Our expertise is in environmental analytical chemistry, with a focus on contaminants of emerging concern (organic and inorganic) and microplastics in water and other complex environmental matrices. Our target compounds include pharmaceuticals and personal care products, cationic and anionic species, pesticides, industrial chemicals, plastic additives, PAHs, PCBs and related transformation products, as well as trace and heavy metals. We develop and apply targeted and non-targeted analytical workflows based on LC, IC, GC-MS and Py-GC-MS, together with techniques for metal determination. Our expertise covers sample preparation and preconcentration, method validation and quantitative analysis, applied to natural waters, wastewater, treated wastewater, sediments and biological or agri-food matrices. We can also contribute to environmental and human-health risk assessment and to the evaluation of contaminant-removal strategies. Our research includes adsorption-based treatments and the development of functional and circular materials, including biochar and other materials obtained from wastes or secondary raw materials, with particular interest in water treatment and reuse. Additional expertise includes experimental design, chemometrics and multivariate data analysis for method optimisation, interpretation of complex environmental datasets and evaluation of treatment performance.
PA1 - Transitioning the blue economy sectors for sustainability and strategic autonomy
We are interested in joining transnational projects addressing the environmental sustainability of blue-economy activities, where our expertise in environmental analytical chemistry can provide a complementary contribution.
We are particularly interested in projects focused on the occurrence, fate and mitigation of emerging contaminants, microplastics and inorganic pollutants in water-related systems associated with coastal activities, aquaculture, wastewater discharge, water reuse or other blue-economy sectors. We can contribute to contaminant monitoring, environmental and human-health risk assessment, and to the evaluation of treatment and remediation strategies.
We are also interested in projects developing circular approaches for water treatment and contaminant removal, including adsorption-based processes and the valorisation of wastes or secondary raw materials into functional materials. We would particularly welcome projects combining analytical monitoring with the assessment of treatment performance under environmentally relevant or operational conditions.
emerging contaminants, microplastics, environmental analytical chemistry, water treatment, environmental risk assessment, human health risk assessment, circular materials, adsorption, water reuse, waste valorisation
-XXXII National Congress of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society, Mestre, Italy, 6–10/09/2026. Presentation of activities related to an EU project on emerging contaminants and microplastics in aquatic systems. -30th International Symposium on Separation Sciences (ISSS 2026), Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 21–24/09/2026. Presentation and networking activities related to an EU project, with focus on analytical approaches for water contaminants and microplastics.