Invited Speaker
Dr. Enrico Zacchei
Itecons- Institute for Research and Technological Development in Construction, Energy, Environment and Sustainability, PortugalUniversity of Coimbra, CERIS, Coimbra, Portugal
Speech Title: Solutions for the Brine Treatment by using Diffusive and Migration Flux in a New Brine-Clay-Seawater System with Solar Photovoltaic Plants
Abstract: With the growing world population and industrial production, the demand for water has been continuously increasing. By 2030, 60.0% of the world population will not have access to freshwater, which is ~2.50% of the total global water. For this, a total of over 17000 operational desalination plants have been constructed worldwide. However, the key barrier to desalination expansion is brine production, which is 50.0% higher than the freshwater, generating 5.0 – 33.0% of total desalination cost. In this presentation, new theoretical approach for brine treatments will be proposed. It consists in combining electrokinetic and electrochemical mechanisms by using an alkaline clay with high buffering power. Advanced numerical model has been carried out to estimate the ions concentrations in the brine-clay-seawater system. Analytical analyses have been carried out to estimate the global system efficiency. Also, an integrated system with solar photovoltaic plants has been proposed to produce renewable energy and to optimize the management costs. A concrete example for PV design is shown. Results show the feasibility of the system, its size, and usability of the clay. This model not only should clean the brine to produce new treated seawater but also it should recover useful minerals thank to the electrolysis and precipitations effects.
Biography: Senior Engineer and Researcher at Itecons institute, Portugal. Post-doc. at Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium. PhD from University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain, in co-tutorship with the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, in structures. 2º PhD from University State of São Paulo (UNESP), Brazil, in structures. Master and bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (structure) from University of Roma Tre (Uniroma 3), Italy. 10 extension courses at USP and UNESP. 15 grants/scholarships, 4 of which for stays in R&D centres: USP (2.5 years), UNESP (8 months), University of Malaga, UMA, Spain (9 months); WBI excellence scholarship, UCL (3 months). 8 years of technical experience in international companies/institutes (Italy, Brazil, Portugal) and 6 years of scientific experience. 16 technical projects (14 large projects) and 8 funded research projects (5 more than 500k euro). Coordinator of 3 projects. More than 25 papers published in high impact journals (ISI, Scopus). More than 25 participations/presentations at congresses (3 as Invited Speaker). Member of the working group "dams under earthquakes", ITCOLD, Italy. Special Issue Editor and Reviewer Board for Infrastructures Journal (Scopus). Member of the research group "CERIS-Coimbra". Reviewer for 16 ISI journals. 2 co-orientation of bachelor/master students. Evaluation member for bachelor’s degree students. Technical committee member (5) and Organizer of Mini Symposia (3) for congresses/events.