Francesca Demichelis

Francesca Demichelis is a researcher and assistant professor at Polytechnic of Turin in Chemical Engineering department. Francesca took master’s degree in Environmental Engineering at Polytechnic of Turin in 2016 and she developed her master thesis at the ATB about integrated production of Lactic Acid and Biogas from Food waste through chemical routes. Francesca received the PhD in Chemical Engineering at Polytechnic of Turin in 2021 concerning the valorisation of organic waste to produce Lactic Acid, Biogas and Bioethanol. Francesca in her research combine her experiences in Environmental and Chemical engineering to develop technical feasible and sustainable processes. Her research focus includes biochemical and thermochemical processes to valorise organic waste to produce high added value products and bio-energies. In details, biochemical process concerns anaerobic digestion process optimisation considering the upstream of the biomass and downstream of biogas, whereas thermochemical process is about pyrolysis to produce biochar, bio-oil, and syngas.

The sub-products of the processes could further be exploited in other processes to develop Circular Economy principles and circular districts

In her research, Francesca adopts as approach a techno-economic and environmental assessment to prove technical feasibility, economic profitability through Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and environmental sustainability with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

LCA is adopted both at the end of the realised processes to prove their sustainability and at the beginning of the process design, because sustainability is fundamental to realise a feasible and scalable process in the real life.

Francesca oriented her research according to Circular Economy Principles and Sustainable Development.