Fabrizio Di Gregorio

• PhD
• Technical Director at Plastics Recyclers Europe/RecyClass

An attributional life cycle analysis (LCA) was developed to compare the environmental performances of two waste-to-energy (WtE) units, which utilize the predominant technologies among those available for combustion and gasification processes: a moving grate combustor and a vertical shaft gasifier coupled with direct melting. The two units were assu...

The aim of this work was to improve the performances of Fil-s (film-small), a recycled material obtained from plastic flexible film waste that is made of polyethylene and a minor amount of polypropylene, with traces of polar contaminants (polyamides, maleic anhydride, etc.). The idea was to upgrade the material’s mechanical properties by applying a...

Flexible plastic packagings are rapidly gaining market share since they offer significant functional benefits. However, they also pose a challenge from a recycling perspective. In fact, due to the presence of different polymeric fractions and to contamination by organic substances and out-of-target materials, such as paper and metals, the mechanica...

The study investigates the potential environmental impacts related to the end-of-life phase of a residential building, identified in a multifamily dwelling of three levels, constructed in the South of Italy by utilizing conventional materials and up-to-date procedures. An attributional life cycle assessment has been utilised to quantify the contrib...

The study evaluates the technical feasibility of the fluidized bed gasification of three solid recovered fuels (SRFs), obtained as co-products of a recycling process. The SRFs were pelletized and fed to a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor, operated in gasification and co-gasification mode. The tests were carried out under conditions of the...

: The paper investigates on a demonstrative scale the technical and environmental aspects of an innovative recycling process of wastes generated by the utilization of absorbent hygiene products (AHPs). The recycling process includes three main sections. An autoclave, coupled with a sorting machine, provides the sterilization of AHP waste and the se...

: An attributional life cycle analysis (LCA) investigates the potential environmental impacts related to the management of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, generated at the end-of-life of a residential building located in the South of Italy. The reference unit is a multifamily dwelling on three levels, which was constructed by utilizing Ita...

An attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out to develop a " cradle to grave " investigation on the environmental impacts related to an Italian multi-dwelling (24 flats) residential building, located in Campania (South of Italy), and built by using up-to-date procedures and conventional materials. The analysis was carried out in agre...

The paper investigates technical, environmental and social aspects of an innovative recycling process of wastes generated by the utilization of absorbent hygiene products (AHPs). The study is part of a LIFE+ project, named Virgin (Highly-efficient ValorIsation of AHP waste thRough a novel combination of autoclave and GasIficatioN). The project aime...

The removal of tar compounds from the syngas produced by biomass or waste fluidized bed gasification is the greatest technical challenge for a wider application of the technology. These heavy polynuclear hydrocarbons are characterized by high dew point temperatures (generally above 300°C), and then can condense along pipes, heat exchangers and part...

The paper investigates technical and environmental aspects of an innovative recycling process of wastes generated by the utilization of absorbent hygiene products (AHPs). The recycling process consists of three main sections: an autoclave, which provides the necessary steam sterilization of AHP waste, and it is connected to a sorting machine, which...

: Cellulosic and plastic wastes obtained as co-products by an industrial process were fed in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier. The experimental runs were carried out with cellulose, plastic and a mixture of plastic and cellulose, at equivalence ratios between 0.2 and 0.4 and temperatures between 800 and 900°C, in a fluidized bed of oli...

: An attributional life cycle analysis (LCA) was developed for two waste-to-energy (WtE) units, which utilize a moving grate combustor and a vertical shaft gasifier coupled with direct melting, respectively. The WtE units were assumed to be fed with the same unsorted residual municipal waste, having a composition estimated as a European average. Da...

The whole range of waste-to-energy technologies can be grouped into two main categories: combustion-and gasification-based thermal treatment. The first is a well established and sustainable technology that results in considerable waste volume reduction with the added ability to reclaim a significant amount of energy: there are more than 900 plants...

: Fluidized bed thermo-chemical conversion can be proposed as a convenient route for energy recovery from mixed plastic waste (MPW). Two pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactors, a combustor and a gasifier, having the same internal diameter (0.38 m) and feeding capacity (about 40kg/h), were operated at similar fluidizing velocities (between 0.63...

The effect of ash composition on the fluidized bed gasification behaviour of poultry wastes was investigated by operating a pre-pilot scale reactor with two batches of manure obtained from an industrial chicken farm. The experimental runs were carried out by keeping the fluidized bed velocity fixed (at 0.4m s(-1)) and by varying the equivalence rat...

The paper describes the results of a research program aimed at assessing the technical and economical feasibility of a fluidized bed gasifier able to treat 5000 t/y of a Secondary Recovered Fuel (SRF) obtained from a sorting process of municipal solid waste collected in an area of the Middle of Italy. A pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed air gasifi...

Two plastic waste-derived fuels obtained as co-products from industrial processes were fed in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier, having a maximum thermal output of about 400kW. The experimental runs were carried out by reaching a condition of thermal and chemical steady state under values of equivalence ratio ranging from 0.2 to 0.3. Ol...

A restwaste obtained as a residual stream from a sorting platform of municipal solid waste was fed in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier, having an internal diameter of 0.38m, a maximum feeding capacity of 100kg/h and a maximum thermal output of about 350kW. Samplings and measurements taken during the experimental tests allow to obtain...

The paper describes the implementation of an innovative waste management planning approach to the Waste Management Planning of two Italian Regions: Molise, in the middle of Italy, and Campania, which has been the scene of a recent and dramatic waste emergency. The applied approach is based on the extensive utilization of Material and Substance Flo...

A critical comparison between combustion- and gasification-based waste-to-energy systems needs a deep knowledge of the mass flows of materials and elements inside and throughout the units. The study collected and processed data from several moving grate conventional incinerators and high-temperature shaft gasifiers with direct melting, which are in...

The bubbling fluidized bed combustors and gasifiers could both be proposed as a convenient conversion section of a plastics-to-energy plant having a medium-size throughput (8-30MW). In order to develop a preliminary comparison of their process performances, a number of tests was carried out in two pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed reactors, a comb...

Despite increasing attention for waste prevention and sustainability, total municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has increased in EU25 from about 150 million tonnes in 1980 to more than 250 million tonnes in 2005 and is forecasted to reach 300 million tonnes by 2015. In addition, United States MSW generation has increased from about 1.1 tons per...

The paper aims to provide data for a critical comparison of the two WtE options, by means of a description of the performance of a combustion-and a gasification-based process (in the following indicated as CB-WtE and GB-WtE), applied to the same solid waste and carried out in a moving grate furnace and in a high temperature vertical shaft gasifier...

A bubbling fluidized bed air gasifier, having an internal diameter of 102mm and a maximum feeding capacity of 3kg/h, was operated with a waste manure coming from an Italian chicken farm. The experimental runs have been carried out by keeping fixed the fluidized bed velocity (0.4m/s) and the type and size range of bed material (quartz sand, 0.2-0.4m...

A comparison between the most promising design configurations for the industrial application of gasification based, plastics-to-energy cogenerators in the 2-6 MWe range is presented. A pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed air gasifier, having a feeding capacity of 100 kg/h, provided experimental data: the syngas complete composition, the characteriza...

Biomass has great potential as a clean and renewable feedstock for producing modern energy carriers. This paper focuses on the process of biomass gasification, wherein the synthesis gas is subsequently used to produce electricity. A comparison between the most promising design configurations for the industrial application of gasification based, bio...

A comparison between the most promising design configurations for the industrial application of gasification based, plastics-to-energy cogenerators in the 2-6MWe range is presented. A pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed air gasifier, having a feeding capacity of 100kg/h, provided experimental data: the syngas complete composition, the characterizati...

A comparison between the most promising design configurations for the industrial application of gasification based, biomass-to-energy cogenerators in the 100-600kWe range is presented. Mass and energy balances and material and substance flow analyses drawn for each design solutions are based on the experimental data obtained from a pilot scale bubb...

A natural biomass was fed in a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier, having a maximum feeding capacity of 100kg/h. Measurements included the syngas composition, the mass flow rate and composition of entrained fines collected at the cyclone and purge material from the wet scrubber, and the bed material characterization. The performance of the...