Prof. Stefano Consonni
Department of Energy Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
29121 Piacenza
Italy
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Fluency:
English, Italian
Thematic field of expertise:
Collection, Energy Recovery, Landfilling, Material Recovery, Biomass
Geographical field of expertise:
Italy
Detailed description of working activity
• production of electricity and cogeneration from biomass and non-conventional fuels
• technologies and processes for the recovery of energy from waste and residues
• technologies and processes for CO2 capture
• gas turbines and combined cycles
• coproduction of synthetic fuels and electricity
• technologies, processes and strategies to mitigate the greenhouse effect
• simulation and optimization of cogeneration systems, with and without district heating
Current activity
• Full professor with tenure at Dept. of Energy Engineering of Politecnico di Milano since 2001.
• Since 1992 has taught "Power Plants", “Hydraulic and Thermal Machinery”, “Energy Systems”, "Environmental Impact of Energy Production", “Low Carbon Technologies” to students in Environmental, Electrical, Energy, Mechanical and Transportation Engineering.
• Since 1992, supervisor of over 70 Graduation Theses and Ph.D. Theses of candidates to degrees in Mechanical, Environmental, Electrical, Chemical Enginering.
• Since 1992 member of the Committee of the Ph.D. program in Energy Eng. of Politecnico di Milano.
• Since 1992, elected in education and scientific committees of Politecnico di Milano: Dept. of Energy Engineering, School of Engineering, Center for Research on Transportation.
• Since 1993 lead investigator and/or participant to researches financed by:
A2A SpA, Milano
Actelios SpA, Milano
AEM Milano
Amer. Forestry & Paper Ass., Wash., USA
Air Liquide Research Center, Parigi
Alstom Power, Milano
Ansaldo Ricerche, Genova
ATIG (Assoc.Tecnica Italiana Gas), Milano
BP Alternative Energy, Sunbury, UK
CESI, Milano
Edipower SpA, Milano
ENI SpA, Milano
Federambiente, Roma
Hera SpA, Bologna
Italcementi SpA, Bergamo
Ministero Università e Ricerca, Roma.
Pirelli Ambiente, Milano
Regione Lombardia
Tokyo Gas Ltd., Tokyo.
US Agency for Intl. Development, NY, USA
US Dept. of Energy, Washington DC, USA
Veolia Servizi Ambientali, La Spezia
for researches on: gas turbines, combined cycles, cogeneration, district heating, gasification, energy from waste and/or biomass, environmental impact of energy systems, CO2 capture, production of decarbonized electricity and decarbonized fuels, pollution from traffic, heat transfer, residual fuels, etc.
• Since 2005, President of LEAP (Laboratory for Energy and the Environment Piacenza), a Consortium promoted by Politecnico di Milano to carry out research and technology transfer on advanced, environmentally benign technologies and processes, trasformed into Consortium Limited Liability Company in 2017 - Chairman of the Management Board
• Since 2003, contributor to the Master program RIDEF of Politecnico di Milano (recovery from waste).
• Since 2003, member of the Committee of the Ph.D. program in Technologies for Energy and the Environment of Università di Bergamo.
• Since 2009, coordinator of graduate course on “Global Change and Sustainability” given at Alta Scuola Politecnica, managed by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino.
• Since 2009, coordinator of the international Masters’ program in Energy Engineering for an Environmentally Sustainable World (EEESW) offered at the Piacenza campus of Politecnico di Milano.
• Since 2010 component of the Scientific & Technical Advisory Council (STAC) of CEWEP (Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants), Bruxelles.
• Since 2011, Director of MatER (Material & Energy from Refuse), a study center established at LEAP with the scientific support of Politecnico di Milano.
Professional experience:
• Scientific consultant in the field of energy systems and their environmental impact of A2A (Milano) AFPA (American Forestry & Paper Association), AMSA Milano, Ansaldo Genova, ASM Brescia, ASM Piacenza, Chemrec (Sweden), Cofely/Gas de France-Suez, Fiat Power Train, Franco Tosi, Hera, Italcementi, Navigant Consulting (USA), Nykomb (Sweden), San Marco BioEnergie, SNAM, Viscolube, Weyerhaeuser (USA)
• Court-appointed Technical Expert in a number of civil and criminal cases on power plants, district heating plants, waste-to-energy plants, biomass-fired plants, biogas plants, steel plants, photovoltaic plants, industrial plants, etc.
Former activities
• Research assistant at Princeton University, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, 1985-90.
• Assistant professor at Dept. of Energy Engineering of Politecnico di Milano, 1990-92.
• Associate professor with tenure, ibidem, 1992-01.
• From 1998 to 2005, Head of the Piacenza Campus of Politecnico di Milano, administering degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Environmental Architecture.
• Director of Lecture Series held at Politecnico on Waste-To-Energy Systems (1999 and 2005), Energy from Biomass (2006), Technologies for Energy Recovery from Waste (2008).
• Contributing author of the World Energy Assessment, UN Development Program, 1999-2000.
• Visiting Research Scientist at the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), Princeton University (USA) for the 2002-03 Academic Year and the semester Feb-Jul 2007.
• National coordinator of research project PRIN 2006 sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Research on “Comparative analysis of paths for the recovery of materials and energy from waste”, 2007-09.
• Coordinator of unit “Waste & Power” of FIRB (Basic Research) Project sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Research on “Optimization of secondary energy systems”, 2007-10.
Professional experience:
• Member of the Board of the Municipal Utility of the city of Piacenza (1995-96)
• President of Tecnoborgo, project company managing the WTE plant in Piacenza (1996-98).
• Member of the Board of the Foundation of the city of Piacenza (2001-03).
• Member of the Testing Committee of the WTE + District Heating plant in Brescia, 1997-99 and 2003-04.
• Member of the Testing Committee of the WTE + District Heating plant in Milano, 2000-03.
• Member of the Testing Committee of the fluidized bed, WTE plant in Parona (PV), Italy, 2007-08.
• President of the Testing Committee of the de-NOx system of the WTE plant in Milano, 2007-09.
• Member of the Evaluation Committee of the WTE plant in Torino, Italy, 2007-10.
• President of the Scientific Committee for the realization of the WTE plant in Naples, Italy, 2009-10.
• Member of the Testing Committee of the WTE plant in Parma (2011-14).
Education
• Degree in Mech. Eng. (Energy Conversion) at Politecnico di Milano, 1983, 100/100 with highest honors.
• Master's in Mech. Eng., Princeton University, Dept. of Mech. and Aerospace Eng., Princeton, USA, 1987.
• Ph.D. in Mech. Eng., Princeton University, ibid., 1992, with a Thesis on Performance Prediction of Gas/Steam Cycles for Power Generation. Supervisor prof. R.H. Socolow.
• Lecture Series attended at von-Karman Institute, Bruxelles (1982, 1985, 1994) and Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (1987).
Memberships
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• Associazione Termotecnica Italiana (ATI)
• Associazione Italiana Riscaldamento Urbano (AIRU)
• Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Piacenza
• Rotary International
• International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)
Papers
- Techno-economic analysis of calcium looping processes for low CO2 emission cement plants
- Evaluation of Five Alternative CO2 Capture Technologies with Insights to Inform Further Development
- Numerical Optimization of CHP Organic Rankine Cycles - Part A: Design Optimization
- Waste gasification vs. conventional Waste-To-Energy: A comparative evaluation of two commercial technologies
- Number concentration and chemical composition of ultrafine and nanoparticles from WTE (waste to energy) plants
- Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems: The potential for energy recovery
- Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems: Project overview and main results
- Material and energy recovery from Automotive Shredded Residues (ASR) via sequential gasification and combustion
- A gasification-based biorefinery for the pulp and paper industry
- Off-design performance of integrated waste-to-energy, combined cycle plants
- Alternative strategies for energy recovery from municipal solid waste - Part A: Mass and energy balances
- Alternative strategies for energy recovery from municipal solid waste - Part B: Emission and cost estimates