Roberto Baccoli’s research while affiliated with University of Cagliari and other places

Desalination, decisive for mitigating global water scarcity, faces challenges due to the high energy consumption and operational costs associated with traditional methods like reverse osmosis and distillation. The present research investigated the efficiency of eight combinations of fabricated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite membranes with -OH, -COOH, and -NH2 functionalities for the removal of salt under varying flow rates (100, 150, 200, and 250 ml/h) and influent (2500, 3000, 4000, 5000 mg/l) rates by membrane filtration. Isothermal analysis was conducted to evaluate the membranes' performance in removing dissolved sodium chloride in de-ionized water. Efficient salt removal was observed with amino-functionalized SWCNTs (84% salt rejection with 2500 mg/l feed) compared to other functionalized MWCNTs at a flow rate of 200 ml/h. Among the two isotherms, Langmuir isotherm fitted the experimental data better than the Freundlich equation. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was used to predict the behaviour of the membranes under different conditions. The model's predictions closely aligned with the observed experimental outcomes, affirming its reliability and utility in optimizing membrane performance. While amino-functionalized SWCNTs outperformed MWCNTs in desalination applications, potential challenges related to scalability and long-term stability were identified. Future work will explore these aspects to enhance practical applicability and cost-efficiency in large-scale operations.

Recent European directives provide for the use of digital procedures based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a tool for the design and management of the entire life cycle of public buildings. This directive has been implemented by the various Member States. Even acoustic performance must now be evaluated with the use of digital procedures based on BIM. The purpose of this work is to analyze the standards currently available on the market for the Desing phase, the verification phase and the acoustic classification of the buildings and evaluate the applicability through the use of the Open BIM models is the format and specifications based on IDS format. An Information Delivery Specification (IdS) is a computer interpretable document that defines the Exchange Requirements of model based exchange. This can be a combination of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), Domain Extensions, and additional classifications and properties (national agreements or company specific ones; either stored in bSDD or somewhere else).

Energy and water poverty are two main challenges of the modern world. Most developing and underdeveloped countries need more efficient electricity-producing sources to overcome the problem of potable water evaporation. At the same time, the traditional way to produce energy/electricity is also responsible for polluting the environment and damaging the ecosystem. Notably, many techniques have been used around the globe, such as a photovoltaic (PV) cooling (active, passive, and combined) process to reduce the working temperature of the PV panels (up to 60 °C) to improve the system efficiency. For floating photovoltaic (FPV), water cooling is mainly responsible for reducing the panel temperature to enhance the production capacity of the PV panels, while the system efficiency can increase up to around 30%. At the same time, due to the water surface covering, the water loss due to evaporation is also minimized, and the water evaporation could be minimized by up to 60% depending on the total area covered by the water surfaces. Therefore, it could be the right choice for generating clean and green energy, with dual positive effects. The first is to improve the efficiency of the PV panels to harness more energy and minimize water evaporation. This review article focuses mainly on various PV and FPV cooling methods and the use and advantages of FPV plants, particularly covering efficiency augmentation and reduction of water evaporation due to the installation of PV systems on the water bodies.

Even if the first examples of free associations of citizens for the exploitation of local energy resources date back to the end of the nineteenth century, it is with the EU Directive 2018/2001 RED II that the concept of Renewable Energy Community is introduced for the first time. It is an association of ordinary citizens, commercial activities, public administrations, small and medium-sized enterprises, aimed at the production and maximization of the use of energy produced on site. Alongside the social (greater energy independence, awareness of environmental issues) and environmental (promotion of renewable energy and reduction of CO2 emissions) aspects, the economic one is equally relevant in order to contribute to the dissemination of RES, maximizing its self-consumed share in the production site and therefore reducing the loads of overproduction on the transmission network. In this paper, the authors analyze in detail the regulatory aspects and the technological solutions that are contributing to the diffusion of these communities at national level, also in the light of the recent ARERA Resolution for widespread self-consumption. The critical issues associated with their implementation in disadvantaged area in terms of population density will be discussed. The case study of the Municipality of Osidda in Sardinia will be presented, where the provision of social services and the achievement of energy independence represent the tools to combat the rapid depopulation suffered in recent years. The model developed by the authors starts from an initial careful collection of data, aimed at overcoming the problems of measuring and estimating the energy consumption of very different users (residential and public), identifying the possible solutions able to maximize the shared energy produced by RES, inside the RECs and consequently the economic return connected to national economic incentives.

his study analyses neutral point clamped-based non-isolated grid-connected inverter topologies. Transformerless inverters are widely used because of their higher efficiency, lower cost, and compatibility with grid integration. The main drawback of the non-isolation inverter is maintaining the Common Mode Voltage (CMV), eliminating the Leakage Current (LC) and galvanic isolation during the grid fault condition. Galvanic isolation and elimination of leakage current in non-isolated inverter topologies mainly depend on inverter configuration and pulse width modulation techniques used in the inverter topologies. Many single-phase non-isolated inverter topologies are configured and analysed based on these issues. However, only a few studies have been conducted on three-phase non-isolated inverter configurations. Hence, this paper examines different three-phase non-isolated inverter topologies based on neutral point clamping with modified discontinuous pulse width modulation technique on CMV, LC reduction, current total harmonic distortion, conduction losses and efficiency of the inverter structures. Simulations are carried out in MATLAB/Simulink for proposed inverter topologies, and experimental analysis has been done for validation.

The opportunity to design a new portable system for measuring thermal conductivity in fluids arose from the need to measure the phase state (liquid and/or vapour). As is well known, thermal conductivity varies in relation to the phase state of the fluid. The Transient Hot Wire Method was used to measure thermal conductivity. First, the work includes innovations in the analytical model of heat transfer, progressing over time to contemporary numerical models used in standards. The applications in the bibliography span a wide range, including gases, liquids, and the latest advances in the field of nanofluids. Secondly, the study delves into the transient model of heat exchange, focusing on conduction. The authors used standardized correction equations for the prototype, ensuring accuracy and relevance. Finally, the work includes the design and construction of the transducer. This process begins with a Monte Carlo simulation, predicting the expected results. This simulation helps to define measurement system components based on their performance characteristics and in-depth analysis.

Numerous mathematical models have been developed for thermal diffusion through single-layer materials, while further developments are needed for multi-layer materials. Diffusion processes through a multilayer material are of interest in industrial, applied thermodynamics, physics, electrical and civil engineering applications. The proposed scheme is easily applicable in various fields, demonstrating that Finite Different Methods (FDMs) are flexible, simple to implement and help to represent multilayer materials even without associating them with other numerical methods. The numerical method studied is a FDM in a civil engineering application. Through the study of a multilayer wall, its criticalities are highlighted, and a possible implementation is proposed.

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A smart window, such as electrochromic or thermochromic windows, may not be able to accomplish at the same time energy efficiency and visual comfort functions, since satisfying one criterium interferes with the other. This recalls to the important issue of establishing precise relationships among parameters affecting energy, glare control, and color rendering tasks and the influence on them of glazing material composition and preparation technique. With this aim, the luminous properties of a number of advanced glazings found in literature and of three home-made electrochromic devices differing by material composition and/or preparation technique are analyzed in this study. The investigation has involved the determination of the CIE (Commission International de l’Eclairage) Color Rendering Index (CIE CRI), the Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), and the luminous transmittance coefficient (τV) of the devices which are discussed with regard to their potential in absolving to energy and visual comfort tasks. Results lead to the main conclusion that the CIE CRI, CCT, and τV indexes are clearly linked by an exponential correlation. At low τV values (τV< 0.5), however, the correlation weakens and the variation of the CIE CRI and CCT indexes becomes entirely material dependent. The influence of preparation technique appears to be irrelevant since the color rendering indexes appear to be well correlated to τV over all the investigated τV range.