Matteo Carmelo Romano’s research while affiliated with Politecnico di Milano and other places

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Publications (60)


Optimization of electrified reforming of biogas with CO2 capture for negative emission hydrogen production
  • Article

January 2025

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2 Reads

SSRN Electronic Journal

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Davide Remondini

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Matteo Carmelo Romano





Industrial-scale Prediction of Cement Clinker Phases using Machine Learning
  • Preprint
  • File available

December 2024

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14 Reads

Cement production, exceeding 4.1 billion tonnes and contributing 2.4 tonnes of CO2 annually, faces critical challenges in quality control and process optimization. While traditional process models for cement manufacturing are confined to steady-state conditions with limited predictive capability for mineralogical phases, modern plants operate under dynamic conditions that demand real-time quality assessment. Here, exploiting a comprehensive two-year operational dataset from an industrial cement plant, we present a machine learning framework that accurately predicts clinker mineralogy from process data. Our model achieves unprecedented prediction accuracy for major clinker phases while requiring minimal input parameters, demonstrating robust performance under varying operating conditions. Through post-hoc explainable algorithms, we interpret the hierarchical relationships between clinker oxides and phase formation, providing insights into the functioning of an otherwise black-box model. This digital twin framework can potentially enable real-time optimization of cement production, thereby providing a route toward reducing material waste and ensuring quality while reducing the associated emissions under real plant conditions. Our approach represents a significant advancement in industrial process control, offering a scalable solution for sustainable cement manufacturing.

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Utilization or Sequestration for Captured CO2 from Cement Plants?

November 2024

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15 Reads

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research

The scope of this work is to assess the economic competitivity of optimized CO2 capture and utilization process (CCU) for e-methanol production with respect to CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) in three locations (southern Italy, northern Germany, northeastern Egypt) and two economic scenarios (short- and long-term) for the cost of renewable energy technologies. The final aim is to determine the optimal sizing and operation of the process units of the system by minimizing the total costs to be sustained by a cement producer. At a methanol selling price of 550 €/t, which is consistent with the current market price, CCS is economically more competitive than CCU in the short-term scenario in all locations. In the long-term scenario, due to the reduced costs of renewable energy technologies, CCU becomes the preferable option in a large majority of the assessed cases. In the long-term scenario, the breakeven methanol selling price in Italy with respect to CCS was found to increase from 384 €/t to 570 €/t if low-cost hydrogen storage is not available and H2 is stored in pressurized vessels (as alternative to caverns). In Germany, from 542 €/t to 778 €/t. In Egypt, from 402 to 501 €/t. Overall, this study shows that e-methanol production from captured CO2 in European countries may be competitive with e-methanol produced in more favorable locations, such as Egypt, only in the long-term, at the condition of a substantial cost reduction of renewable energy technologies, and of the persistency of a differential cost of capital with respect to renewables-rich emerging countries.



Figure 1: Block diagram of the conventional (top) and solar-based (bottom) pyrolysis plants
Figure 11: Monthly distribution of products, emissions and availability in (a) CSP based pyrolysis case and (b) Hybrid pyrolysis at optimized scenarios. 7.5. Sensitivity analyses
Properties of adopted biomass (Poplar)
Solar field design assumptions
Design conditions of optimal receiver sizes

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Techno-economic analysis of a solar-driven biomass pyrolysis plant for bio-oil and biochar production

July 2024

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73 Reads

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1 Citation

Sustainable Energy & Fuels

Pyrolysis has become one of the most attractive options to convert carbonaceous biomass into bio-oil or biochar. This paper explores a novel solar pyrolysis process intended to produce both bio-oil...



Citations (24)


... An example of such a commercially available plant is presented in [14], albeit this uses electricity from renewable sources to power the reactor. Indeed, a recent paper [15] shows that these kinds of production plants are usually oversized when set up to be gridindependent and rely only on renewable energy and batteries, leading to higher capital costs. Moreover, in some operating conditions dependent on the availability of the renewable source, the energy produced could be curtailed up to almost 80%. ...

Reference:

Numerical Assessment of a Heavy-Duty (HD) Spark Ignition (SI) Biogas Engine
Carbon-negative “emerald hydrogen” from electrified steam methane reforming of biogas: System integration and optimization
  • Citing Article
  • October 2024

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

... Beyond conventional methods, innovative approaches like catalytic gasification [22,23], chemical looping gasification [24][25][26], supercritical water gasification [27][28][29], and microwave-assisted gasification [30,31] are being investigated. Economic viability is also a key focus, with studies comparing production methods for valuable products like methanol [32,33] and exploring solar-assisted techniques for hydrogen and chemical recovery [34]. Furthermore, research is ongoing to optimize the gasification of organic solid waste (D. [35]) and delve deeper into reactor design, including evaluations of supercritical water gasification systems [36] and the integration of new reactors like plasma [37], multistage [38], and water-gas shift units [39][40][41]. ...

Techno-economic evaluation of biomass-to-methanol production via circulating fluidized bed gasifier and solid oxide electrolysis cells: A comparative study
  • Citing Article
  • February 2024

Energy Conversion and Management

... The major advances in this field this year include addressing technical issues, such as fracture and corrosion of pipelines, 120,121 and evaluating economic and environmental benefits of various CO 2 transportation approaches, such as shipping and pipelining. [122][123][124] The possible future research directions regarding carbon storage include studies on formation damage caused by mineral dissolution and precipitation in a long term, prevention of CO 2 leakage through caprock, well cement, and casing degradation, and rapid mineralization in basalt for effective carbon sequestration. For CO 2 transportation, specifying an appropriate CO 2 purity level is crucial to reduce the risk of corrosion and scaling, while also considering the costs associated with purification and separation. ...

Optimisation of ship-based CO2 transport chains from Southern Europe to the North Sea

Carbon Capture Science & Technology

... However, the energy loss brought by PTG rises as the increase of hydrogen fraction of the fuel, which affects the system efficiency significantly. Alessandro et al. [38] has proposed a hydrogen-power cogeneration process coupled with SMR, auto thermal reforming (ATR), and gas-steam combined cycle (GSCC), in which hydrogen production efficiency of up to 75.2 % and power generation efficiency of up to 50.9 %. However, the reforming reaction heat demand relies on natural gas combustion, which causes certain carbon emissions. ...

Ultra-low emission flexible plants for blue hydrogen and power production, with electrically assisted reformers
  • Citing Article
  • November 2023

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

... This technology is chosen due to its high level of maturity and retrofitability. However, it should be highlighted that more advanced capture configurations, though currently characterised by a lower technology readiness level, may lead to a better techno-economic performance [11][12][13][14]. ...

Heat pump-driven adsorption CO2 capture for simple and cost-effective retrofits of coal power plants
  • Citing Article
  • August 2023

Applied Thermal Engineering

... Among the various renewable sources available, hydrogen (H 2 ), with a high energy density of 142 MJ kg −1 and zero carbon footprint, is regarded as a promising green fuel that could address global environmental challenges stemming from the excessive utilization of fossil fuels and resource depletion [9][10][11][12][13]. Unlike the traditional steam methane reforming technique, the production of H 2 fuel from Earth-abundant water through electrolysis (2H 2 O → 2H 2 + O 2 ) is an eminently clean, durable, and efficient method [14][15][16]. Although Pt-based materials are considered the leading electrocatalysts for the HER, their high costs and limited stability hinder their scalability for widespread applications in alkaline electrolyte media [17][18][19][20]. ...

A novel process for CO2 capture from steam methane reformer with molten carbonate fuel cell

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

... Among the power generation systems, various configuration of Brayton cycles is conventional. Furthermore, the request for the alternative fuels in such energy systems has gained prominence in recent years owing to the increasing demand for sustainable and environmental energy solutions [7]. Among the numerous alternative fuels in the literature, ammonia-methane (NH 3 -CH 4 ) fuel mixtures have appeared as an excellent choice for improving the Brayton systems. ...

Turning CO2 from fuel combustion into e-Fuel? Consider alternative pathways

Energy Conversion and Management

... Its integration into the well-established distribution infrastructure across numerous countries highlights its vital contribution to modern economies. Among the various products or applications that the methane produced from methanation has are its usage as a fuel in power plants, i.e., gas turbines and steam generators, as a raw material to the preparation of other materials and chemicals, and as a fuel in domestic usages in many cities around the world [29][30][31][32][33][34]. ...

Modelling of methane sorption enhanced reforming for blue hydrogen production in an adiabatic fixed bed reactor: unravelling the role of the reactor's thermal behavior
  • Citing Article
  • April 2023

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

... While the literature highlights the benefits of co-digestion and advances in predictive modeling, significant gaps exist in integrating structural and operational solutions specific to local conditions. In addition, the lack of robust data relating critical variables such as biodigester geometry and operational dynamics limits the replicability and scalability of these solutions [2,5,6]. Most studies focus on optimizing individual parameters, such as hydraulic retention times or carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. ...

Techno-economic analysis of a biogas-to-methanol process: Study of different process configurations and conditions
  • Citing Article
  • March 2023

Journal of Cleaner Production

... Fourth, the Cleanker project (clean clinker production by looping process), which aims at demonstrating a calcium-looping capture technology at TRL 7. The project investigates an integrated configuration of the technology which is provided by IKN and tested in the Vernasca cement plant of Buzzi Unicem (Italy). The technology also uses an oxyfuel combustion during the calcination process in order to obtain a pure CO2 stream (Fantini, 2019). Moreover, the project aims at testing different types of raw meals and demonstrating carbon sequestration via mineralization (Fernandez et al., 2019;Yörük et al., 2020;Magli, 2021). ...

CLEANKER – Clean Clinker by Calcium Looping Process for Low-CO2 Cement Production
  • Citing Article
  • January 2019

SSRN Electronic Journal