Giuseppe Bagnato

• PhD
• Lecturer at Teesside University

Correction for ‘Techno-economic assessment of two-stage hydropyrolysis of lignin for BTX production using iron-based catalysts’ by Giuseppe Bagnato et al., RSC Sustainability, 2025, 3, 1448–1460.

The thermal degradation of the lignin contained in biomass, followed by catalytic upgrading of the resultant bio-oil, offers a promising renewable generation pathway for aromatic commodity chemicals, in particular benzene, toluene and xylene (collectively ‘BTX’). The primary barrier to widespread adoption of this technology is its economic unfavour...

Bio-oil has a high potential for fuels and chemicals production by hydroprocessing, but its high acidity and oxygen level require a stabilization stage before its upgrading. The hydrogenation of the...

This work proposes an alternative indirect pH swing CO2 Capture and Storage by Mineral Carbonation (CCSM) process in order to decrease the energy intensive salts regeneration. In the proposed process, NaHSO4 is used to extract Mg from the mineral ore, which is then carbonated after a pH swing step. The remaining Na2SO4 is then separated from the ca...

The use of lignin to produce Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) is a promising pathway to strength the economic case, over the production of advanced bio-fuels alone. In this work, Ce, Na, Pd and Fe supported on zirconium oxide were evaluated for the ex-situ hydropyrolysis (HyPy)/hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of Etek lignin under mild conditions (600 °C,...

This work proposes an alternative indirect pH swing CO2 Capture and Storage by Mineral Carbonation (CCSM) process in order to decrease the energy intensive salts regeneration. In the proposed process, NaHSO4 is used to extract Mg from the mineral ore, which is then carbonated after a pH swing step. The remaining Na2SO4 is then separated from the ca...

As a promising technique for multiphase catalytic reactions, the widespread applications of gas–liquid– solid microreactors are still limited by poor durability. Hence, in this work a novel catalytic membrane was synthesised for carrying out the hydrogenation reaction of a bio-oil model compounds. A PEEK-WC membrane was obtained by VIPS/ NIPS techn...

Waste lignin is a potential source of renewable fuels and other chemical precursors under catalytic pyrolysis. For this purpose, four mixed metal oxide catalytic mixtures (Cat) derived from Na2CO3, CeO2 and ZrO2 were synthesised in varying compositions and utilised in a fixed bed reactor for catalytic vapour upgrading of Etek lignin pyrolysis produ...

Catalytic hydrotreatment (HT) is one of the most important refining steps in the actual petroleum-based refineries for the production of fuels and chemicals, and it will play also a crucial role for the development of biomass-based refineries. In fact, the utilization of HT processes for the upgrading of biomass and/or lignocellulosic residues aime...

A series of mono- and bi-metallic metal catalysts (Pd, Cu, Fe, PdCu, PdFe) supported on ZrO2 (6-8 m) were synthesised and tested for the hydrogenation of bio-oil model compounds (furfural, vanillin, glucose) under 50 bar H2 at 100°C. The catalysts were fully characterised and their properties related to their catalytic activity. The bi-metallic Pd...

The catalytic hydrogenation of lignocellulosic derived bio-oil was assessed from the thermodynamic simulation perspective, in order to evaluate its economic potential for the production of added-value chemicals and drop-in fuels. A preliminary economic evaluation was first run to identify the conditions where the process is profitable, while a full...

A novel catalytic membrane has been synthesised, characterised and evaluated for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. Unlike conventional methods, involving high pressure and high H2:feed ratios, this work proposes an innovative Ruthenium based Catalytic Membrane Reactor (CMR) to overcome mass transfer limitations, resulting...

There is a general agreement about the consideration that the fossil fuels are a limited resource and the emission of carbon dioxide and other harmful products are the main cause of the global warming and climate change. The interest for decreasing the fossil fuels dependence and reducing the greenhouse gases emissions represents a top priority. Th...

The potentialities of PEEK-WC (thermally treated at 120 C) and PLA polymers have been studied in the field of membrane technology applied to H 2 separation/purification. In particular, for low/medium temperature operation (80 C), PEEK-WC membranes (66 mm thick) showed good results in terms of H 2 /CH 4 separation, showing an ideal selectivity value...

Glycerol represents an emerging renewable bio-derived feedstock, which could be used as a source for producing hydrogen through steam reforming reaction. In this review, the state-of-the-art about glycerol production processes is reviewed, with particular focus on glycerol reforming reactions and on the main catalysts under development. Furthermore...

This chapter deals with the modeling approach toward membrane reactors, making a short overview on the most significative findings in the specialized literature. In detail, 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D models are analyzed, pointing out the role of such parameters as the membrane permeability mechanism and hydrogen flux, reaction kinetics, and heat and mass tr...

A rise in CO2 and other greenhouse gases’ concentration from gas refinery flares and furnaces in the atmosphere causes environmental problems. In this work, a new process was designed to use waste gas (flue gas and flare gas) of a domestic gas refinery to produce pure hydrogen in a membrane reactor. In particular, the process foresees that the ener...

A supported Pd-Au (Au 7wt%) membrane was produced by electroless plating deposition. Permeation tests were performed with pure gas (H2, H2, N2, CO2, CH4) for long time operation. After around 400 h under testing, the composite Pd-Au membrane achieved steady state condition, with an H2/N2 ideal selectivity of around 500 at 420 °C and 50 kPa as trans...

Two synthetic mixtures simulating biogas (CH4 /CO2 = 66.2/33.8) and bioethanol (H2O/EtOH = 13/1) have been used for producing hydrogen by steam reforming reaction in a commercial dense self-supported Pd-Ag membrane reactor. The experimental campaign was subdivided into two parts. Firstly, we studied biogas steam reforming reaction, evaluating the r...

Two synthetic mixtures simulating biogas (CH4 /CO2 = 66.2/33.8) and bioethanol (H2O/EtOH = 13/1) have been used for producing hydrogen by steam reforming reaction in a commercial dense self-supported Pd-Ag membrane reactor. The experimental campaign was subdivided into two parts. Firstly, we studied biogas steam reforming reaction, evaluating the r...

In this work, a novel Co based catalyst containing 10 wt% of Co and 3 wt% of Pt Supported on Al2O3 pellets coated with CeO2-ZrO2 and Al2O3 was prepared. This catalyst has been utilized in dense Pd-Ag membrane (MR) and traditional (TR) reactors for ethanol steam reforming (ESR) reaction. In particular, ESR reaction was carried out between 400 and 49...

In this work, a theoretical approach via artificial neural networks model has been followed for studying the water gas shift reaction in hydrogen selective membrane reactors, based on an experimental campaign useful for training the aforementioned model. In particular, such parameters as the reaction pressure (from 150 to 300 kPa), reaction tempera...

Today, hydrogen is seen as the most convenient energy carrier for a number of applications and, particularly, for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In the specialized literature, many studies address the production of hydrogen derived from renewables. Therefore, the scope of this chapter is to review the recent findings about hydrogen g...