Alessandra Carucci
Researcher
Clean water.
The research of Alessandra Carucci.
The researcher’s article
Nothing is destroyed, but everything is transformed: the society of the re-use.
Water is a primary good. On this depends the survival of man and all the species that inhabit the planet. It is not a coincidence that in ancient times the first civilisations arose in proximity of lakes and rivers or in coastal areas that guaranteed the access to the water resource and all the linked goods.
If you tell a story, then everything changes.
Listen to Alessandra Carucci
The resources present on the planet are not endless. To guarantee that everyone benefits from them, a sustainable use is necessary. University of Cagliari encourages innovative practices of water treatment, to face the problem of their availability in the driest areas and to prevent pollution from wastewater, potential pollution for lands, layers and seas.
Alessandra Carucci
Professor of Environmental Pollution and Recovery Processes and Wasterwater Treatment Plants.
Research field in reference to the short film: process of wastewater treatment.
Alessandra Carucci teaches Environmental Pollution and Recovery Processes. She teaches also Wasterwater Treatment Plants at University of Cagliari. The first episode is inspired also to the theme of the scarce water resources that in the series puts the main characters in front of the need of the re-use and of wastewater and rainwater treatment.
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What are the wastewater purification systems?
They are advanced technologies, mainly used in the industrial field, aimed at the treatment of contaminated water. Their energy-saving operation is designed not to cause environmental damage, just as what happens, for example, with the aerobic granular biomass reactors. Used for the treatment of industrial petrochemical wastewater, these systems, unlike the traditional treatments, reduce on one hand the energy consumption of 25% and, on the other hand, reduce by 50% the investment and management costs of a plant.
Wastewater purification is also important for the removal of nitrates, which are often found in refinery waste. The discharge of dirty water containing high levels of nitrates, in fact, can be toxic to the life of aquatic beings and can also cause the so-called phenomenon of eutrophication, namely the overabundance of nitrates and phosphates in an aquatic environment. This substance requires, for the protection of the environment itself, the application of a system aimed to the removing of the pollutants mentioned above.
Clean-up measures concern not only the water filtration but also the monitoring of the pollution of the seas. In particular, the Mediterranean is one of the most important areas in themes of maritime activity that, because of the anthropic intervention, presents, especially in the port areas, a strong pollution of hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Measuring the parameters and values in the touristic ports therefore makes it possible to monitor in a preventive manner the environmental variable and biodiversity present in those areas, calibrating accordingly the human activities in the same areas.
The remediation measures also cover the remediation of soils contaminated by heavy metals at sites in disused mines, by means of organic crops necessary to accelerate the rate of degradation of contaminants.
Trattamento dei reflui petrolchimici con fanghi aerobici granulari: effetti della concentrazione del substrato di crescita
Ingegneria dell’Ambiente 2016
Bioaugmentation-Assisted Phytostabilisation of Abandoned Mine Sites in South West Sardinia
SpringerLink 2017
Biological treatment of nitrogen-rich refinery wastewater by partial nitritation (SHARON) process
Environmental Technology 2012
Spatio-temporal benthic biodiversity patterns and pollution pressure in three Mediterranean touristic ports
PublMed.org 2018
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