News From 2026

🏭 Learning Energy Conversion in the Field

On May 27th, students from the Energy Conversion Systems course had the opportunity to visit both the A2A Waste-to-Energy Plant and the Lamarmora Power Plant in Brescia.

The visits provided valuable insights into energy conversion technologies, waste valorization, electricity generation, and district heating systems. 🔥⚡

A sincere thank you to the A2A staff for their time, expertise, and for guiding us throughout the day. 👏🎓

🎓 Congratulations to our PhD candidate Mattia Baiguini, who successfully defended his doctoral thesis and earned his PhD in Sustainable Development and Climate Change at IUSS Pavia and the University of Brescia.

Ad maiora! 🚀

New publication out in Energy Conversion and Management!

The latest work of the PhD candidate Vladimir Naumov explores how the design of air-cooled heat rejection systems can strongly influence the performance and economics of solar tower plants using sCO₂ and CO₂-mixture power cycles.

The study highlights promising configurations to improve the competitiveness of next-generation CSP systems.

Great teamwork with all the co-authors involved!

📄 New publication in Renewable Energy! 🌱⚙️

We’re happy to share our latest article, “An Efficient Small-Scale Biomass Cogeneration Plant with Silicon Tetrachloride as Working Fluid: Techno-Economic Analysis”, led by our post-doc Michele Doninelli.

🔍 Key insights from the study

 - Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl₄) is investigated as an innovative working fluid for high-temperature Rankine cycles, enabling higher efficiency thanks to its excellent thermal stability 🔥

- A 1 MWₑ biomass CHP plant is analysed, using molten salts as heat carrier and operating at 525 °C turbine inlet temperature

- Even when operating in combined heat and power mode, the system achieves a gross efficiency of 32.3%, outperforming conventional ORC solutions

- The techno-economic analysis shows strong potential in contexts with limited cogeneration hours and significant heat rejection, such as mild climates. 🌍

This work highlights how advanced working fluids can open new pathways for more efficient and flexible biomass-based CHP systems.

📄 New publication out in Energy Conversion and Management! 🎉

“High-temperature electrochemical converter as an advanced power cycle for small-scale heat recovery applications” presents an in-depth investigation of advanced power cycles based on electrochemical converters ⚙️.

The study bridges the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications by integrating thermodynamic and electrochemical modeling, and benchmarks the system against an ORC for heat recovery. The results highlight promising potential for CHP applications, while also pointing out the need for further technical development. 🔥⚡

The work was developed in close collaboration with the HERD Lab at UW-Madison Mechanical Engineering, under the guidance of Prof. Luca Mastropasqua, and led by our PhD candidate Mattia Baiguini. 🎓