Leader: Prof. Francesco Fabbrocino

Funding Body: PRIN 2020.

Nanoengineering applied to construction materials makes it possible to respond both to the growing demand for enhancing construction materials (with satisfactory performances and delayed degradation) and to the demand for energy savings.  The research aims to develop protocols to be able to use nanomaterials in the construction industry on a large scale through a preliminary choice of nanomaterials of potential use in constructions and the study of their characteristics and the study of the behavior of construction elements they contain.

• FIRMITAS: Multi-hazard assessment and retrofit of bridges using industrialized solutions.

  Duration: 2022-2026 | Leader: Prof. Anna Scotto di Santolo

  Funding Body: PRIN 2020.

  The FIRMITAS project is devoted to proposing and selecting the most effective strategies for intervention, able to contribute to decision-making processes with a view to reduce the collapse risk of roadway bridges. Demolition and reconstruction should be avoided as much as possible, so maintenance and rehabilitation based on smart solutions should be encouraged. According to this outlook, FIRMITAS is also aimed at multi-scale assessment of the robustness of both single bridges and bridge network connectivity under multiple hazardous events, trying to propose an approach that is not dominated by interventions required to guarantee urgent safety rules. The project will combine natural and human-induced hazards according to an organic approach, looking also at cascading events such as landslides triggered by earthquakes.

• SMS-TM: Innovative solutions for smart and sustainable technologies.

  Duration: 2023 | Leader: Prof. Francesco Fabbrocino

  Funding Body: Innovation Agreements, MIMIT.

  The project aims at the creation of protocols and monitoring systems for the control and management of the state of wear and degradation of the parts constituting rail transport. The system involves the networking of dedicated sensors with different measurable quantities, implemented with innovative sensors specially designed for specific manoeuvring points for the measurement of significant quantities such as: forces, temperature, damage, strain and presence of ice. In addition to the creation of a dedicated software for local data analysis on multipoint, the specifications of a communication and data transmission system at various levels will be designed