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Tel.: +39 050 2219388
Supervisor: Prof. Erika Ribechini
Title: Biomass pyrolysis: an analytical approach to understand the role of catalysts and co-reactants
Abstract: My PhD project aims at exploring the advantages of analytical pyrolysis in the study of biomass conversion with catalysts and/or other co-reactants. This research field is of great interest since pyrolysis products of biomasses are a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source that could replace fuels in many applications. The main challenges in this field are the characterization of the product mixtures and the rationalization of reaction mechanisms. Analytical pyrolysis is a powerful tool for these purposes, being able to replicate industrial-scale processes with small amounts of materials and an extended control on experimental parameters. The main objective of the project is a more in-depth understanding of the effects of catalyst nature and experimental conditions on the biomass conversion, both by an optimization and a mechanistic point of view. A bottom-up approach will be followed, starting from the study of the simplest constituents of biomass and rising to the more complex systems.
Poster communications at congress:
“The binding mechanism of the molecular rotor Thioflavine-T to DNA” presentato presso International Symposium on Metal Complexes, Giugno 2013, Burgos, Spagna
Journal articles:
A. Biancardi, T. Biver, A. Burgalassi, M. Mattonai, F. Secco, M. Venturini, Mechanistic aspects of Thifolavin-T self-aggregation and DNA binding: evidence for dimer attack on DNA grooves, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 16 (2014) 20061-20072
M. Mattonai, E. Parri, D. Querci, I. Degano, E. Ribechini, Developement and validation of an HPLC-DAD HPLC/ESI-MS2 method for the determination of polyphenols in monofloral honeys from Tuscany (Italy), accepted for publication on Microchemical Journal (2015)