Search

Nell’ambito della sua mission di Agenzia Nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile, l’ENEA è focalizzata in modo preminente sulla ricerca ‘applicata’, ovvero sul rendere disponibili tecnologie innovative e servizi avanzati nei diversi settori di competenza, al mondo delle imprese, alle pubbliche amministrazioni e agli stessi cittadini . Da questo punto di vista, l’economia circolare è una delle priorità strategiche e si concretizza attraverso numerosi progetti operativi con l’obiettivo di andare ‘oltre gli slogan’ e tradurre in realtà il principio fondante della chiusura dei cicli, quale volano di crescita e competitività e, allo stesso tempo, strumento essenziale per un modello di società incentrato sulla sostenibilità. In questo opuscolo sono illustrati alcuni dei progetti, delle iniziative e delle attività, ma anche gli strumenti, le metodologie, gli approcci e i modelli che ENEA sta mettendo in campo per supportare la trasformazione verso l’economia circolare, con un focus anche sulla formazione ed informazione, aspetti di grande rilievo per operare il cambiamento culturale e di comportamenti necessario. In questi progetti il Dipartimento “Sostenibilità dei Sistemi Produttivi e Territoriali” (SSPT) ha un ruolo di primo piano, come coordinatore o referente di attività in collaborazione con altri Dipartimenti dell’Agenzia, partner nazionali ed internazionali, imprese e istituzioni centrali locali, ed altri soggetti a livello territoriale e urbano. Queste attività impegnano oltre cento ricercatori e tecnologi del Dipartimento SSPT e una rete di infrastrutture, hall tecnologiche, impianti pilota e laboratori analitici avanzati specializzati nell’eco-innovazione di processo, di prodotto e di sistema. I progetti consentono di applicare l’economia circolare in diversi ambiti applicativi quali: • Aree urbane: ENEA progetta e sviluppa modelli e sistemi di gestione integrata e circolare di funzionamento urbano per città più sostenibili, circolari e inclusive, per promuovere stili di vita e consumo sostenibili, per effettuare una corretta gestione dell’acqua e dei rifiuti urbani anche in chiave di valorizzazione, salvaguardare salute e sicurezza, stimolare le industrie culturali, turismo e best practices in contesti urbani e periurbani; • Territorio e mare: ENEA pianifica e sviluppa processi e metodologie per la gestione sostenibile di territorio e mare in ottica di economia circolare attraverso la Gestione porti e aree costiere, il Turismo sostenibile, lo sviluppo della filiera ittica; • Sistema industriale: ENEA sviluppa e implementa tecnologie e metodologie per modelli di produzione e consumo più sostenibili e rigenerativi a supporto dell’industria con tecnologie innovative e nuovi modelli di business (simbiosi industriale, Modelli di circular design, Sharing economy, etc), strumenti per le imprese, riqualificazione di siti industriali in ottica circolare; • Catena del valore: ENEA sviluppa approcci di sistema per promuovere e facilitare la chiusura dei cicli nelle filiere produttive e lungo il ciclo di vita di prodotti e materiali attraverso attività per promuovere la collaborazione tra diversi attori e settori, approccio integrato e multidisciplinare (life cycle thinking e misura della circolarità), nuovi modelli di business e analisi di mercato.

Regulations imposing a reduction of the impact of refrigeration systems (e.g. Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol) are pushing towards adoption of low-GWP refrigerants and increase of efficiency (e.g. Ecodesign in Europe) of the entire cold chain. For food refrigeration, large consumer of energy of the cold chain, a redesign of refrigeration systems is needed. In this regard, several refrigerant options are available. In order to compare some of the most promising options, introduced on the market as temporary or definitive solutions based on the current regulations, this paper presents an analysis from both a thermodynamic and an economical perspective. More in detail, a preliminary part of the paper discussed the thermodynamic properties of the following refrigerants: HFC/HFO blends (R452A, R449A), a HFC/HFO/CO2 blend (R455A) and R290. Then, for the cost and technical aspects, a case study for a walk-in cold room is implemented. For a fair comparison, given the same cooling load and the same thermodynamic penalization for the pure fluids and the zeotropic mixtures in terms of average temperature difference between the refrigerant and the heat source at each heat exchanger, the results in terms of COP, size of components and costs are presented.

To compare the results of psychometric tests in patients with BMS and controls, participants were tested for depression, anxiety, fatigue and distress. Patients with BMS had noticeably higher scores for depression, fatigue and distress, compared to controls. Depression and distress were significantly correlated with the burning symptom. Moreover, distress and burning symptoms proved to be interdependent. Depression seems to play a specific role in BMS. Burning symptoms affect quality of life of patients and they could be a predictor of distress. To compare the results of psychometric tests in patients with BMS and controls, participants were tested for depression, anxiety, fatigue and distress. Patients with BMS had noticeably higher scores for depression, fatigue and distress, compared to controls. Depression and distress were significantly correlated with the burning symptom. Moreover, distress and burning symptoms proved to be interdependent. Depression seems to play a specific role in BMS. Burning symptoms affect quality of life of patients and they could be a predictor of distress.

CO2 is a natural refrigerant whose use agrees with GWP limitations imposed by recent environmental regulations in Europe. The energy performance indexes may not fulfil the limits imposed by Ecodesign rules especially in transcritical operation. In this paper, a condensing unit working with R744 is considered. The target application is the cooling of rooms and convenience stores. It is a two-stage system working with inverter-driven rotary compressor, liquid receiver, intercooler and intermediate pressure flash gas extraction. Its cooling capacity is up to 13 kW at an evaporating temperature of -10 °C and ambient temperature of 32 °C. Energy performance is measured according to EN13215 regulation; its seasonal energy performance ratio (SEPR) is over the threshold value of 2.3 applied since 2018. In this work we report the effect on energy performance of intercooler, thermodynamic analysis of main factors of influence and a comparison of seasonal performance with a unit designed for the same application employing a low-GWP class A1 synthetic refrigerant.

36th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 1247-1251, Photovoltaic (PV) technology is one of the most rising technologies for improving energy security and mitigating climate change. The PV market is growing rapidly, and further market expansion is expected all over the world. In Europe, from 2020 on, an increasing amount of End of Life (EoL) Photovoltaic Panels will accumulate. This will represent a new type of waste which will show opportunities and challenges. Nowadays, this type of waste is addressed mostly to landfill, even though it contains valuable raw materials. ReSiELP is an EIT KIC Raw Material project, funded by the EIT, striving to recover valuable materials contained in the PV modules. EoL PV panels waste will be treated by a pilot plant implemented during the project lifetime. The first results obtained by the plant showed that the materials can be recovered with high efficiency on industrial scale. Treatment of the wastewaters at lab-scale has been studied in order to reduce waste and recover valuable-resources in a circular economy perspective. All the recovered materials will be reinjected in their appropriate value chain. Recovered glass is mechanically processed and sieved in different sizes to be re-used in building materials production and promising results have been obtained.

29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 3504-3508, The photovoltaic modules are considered to have a negligible environmental impact compared to the fossil energy. However, in the last years the emission of pollutants from photovoltaic life cycles has attracted the attention of scientists. The principal concern regards the presence of heavy metals as Cd in thin film modules or Pb and Cr in crystalline modules. At the end of life of photovoltaic panels, these dangerous substances could be released in the environment, if special requirements for their disposal are not adopted. However, there is still a lack of experimental data about the release of substances in the environment from photovoltaic panels. As part of a study funded by the Italian national consortium for the waste collection and recycling (COBAT), the present work was aimed to analyze experimentally the potential release into the environment of hazardous elements, particularly metals, from photovoltaic waste. For this purpose, leaching and ecotoxicology tests were performed on PV samples produced in the last 30 years.

The usage of disposable face mask to control the spread of COVID-19 disease has led to the alarming generation of a huge amount of plastic waste in a short span of time. On other hand, face masks are made of high-quality thermoplastic polymers that could be recovered and converted into valuable products. The aim of this study is to investigate a complementary approach for the recycling of face mask in lab-scale plants: the mechanical recycling of the filter in polypropylene (PP) and the chemical recycling of the whole face mask. For this purpose, a new designed surgical face mask was chemically and physically characterized. The results shows that the face mask was composed of 92.3 wt% high grade PP (filter), very similar to virgin PP but with a high melt volume index (MVI, 385 cm3/10 min) due to its non-woven manufacturing. The PP from face mask was mixed with recycled virgin PP in order to obtain a MVI suitable for the extrusion process and recycled as filament for 3D printing. This filament was used to print a specimen with a very similar visual quality of that printed with a commercial PP filament. Simultaneously, the whole face mask underwent a pyrolysis process to produce new feedstocks or fuels. Low-cost catalysts derived from coal fly ash (CFA) were employed to enhance the production of light hydrocarbons. In particular, the synthetized acid X zeolite (HX/CFA) improved the yield of light fractions up to 91 wt% (79 wt% for thermal pyrolysis) and the quality of the light oil with the 85% of C6–C10 (55% for thermal pyrolysis). Furthermore, HX/CFA decreased the degradation temperature of PP to 384 °C versus 458 °C of thermal cracking.

F-GAS regulation has introduced important limitations in the use of refrigerants in the small size commercial refrigeration sector, with a maximum GWP=150 since 2022, forbidding the use of R404A. Among alternatives, there are propane, low-GWP HFC/HFO mixtures or pure HFOs: each of them can be considered as an option depending on the refrigerant charge limit for the application or by the total cost accepted by customer. In case of remotely connected units with potential refrigerant leakages, such as condensing units, the use of CO2 is considered as an option, due to the its safety indexes (no toxic and no flammable) which enables the use of larger amount of refrigerant. Being the CO2 refrigerant cycle trans-critical in warm climates, it may have low COPs and not fulfil the limits imposed by Ecodesign rules. In this paper, a condensing unit working with R744 is experimentally tested to assess the performance according to EN13215:2016. To limit high temperature at the compressor outlet, a two-stage system working with an inverter-driven hermetic rolling piston compressor is considered with intercooler and flash gas removal at intermediate pressure. It has been verified that seasonal energy performance ratio (SEPR) can be over the threshold value of 2.3 applied since 2018.