Umberto Desideri

• PhD in Energy Engineering, University of Florence
• Head of Department at University of Pisa

Solar heating systems in buildings have increasingly been studied in the past two decades. In several applications the primary energy demand is now for both heating and cooling, and modern solar collectors should be designed to provide climatization during the whole year. Solar systems are seldom applied in Europe, and large buildings, such as offi...

Fuel cells are recognized by all the scientific community to be ultra low emission energy conversion systems, because the pollutants associated with their operation are very low in concentration, compared to traditional energy systems. On the other hand, fuel cells are mainly fed with hydrogen, a chemical component that is not available as a pure c...

In the last years, the growing demand for air conditioning has caused a significant increase in demand for primary energy resources. Solar-powered cooling is one of the technologies which allows to obtain, by using the renewable solar source, an important energy saving compared to traditional air conditioning plants. The paper describes different t...

Fuel cells have been revealed to be very attractive power generation systems, promising highly efficient electricity generation and very low environmental impact. With the high-temperature fuel cells still in embryonic infancy, the very high energetic efficiency can be further increased by their integration into hybrid cycles. While a wide variety...

High temperature fuel cells are electricity producers that guarantee relevant energetic and environmental performances. They feature high electricity to input chemical energy ratios and availability of high temperature heat.Notwithstanding, the search for a further increase in electric efficiency, especially when applying a CHP solution is not feas...

Energy tunnel is thermally activated through embedding absorber pipes within the tunnel lining, where the underground heat is extracted and transferred above the ground via a heat pump for building energy applications. Energy tunnel offers advantages such as low carbon emissions, cleanliness, high efficiency, and safety. The heat source can be eith...

The pulp and paper industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint. This study examines the feasibility of integrating high-temperature heat pumps (HTHP) into tissue paper production to enhance energy efficiency and decarbonization. Focusing on the energy-intensive drying process, the study uses data from...

Biogas presents a renewable fuel source with substantial potential for reducing carbon emissions in the energy sector. Exploring this potential in the farming sector is crucial for fostering the development of small-scale distributed biogas facilities, leveraging indigenous resources while enhancing energy efficiency. The establishment of distribut...

In order to achieve the ambitious goal of “carbon neutrality”, countries around the world are striving to develop clean energy. Against this background, this paper takes China and Italy as representatives of developing and developed countries to summarize the energy structure composition and development overview of the two countries. The paper anal...

Solar energy’s growing role in the green energy landscape underscores the importance of effective energy storage solutions, particularly within concentrated solar power (CSP) systems. Latent thermal energy storage (LTES) and leveraging phase change materials (PCMs) offer promise but face challenges due to low thermal conductivity. This work compreh...

Green ammonia is a promising hydrogen carrier and an excellent candidate for the decarbonization of the transport sector. Despite the synthesis process (Haber Bosch, HB) being well known and widely applied in conventional natural gas-fed plants, much effort is required for the coupling with Variable Renewable Energy Sources (V-RES). V-RES intermitt...

Geothermal resources represent a valuable option to reduce fossil fuel-based power production because they feature an unmatched capacity factor among other Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Geothermal resource availability reduces with the temperature. Therefore, developing cost-effective solutions to exploit low-temperature geothermal energy is mand...

The primary objective of Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is to determine the most efficient distribution of power among generating units while considering various constraints, such as minimum and maximum power output, transmission line capacity, and reserve requirements. By solving the ELD problem, power system operators can minimize the overall opera...

The paper analyzes the conversion of the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) through recovery and storage into an energy production vector by transforming it into methanol (CH 3 OH) and carbon monoxide (CO). These gaseous components can produce energy by combustion, and the resulting carbon dioxide is reintroduced into the capture and storage circuit. This type...

The Humid Air Turbine (HAT) cycle is an inter-cooled gas turbine cycle, having an air-water mixing evaporator before the combustion chamber, and a heat recovering system for the exhaust gases. The considerable amount of water consumed in the mixing evaporator (about 1200–2400 m3 daily for a 100 MW unit), represents a significant drawback to the use...

Keywords: Thermally integrated pumped thermal electricity storage (TIPTES) Multi-energy storage High-temperature heat pump (HTHP) Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) Carnot batteries Power-to-heat A B S T R A C T Integrating large shares of renewables into energy systems requires energy storage technologies able to efficiently dispatch and convert differen...

The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is driving many actions to decarbonize the most impactful sectors. Among these, the energy sector accounts for almost one third of emissions. Increasing the penetration of renewable energy in the energy mix could easily reduce the emissions of this sector. Theoretically, the target to aim for would be 100...

The present study proposes a novel multi-generation system with a solar-driven proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell, and a solid-oxide fuel cell coupled with a parabolic trough photovoltaic thermal collector and thermal energy storage. Surplus solar electricity is stored as high-pressure green hydrogen, and then a hydrogen-fueled solid-oxide...

Biomass fuel energy can be utilized in cogeneration cycles through the gasification process. This reduces pollution and increases the efficiency of conventional cycles, and makes use of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. In this paper, in order to generate both electricity and cooling, a cogeneration system has been proposed using biomass fu...

To integrate large shares of renewable energy sources in electric grids, large-scale and long-duration (4–8+ h) electric energy storage technologies must be used. A promising storage technology of this kind is pumped thermal electricity storage based on Brayton cycles. The paper’s novel contribution is in the techno-economic comparison of two alter...

Considering the necessity of producing freshwater from seawater, especially in regions with high solar energy potential, this study proposes a novel system for tri-generation application using solar power through which high capability of freshwater production is available together with electricity and cooling. This system comprises a heliostat fiel...

The waste heat recovery from the gas turbine (GT) exhaust is typical for increasing performance and reducing CO2 emissions in industrial facilities. Nowadays, numerous already operating GT gas turbine plants could be retrofitted and upgraded with a bottoming cycle powered by the GT exhaust gasses. In this case, the standard solution would be to use...

There has been a growing demand to develop new energy conversion devices with high efficiency and very low emissions for both power and propulsion applications in response to the net zero-carbon emission targets by 2050. Among these technologies, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have received attention due to their high electrical efficiency (above 6...

The waste heat recovery from the gas turbine (GT) exhaust is typical for increasing performance and reducing CO2 emissions in industrial facilities. Nowadays, numerous already operating gas turbine plants could be retrofitted and upgraded with a bottoming cycle powered by the exhaust gasses. In this case, the standard solution would be to use a wat...

A huge amount of energy is consumed by recovering CO2 in the gas turbine (GT) exhaust gas with the traditional method because of the low CO2 concentration. A new system integrated with gas turbine, MCFC and ORC with CO2 capture is proposed in this article. CO2 in the gas turbine exhaust gas is concentrated by the MCFC electrochemical reaction. Comp...

The widespread use of renewable energy requires the support of high-capacity energy storage systems. This work proposes a thermochemical energy storage system for concentrated solar power plants based on the reversible hydration/dehydration process of the calcium hydroxide. It is a single fluidised bed reactor concept with alternating dehydration-h...

Besides paying more attention to renewables, developing efficient multi-generation systems fed by currently available energy sources is another pathway to sustainable development. Meanwhile, hydrogen production will play a key role in the green transition. The present work investigates a multi-generation gas-to-X system to produce power, hydrogen,...

Electrolytic hydrogen production using renewable sources can play a central role in global decarbonization. However, the direct coupling of electrolyzers with renewable energies can cause frequent shutdowns and high production fluctuations unless adopting electrical storage systems or using electricity from the grid that is generally not completely...

Hydrogen production through electrolysis from renewable sources is expected to play an important role to achieve the reduction targets of carbon dioxide emissions set for the next decades. Electrolysers can use the renewable energy surplus to produce green hydrogen and contribute to making the electrical grid more stable. Hydrogen can be used as me...

Acoustic pyrometry is an interesting technique that may find several useful applications in turbomachinery. As the speed of sound is directly related a medium temperature, this measurement technique estimates the temperature of a gas by considering the time of flight of an acoustic wave moving through it. If only an acoustic emitter-receiver couple...

Combining renewable energy with fossil fuel-based energy systems is a promising way to develop renewable energy power generation and decrease CO2 emissions with lower capital investment. In this paper, a multi-source complementary cogeneration (MCC) system is investigated in which the wind farm and solar aided combined heat and power (SA-CHP) syste...

The concept of CCS cluster brings together multiple CO2 industrial emitters using shared capture and/or transportation infrastructure and offers several advantages for network partners compared with point-to-point individual projects. It reduces costs for CCS, and enables CO2 capture from small volume industrial facilities. The proposed concept con...

The growth of renewable energy source requires reliable, durable and cheap storage technologies. In this field, the Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES), is drawing some interest as it appears not to be affected by geographical limitations and use very cheap materials. PTES is less efficient than pumped hydro and batteries, but it could achieve sat...

The growth of renewable energy source requires reliable, durable and cheap storage technologies. In this field, the Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES), is drawing some interest as it appears not to be affected by geographical limitations and use very cheap materials. PTES is less efficient than pumped hydro and batteries, but it could achieve sat...

This study presents a proposed hybrid ship propulsion system combining an internal combustion engine and a molten carbonate fuel cell both powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Exhaust from the internal combustion engine is used as a CO2 source for cell operation, reducing CO2 emissions. Use of fuel stored at very low temperature requires heat fo...

Distributed multi-energy systems based on polygeneration are showing more and more the capability of significant primary energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction due to the high integration of mixed-energy sources and high penetration of renewable energy sources. Compared to the traditional power plants, the large variability in the end-user dema...

The adoption of high-density phase change materials as cold thermal energy storage media have been considered as potential alternatives to water and ice. In this paper, the implementation of these media has been investigated in the context of district cooling in mixed-used building micro-grids whereby the cold thermal energy storage is retrofitted...

The successful realization of the climate goals agreed upon in the European Union’s COP21 commitments makes a fundamental change of the European energy system necessary. In particular, for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions over 80%, the use of renewable energies must be increased not only in the electricity sector but also across all energy s...

The successful realization of the climate goals agreed upon in the European Union’s COP21 commitments makes a fundamental change of the European energy system necessary. In particular, for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions over 80%, the use of renewable energies must be increased not only in the electricity sector but also across all energy s...

Energy system optimization is a significant task aimed at optimizing system operations and reducing costs and emissions. In this paper, an energy system is presented for multi-energy generation of power, heating/cooling, and desalination. First, the cycle’s exergy, exergoeconomics, and environmental impact are analyzed. Then, optimization is perfor...

Urea is widely used in agriculture, industry, and food, while it is also a potential fuel. Large-scale urea production relies on fossil fuels, thus there is a strong need for green urea given the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources. A potential alternative is biomass-to-urea; however, it cannot fully convert the biomass carbon into u...

Variable renewable energy sources are continuously increasing their share in the world energy mix. However, their uncertainty has a deep impact in the electric grid safe operation. One of the most promising solutions to tackle such challenge at a distribution grid level consists of quasi-real-time, peer-to-peer electricity markets. These can use th...

A pervasive Renewable Energy Source (RES) exploitation poses a wide range of issues to electric grids, which the enhancement of the electric grid flexibility may mitigate. There are several approaches to improve grid flexibility, and a significant help will come from efficient, reliable, durable and cheap electric storage technologies. Inevitably,...

Solar Fuels and chemicals from CO2 can be produced through two main reactions: one is CO2 photoreduction, using different catalysts and different reducing agents; the other is CO2 fixation, which is usually performed through natural photosynthesis. The research nowadays is directed on the production of fuels and chemicals with one or two atoms of c...

Electrification of remote zones is often characterized by high energy costs as a result of the fossil fuels supply and cost associated to its logistic. This study performs a theoretical model and optimization of an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system coupled to an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) generator for small scale applications in the S...

The performance of combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system is greatly affected by its operating strategy and design. In this paper, a new electric load following (NELF) strategy was developed. It is based on the alternation between absorption cooling and electric cooling according to the building energy requirements, for hybrid chiller ba...

Non-dispatchable Renewable Energy Sources (RES) changed energy production from being centralised and fully dispatchable, to be more decentralised and less predictable. Despite the substantial growth, RES must be increased to fulfil the power production decarbonization targets set by several countries. In several countries, Italy included, RES devel...

Power production from salinity gradients, the so-called Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO), has been actively investigated and tested since the 70s for its reliability and controllability. Besides these advantages, it seems a promising green solution since it allows the dilution of highly concentrated brines and the specific energy consumption of desa...

This paper provides an overview of a novel electric energy storage technology. The Thermally Integrated Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (TI-PTES) stores electric energy as thermal exergy. Compared to standard PTES, TI-PTES takes advantage of both electric and low-temperature heat inputs. Therefore, TI-PTES is a hybrid technology between storage...

Fuel production from hydrogen and carbon dioxide is considered an attractive solution as long-term storage of electric energy and as temporary storage of carbon dioxide. A large variety of CO2 sources are suitable for Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU), and the process energy intensity depends on the separation technology and, ultimately, on the CO2...

Biogas plants are an interesting solution for production of clean energy. Biogas produced in an anaerobic digester can be used locally to produce electric energy in an internal combustion engine or in a micro-gas turbine. A portion of the waste heat is used to keep the digester at a constant temperature which is a necessary condition for a correct...

Thermochemical biomass-to-fuel conversion requires an increased hydrogen concentration in the syngas derived from gasification, which is currently achieved by water–gas-shift reaction and CO2 removal. State-of-the-art biomass-to-fuels convert less than half of the biomass carbon with the remaining emitted as CO2. Full conversion of biomass carbon c...

Multigeneration systems, owing to their efficient fuel utilization, are recognized as one of the best technical and economical methods of energy saving and climate control. In this paper, a multigeneration system is proposed for the production of power, heating/cooling, and desalinated water. The proposed system was first studied by means of an ene...

Renewable energy source generation has been increasing drastically for the last decades. In order to avoid grid congestions or overloads and energy curtailments, it is necessary to envisage energy storage technologies. Converting surplus electricity into hydrogen or eventually other synthetic fuels through Power-to-X technologies is regarded as a p...

The interest toward large-scale electric energy storage technologies is increasing with the large deployment of new renewable capacity. In case of several hours of storage duration, there is no consensus on which technology is the most suited. Several technologies have been recently proposed, among which is pumped thermal electricity storage (PTES)...

Power-to-methanol processes with co-electrolysis in solid-oxide electrolyzer provides a promising approach to deal with two problems: large-scale renewable electricity storage and carbon capture and utilization. In this paper, a large-scale power-to-methanol system with solid-oxide electrolyzer co-electrolysis technology is studied. System-level he...

In the present paper a multicriteria analysis of a Rankine Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES) system with low-grade thermal energy integration is performed. The system is composed by an ORC for the discharging phase and a high-temperature heat pump for the charging phase. As previously demonstrated, the low-grade thermal energy can be provid...

Biogas is a fuel obtained from organic waste fermentation and can be an interesting solution for producing electric energy, heat and fuel. Recently, many European countries have incentivized the production of biomethane to be injected into natural gas grids or compressed and used as biofuel in vehicles. The introduction of an upgrading unit into an...

Energy saving has gained increasing attention because it represents a strategy for the reduction of pollutant emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Nevertheless, many human activities are still energy intensive, thus requiring suitable energy efficiency measures. For this purpose, Energy Service COmpanies (ESCOs) propose solutions for industria...

Fuel production from hydrogen and carbon dioxide looks an attractive solution as a long-term storage of electric energy and as a temporary storage of carbon dioxide. A large variety of CO2 sources are suitable for Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU), and the process energy intensity depends on the separation technology, and, ultimately on the CO2 conc...

The optimal BtM process has efficiency of 53.3% and a payback time of 4.8 years. • The SOE-BtM increases efficiency to 66.0% and payback time to 11 years. • The waste heat of gasification process 50% less than the state-of-the-art and zero-power export cases. • The payback time can be shorter than 5 years. A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Biomass-to...

Biomass combustion performance is greatly affected by the particle size distribution, which influences heat and mass transport phenomena. The present work investigates the effect of woodchip size distribution on combustion in a 140 kW underfeed stoker boiler. Three different fuel sizes were prepared, and their combustion performance was measured by...

The objective of the present paper is sizing of a technically optimum and economically feasible cogeneration system to supply heating, cooling and electricity to a reference building in the city of Pisa, Italy, for different months of the year. This cogeneration system is proposed in two operational modes, sized and under-sized, so that the effect...

To reduce the fossil-fuel consumption and the impacts of conventional ammonia production on climate change, green ammonia production processes using green hydrogen need to be investigated. For commercial production scale, potential alternatives can be based on biomass gasification and water electrolysis via renewable energy, namely biomass- and pow...

An increasing interest is devoted to biogas plants as they might play a key role in the reduction of current fossil fuel consumption for power production. The main component of the plant is the anaerobic digester where the organic fraction of waste products is converted in a gas with high concentration of methane and carbon dioxide. This biogas is...