Daniele Sofia

University of Calabria | Università della Calabria · Department of Computer Engineering, Modelling, Electronics and Systems (DIMES)

This study focuses on the assessment of air quality in the industrial sector of Solofra, particularly within the tanning industry, known for its intensive activities and potential environmental impact. The main objective is to monitor the presence of atmospheric pollutants such as particulate matter (dust), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxid...

Climate change, driven by elevated atmospheric CO2 levels, is recognized as a persistent and significant issue of the 21st century. Consequently, the creation of effective and suitable methods to decrease atmospheric CO2 emissions is urgently and critically needed. Various techniques, including membrane separation, chemical absorption, and adsorpti...

The quantity of the main pollutants present in the atmosphere (particulate matter, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide) and meteorological events (rain) can cause permanent or catastrophic damage to plant growth. This study was conducted for the environmental assessment of the Italian territory, in the cities of Palermo, Bari, Ferrara, Padua, a...

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an air pollutant highly impacting human health, and its measurement is crucial for air quality assessment. Use of passive samplers for long-term large-scale monitoring is a reasonably reliable and economic alternative to more sophisticated and expensive equipment employed in active air sampling by environmental control aut...

This study investigates the spreadability behaviour of four different polymeric materials, namely Polyamide 6, Polyamide 6 Black, Polypropylene, and Thermoplastic Polyurethane, under different spreading speeds (30 and 3 mm/s) and powder bed temperatures (25, 80, 110°C) using a purposely developed experimental apparatus. Macroscopic and microscopic...

In this study, a Discrete Element Method (DEM)-based model was developed to simulate the powder spreading process in Powder bed Fusion (PBF) for Polyamide 6 (PA6) powder, which considered the spreading speed (3 mm/s and 30 mm/s) and temperature (25 °C and 110 °C) as parameters affecting the final spreading powder layer quality. The particle horizon...

The Special Issue entitled “Air Quality Monitoring for Smart Cities and Industrial Applications” addresses the pressing concern of environmental pollution, particularly air pollution, and its impact on global well-being [...]

Different integration methods were tested to integrate data from a dynamic road network (ROM) in which pollution measurement sensors were mounted over delivery vans. Two methods were purposely developed, the isoelliptical expansion - ISOE - method accounting for the wind convective transport of pollutants and the modified isoelliptical expansion -...

Mold temperature is the key parameter in determining the morphology of molded parts. Uneven temperature distribution could induce significant effects on part performances. In such cases, uneven temperature is induced to analyze the morphology developed in the molded specimens. The technology used for controlling mold temperature during the process...

The pollutants dispersion in the environment and the positioning of the emission sources, identified from the measured air quality data, are the main knowledge for defining the environmental status. This study aims to locate the pollution source in the urban environment starting from experimental measurements obtained from the monitoring networks....

Image recognition is a technology that, through specific algorithms and methodologies, aims to reproduce the typical biological vision systems by identifying particular objects, patterns, colors or geometric shapes. Artificial intelligence was used in this study to define and test an algorithm for image recognition. In recent years it has been appl...

Biomass valorization represents a simple way to reduce Green House Gases emissions. However, the biomass-to-energy field is limited by high gaseous emission concentrations. Innovative abatement technologies can make gaseous emissions close to zero. In this work, three different NO 2 abatement technologies were assessed and compared. A deterministic...

Heating is one of the major causes of pollution in urban areas, producing high concentrations of aero-dispersed particulate matter (PM) that can cause serious damage to the respiratory system. A possible solution is the implementation of a district heating system, which would decrease the presence of conventional heating systems, reducing PM emissi...

Mappatura dinamica e metodo di tracciamento degli inquinanti atmosferici

Air pollution is a problem shared by the entire world population, and researchers have highlighted its adverse effects on human health in recent years. The object of this paper was the relationship between the pollutants’ concentrations measured in the air and the quantity of pollutant itself inhaled by the human body. The area chosen for the study...

Lipidic carriers are efficient vehicles preserving drugs during cell administration. Several production processes of lipidic nanoparticles were developed to reduce mean size at nanometric level, enhancing homogeneity and process replicability. However, lipidic aggregation has always been considered a huge drawback in terms of high polidispersity an...

Air pollution consisting of ambient air pollution and household air pollution (HAP) threatens health globally. Air pollution aggravates the health of vulnerable people such as infants, children, women, and the elderly as well as people with chronic diseases such as cardiorespiratory illnesses, little social support, and poor access to medical servi...

In this paper, a new DEM calibration procedure based on two different types of procedures to compare simulation with experiments is proposed. The aim is to find the values of the interfacial adhesive surface energy and the coefficient of rolling friction between the particles to be used in the simulation. The approach adopted is the so-called Bulk...

From February 2020, the progressive adoption of measures to contain coronavirus's contagion has resulted in a sudden change in anthropogenic activities in Italy, especially in Lombardy. From a scientific point of view, this situation represents a unique laboratory for understanding and predicting the consequences of specific measures aimed at impro...

Powder bed fusion is one of the most common types of additive manufacturing processes using granular materials. In this field, improvements in the processing of materials and process repeatability with desired part quality are needed to allow the implementation of powder bed fusion process at full scale across various industrial sectors. The micros...

Air quality is one of the hot topics of today, and many people are interested in it due to the harmful effects that environmental pollution has on human health. For this reason, in recent years, measurement systems based on advanced technology have been implemented to integrate national air quality networks. This study aimed to analyze the air qual...

New technologies for air quality measurement, including real-time on-road air quality monitoring systems (ROMs), have improved the spatial resolution of data. However, measured data can miss due to restricted traffic zones. Different algorithms can estimate the missing data in these points, using available measured data in the neighbourhood. In thi...

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is the most common type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) process using granular materials which has the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. However, in the layer-wise build-up of the three-dimensional specimen, the complex laser-material interactions and the poor selection of associated process param...

A set of criteria to enhance mechanical performances of standard specimens (Type V, ANSI D368) made of polylactic acid (PLA) were proposed. Fused PLA deposition was conducted with nozzle temperature ranging from 180 to 230 °C and deposition plate temperature ranging from 70 to 110 °C. Optical microscopy, elastic modulus analysis and density measure...

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) of Titania powders is studied to understand how the initial material properties and the process conditions affect the degree of sintering/melting and the mechanical properties of the semi-3D artefact produced.Five samples with differing particle size were used to explore the feasibility of processing them by SLS. Las...

The need to protect sensitive data is growing, and environmental data are now considered sensitive. The application of last-generation procedures such as blockchains coupled with the implementation of new air quality monitoring technology allows the data protection and validation. In this work, the use of a blockchain applied to air pollution data...

A deterministic approach was used in this work to assess the PM2.5 pollutant dispersion in the air during a fire event. The pollution data were recorded with high time resolution by a monitoring station located 4 km SouthWest from the fire. The pollutant emission due to the fire was described as an equivalent stack having the height of the observed...

Bulk flow properties from shear analysis of compacted powders can be evaluated following different approaches. Experimental values of shear stresses obtained by conventional shear cells are traditionally used to build yield loci, from which the most relevant flow properties could be found. Such flow properties play an important role in determining...

The effect of temperature on the flow properties of three different polymeric powders was assessed in order to properly take into account real temperature conditions relevant to Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). Shear tests were carried out at temperatures from ambient conditions to values close to the melting temperature of the polymers. Tested flo...

Today, it is increasingly recognized that air pollution hurts human health. Consequently, efficient mitigation strategies need to be implemented for substantial environmental and health co-benefits. A valid approach to reducing the air pollution effects on the environment and human health is proposed. Specific guidelines have been elucidated by dif...

MDPI is a publisher of open access, international, academic journals. We rely on active researchers, highly qualified in their field to provide review reports and support the editorial process. The criteria for selection of reviewers include: holding a doctoral degree or having an equivalent amount of research experience; a national or internationa...

Mitigation strategies towards progressive decarbonization of the energy system are a valid approach to slow environmental pollution yielding social benefits, as established from National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). The first objective is the increase of energy efficiency within 2030 by promoting the use of renewable energy and the electrificati...

Environmental pollution in urban areas may be mainly attributed to the rapid industrialization and increased growth of vehicular traffic. As a consequence of air quality deterioration, the health and welfare of human beings are compromised. Air quality monitoring networks usually are used not only to assess the pollutant trend but also in the effec...

Glass beads powders of different particle size were spread with a procedure similar to the one adopted for Selective laser sintering in order to verify the effect of the powder compression produced with a roller spreading tool. The effect is verified in terms of indentation strength and of mechanical strength of the sintered specimens. Results indi...

In this work an Operational Street Pollution Model was used to define the minimum number and the expected position of the stations for an air quality network with three monitoring stations to be installed in Battipaglia (Italy). The features of the urban background, the type of daily traffic, all the meteorological parameters typical of the investi...

This paper presents a basic work that supplies complementary knowledge and open new perspectives to mathematical modeling of salami ripening. An experimental apparatus was realized for controlled meat drying and its procedure set up in order to allow a simple, but significant investigation on the fate of water contained and transported in a minced...

In this paper an on-road network of monitoring stations for the air quality is organized in order to provide data with high spatial resolution in a wide urban area. On this purpose a dedicated experimental setup was developed in order to be installed on board of DHL courier vans. The monitoring station is completely automated and transmit continuou...

DEM is a useful instrument to successfully design, optimise or simply analyse systems and equipment for granular materials in many applications where interparticle forces play a key role. In this paper, a study on the calibration of the parameters for the description of interparticle forces in DEM model is presented. Two different models for the in...

A method and corresponding apparatus for monitoring air quality while allowing the real tracking of both gaseous and powder pollutants and thè identifìcation of thè sources of pollution, includes thè use of a network of monitoring stations mutually arranged at a maximum distance between one and three kilometers in a straight line, wherein each stat...

Nowadays the greatest contribution to atmospheric pollution is due to carbonic dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from industrial activities. Among the various technologies for the production of energies from renewable sources, the biomass combustion is the technology that better replaces the fossil fuels. Unfortunately, one of the limits to the spr...

In urban cities it is common to find a series of substances in atmosphere responsible to cause damages to human health. These substances are constantly produced by human activities and they focus mainly on urban and/or metropolitan areas. Low-cost sensors have a great potential to revolutionize the way to monitor the exposure of the population to t...

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) of ceramic powders is studied in order to understand how the initial material properties and the process conditions affect the degree of sintering/melting and the mechanical properties of the sintered material. Unimodal powder samples of different narrow particle size distributions between 16 and 184 μm were sintered...

In urban agglomerations it is common increasingly to find a series of substances in atmosphere capable of causing damages to human health. They are constantly produced by human activities and they focus mainly on urban areas. Low-cost sensors offer the ability to collect temporal and spatial data and they have a great potential to revolutionize th...

This paper addresses the possibility of carrying out Selective laser sintering (SLS) using powders obtained as mixtures of particles of different size. The beam source used in the experiments was a CO2 laser tube with a nominal power of 40 W. The materials used were model Glass beads and a real ceramic material characterized by irregular shape of t...

The increase in the anthropic burden in urban areas, including many activities which produce emissions in the air, such as vehicular traffic, domestic heating and industrial activities make it necessary to keep the concentration of some pollutants under control. Accurate measurements of the concentrations of these pollutants are important not only...

Torque measurements were performed with the powder cell mounted on an Anton Parr rheometer using glass beads of two different sizes and different impeller geometries. A discrete element method simulator was used to perform simulations of the experiments to compare calculated torque values with those of the experimental torque values. Experimental t...

With regard to pollution produced in urban areas, low-cost sensors offer the possibility to collect temporal and spatial data and they have a great potential to change the way to monitor the exposure of the population to the atmospheric pollution. However, one of the challenges associated with data coming from this kind of sensors is to try to make...

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing technique for fast prototyping. It is based on the possibility of selectively sintering particles arranged on a flat layer with a laser beam. Adding and sintering material layer by layer, it is possible to produce solid shapes that can be also very complex. The granular material used in t...

The main aims of the poster are to show the advances in the understanding of the sintering processes on ceramic powders

In this work the preparation of flexible polymeric films with controlled electrical conductivity, light transmission and surface wettability is reported. A drop casted graphene oxide thin film is photo-reduced at different levels by UV light or laser irradiation. Optical microscopy, IR spectroscopy, electrical characterization, Raman spectroscopy a...

Experiments and DEM simulations for the torque measured in a bed of glass beads with an Anton Paar powder cell rheometer were carried out for two different particle sizes (2 and 4 mm) and two different blade heights (5 and 10 mm). Most of the system properties were taken from the literature. Only the sliding friction coefficient was changed to find...

A procedure that mimics the powder layer preparation for a SLS process was set up to study the effect of the particle diameter and of the blade scrolling speed on the quality of the prepared powder layer. An empirical qualitative reference scale has been introduced to describe experimental results. These suggest that satisfactory layer qualities on...

The techno-economic analysis of an IGCC plant for power and hydrogen production with CO2 capture by means of Pd-based H2 membranes was carried out. The case studies were referred to the modifications of the existing 330MWe Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant of ELCOGAS based on entrained flow gasification of a dry mixture of coal an...

The process of dust release from aggregative cohesive powders under the action of mechanical vibration is studied. Beds of cohesive Potato Starch and Silica powders at fixed heights were vertically vibrated in a column in which vibration, frequency and acceleration levels can be independently set. Acceleration was changed with acceleration gravity...

In the present paper some behavior of ceramic materials for laser sintering/melting processes (SLM/SLS) were evaluated. Experiments were carried out with a 40W CO2 laser, on samples characterized by different particle size distributions within16 and 184 μm, and different laser scan speeds (1-30 mm s-1). In particular, part of the energy supplied by...

In the present paper heat exchange rates for selective laser melting/sintering (SLM/SLS) of glass beads were evaluated. Experiments were carried out with a nominal 40W CO2 laser, on samples characterized by different particle size distributions within16 and 184 μm, and different laser scan speeds (1-30 mm s-1). The energy required for the sintering...

The control of mold surface temperature is an important factor that affects sample surface morphology, frozen orientation and cooling stresses close to the skin. The possibility to have a hot mold during filling and a quick cooling soon afterward is precious for micro injection molding. In this work, a thin electrical resistance was designed and us...

A process simulation model of the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant of Elcogas was developed and validated with industrial data. The model was used to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the process co-fired with up to 20% by weight of two local biomasses (olive husk and grape seed meal). Results indicate promising fe...

tIntegrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants (IGCC) are efficient power generation systems with low pollutantsemissions. Moreover, the entrained flow gasifier of IGCC plants allows the combined use of other lower cost fuels(biomass and waste) together with coal. Co-firing with biomass is beneficial for the reduction of CO2emissions offossil sourc...

A kinetic model for ethanol fermentation of lactose using yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus DSMZ 5422 is proposed. The model consists of a set of differential equations which account for substrate consumption, ethanol production and biomass production. In the model, it is assumed that alcoholic fermentation is inhibited by ethanol itself and that a dif...