Research Projects
Since 2002 Giorgio Mannina has been involved in projects with academic staff of other International Universities. The projects have been also object of seminars/workshops/conferences and allowed to consolidate the knowledge in some important research fields. Giorgio Mannina has been involved into two different types of projects
- Funded research projects - VIEW
- No-Funded research projects - Scientific projects developed with academic staff - VIEW
The funded research projects are based on funds and are granted by a reviewing process. The no-funded research projects are scientific collaborations on "hot" topics of international interest with colleagues of other Istitutions.
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Period: 2014-17
Title: PRIN2012 Energy consumption and GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the wastewater treatment plants: a decision support system for planning and management.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Giorgio Mannina – Palermo University
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount: 425.322 Euro
Brief description: The research project focuses on setting-up an innovative mathematical model platform for the design and management of wastewater treatment plants. The final goal is to minimize the environmental impact of wastewater treatment plants through their optimization in terms of energy consumptions and emissions, which can be regarded as discharged pollutants, sludge and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., CH4, NOx, CO2). Four Universities are involved: Palermo University (PI – Project), Cassino University (Prof. G. Esposito), Basilicata University (Prof. D. Caniani) and Florence University (Prof. R. Gori).
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2013-15
Title: PON02_00153_2849085 ''Ricerca e competitività 2007/2013, asse 1''. STI-TAM: Development of innovative technologies for naval wastewater treatment for Marine environment preservation.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Signorino Galvagno – Messina University
Role: Principal Investigator (WorkPackage 5: mathematical modelling of advanced wastewater treatments)
Amount: 6.849.451Euro
Brief description: The project concerns the development of a system for the integrated treatment of wastewater from shipboard activities. The PI has been involved in identifying the kinetic constants of the biomass involved in the treatment and to develop a mathematical model for the depuration processes occurring in membrane bioreactors and moving bed biofilm reactor systems.
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2012-16
Title:Title: PRIN2010-11 - Emerging contaminants in air, soil, and water: from source to the marine environment.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Gaspare Viviani – Palermo University
Role: Member
Amount: 449.589 Euro
Brief description: The project is aimed at analyzing the phenomena of formation and migration of emergent contaminants at basin scale, through experimental as well as modelling studies. The final target will consist in the realization of a modelling tool, which will enable on one hand to quantify the contribution of CEC at basin scale, while, on the other hand, to evaluate the potential mitigation effects on the receiving water body. The research activity is constituted by different two steps (monitoring campaign and mathematical modelling). I'm invoplved in both phases.
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2012-15
Title: PON2012-NAZ-0053. SIGLOD: An intelligent system for management and localization of solid waste landfill.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Leopoldo Ceraulo – Palermo University
Role: Member
Amount: 1.568.146,5 Euro
Brief description: The project concerns the development of a pratical and integrated technological infrastructure for detecting the unauthorized landfills. I'm involved in developing a mathematical model for the simulation of 1D flow of leachate through the body of a landfill for municipal solid waste..
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2009-11
Title:Title: PRIN2009 - Experimental Analysis of MBR plants for modeling fouling and for assessing the influence of physical and microbiological characteristics of mud.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Michele Torregrossa – Palermo University
Role: Member
Amount: 234.487 Euro
Brief description: The project regards the investigation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) fouling and foaming phenomenon. I’ve been involved in developing a mathematical model for the MBR system simulation that takes into account the variation of energy consumption with fouling. In addition, an MBR pilot plant has been designed and managed. Studies on the formation of fouling and foaming have been carried out.
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2005-07
Title:Title: PRIN2005: Experimental and modelling analysis of the contribution of urban drainage systems in the build-up of concentrated and diffuse pollutant loads at the catchment scale.
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Gaspare Viviani – Palermo University
Role: Member
Amount: 185000 Euro
Brief description: The project regards the study of the impact of urban stormwater on the quality of receiving water bodies. I’ve developed an integrated mathematical model, at basin scale, able to simulate the dynamics of the concentrated pollution loads coming from civil and productive activities and of the diffused loads originated from agriculture and animal husbandry activities
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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Period: 2002-04
Title: PRIN 2002: Assessment and control of the hydrological and transport phenomena of the pollutants generated from urbanized areas for the receiving water body protection
Founding source: Italian Ministry of Education, universities and research (MIUR)
Principal Investigator: Prof. Gaspare Viviani – Palermo University
Role: Member
Amount: 285000 Euro
Brief description: The project concerns the propagation of pollutants throughout an integrated urban drainge system (sewer system, wastewtaer treatment plant, receiving water body) with the aim to identify structural possibilities and not for controlling the impacts.
Principal related publications of International Journals: <VIEW LINK>
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NO-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS DEVELOPED WITH ACADEMIC STAFF
2013- present Greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants
The research project involves 5 Universities and overall 10 reearchers. The aim is to elucidate the critical issues related to GHG emissions. The project involves also the Task - Group on GHG from wastewater treatmen plant under the umbrella of the International Water Association
Mannina, G., Comas, J., Cosenza, A., Guo, A., Ni, B., Nopens, I., Olsson, G., Porro, J., Rodriguez-Roda, I., Vanrolleghem, P., Yuan, Z. Towards a design and optimization tool for a reduction of greenhouse gases from wastewater treatment by a plant-wide approach: state of the art (in preparation)
2013- present Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions from
wastewater treatment plants
This project is in collaboration with Irvine University (Irvine USA, Prof. Diego Rosso) and involves both experimental and mathematical modelling activities with the final aim to reduce GHG from WWTP.
Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Gori, R., Sobhani, R., Garrido M., Rosso, D. (2014) Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of a plant-wide model for carbon and energy footprint of wastewater treatment plants. International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs) 7th Intl. Congress on Env. Modelling and Software, San Diego, CA, USA, Daniel P. Ames, Nigel W.T. Quinn and Andrea E. Rizzoli (Eds.) http://www.iemss.org/society/index.php/iemss-2014-proceedings.
2010- present Membrane bioreactors modelling and Global sensitivity analysis for activated sludge models (ASM) for wastewater treatment
The research project was developed in cooperation with Prof. Peter Vanrolleghem at Laval University (Canada). The research was aimed at developing a membrane bioreactor model for wastewater treatment and a calibration protocol for assessing model parameter values. The global sensitivity analysis (GSA) as part of the calibration protocol was employed. Further, three different GSA methods have been assessed and compared. As a results of the collaborations the following papers have been presented:
Mannina G., Cosenza A., Vanrolleghem P., Viviani G. (2011). A practical protocol for calibration of nutrient removal wastewater treatment models. Journal of Hydroinformatics, Vol. 13(4), 575-595.
Cosenza A., Mannina G., Vanrolleghem P.A., Viviani G., Neumann, M. (2011). Global sensitivity analysis in ASM applications: comparison of different methods. WATERmatex, San Sebastian – 20-22 June 2011.
Cosenza A., Mannina G., Neumann M., Viviani G., Vanrolleghem P.A. (2011). Modelling biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal with soluble microbial products (SMP) production-degradation processes: application to an UCT-MBR system. WATERmatex, San Sebastian – 20-22 June 2011.
Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Viviani, G., Vanrolleghem, P.A., Neumann, M.B. (2012) Global sensitivity analysis for urban water quality modelling: comparison of different methods. In proceedings of 9th International Conference on Urban Drainage Modelling 4-7 September, 2012 Belgrade, Serbia.
Cosenza, A., Mannina, G. Neumann, M., Viviani, G., P. Vanrolleghem. (2013) Biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal in membrane bioreactors: Model development and parameter estimation. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Volume 36(4), 499-514.
Cosenza, A., Mannina, G. Vanrolleghem, P., Neumann, M. (2013) Global sensitivity analysis in wastewater applications: A comprehensive comparison of different methods. Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 49, 40-52.
Cosenza, A., Mannina, G., Vanrolleghem, P., Neumann, M. (2014) Variance - based sensitivity analysis for wastewater treatment plant modelling. Science of the Total Environment. Volumes 470–471, 1, 1068-1077.
Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Randrianantoandro, M., Anctil, F., Neumann, M., Vanrolleghem, P.A. (2014) Global sensitivity analysis in environmental water quality modelling: Where do we stand? International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs) 7th Intl. Congress on Env. Modelling and Software, San Diego, CA, USA, Daniel P. Ames, Nigel W.T. Quinn and Andrea E. Rizzoli (Eds.) http://www.iemss.org/society/index.php/iemss-2014-proceedings.
Vanrolleghem, P., Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Neumann, M. (2014) Global sensitivity analysis for urban water quality modelling: terminology, convergence and comparison of different methods (submitted)
2008- 2011 Defining and assessing uncertainty in urban drainage modelling
The research project involved 6 different Universities and involved 12 researchers. The project was within the International Working Group on Data and Models, which works under the IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage. The major aims were to define and quantify uncertainty in urban drainage stormwater modelling. Specifically, the International Working Group on Data and Models firstly developed a harmonised framework for defining and assessing uncertainties in the field of urban drainage modelling. The sources of uncertainties in urban drainage models and their links were mapped out. Thereafter, the comparison of different techniques generally used in the uncertainty assessment of the parameters of water models were carried out by employing four different uncertainty techniques. As a results of the collaborations the following papers have been presented:
Dotto C. B. S., Mannina G., Kleidorfer M., Vezzaro L., Henrichs M., McCarthy D., Freni G., Rauch W., Deletic A. (2012). Comparison of different uncertainty techniques in urban stormwater quantity and quality modelling. Water Research 46(8), 2545-2558.
Deletic A., Dotto C.B.S., Fletcher C.B.S., McCarthy D.T., Bertrand-Krajewski JL, Rauch W., Kleidorfer M., Freni G., Mannina G., Tait S. (2011). Harmonizing uncertainty assessment in urban water quality modelling. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 42-44, 3-10.
2009- 2010 Assessing uncertainty for sewer sediments modelling
The research project was developed in cooperation with Prof. Simon Tait Bradford University (United Kingdom). The research was aimed at assessing the uncertainty of sewer sediments modelling. A real case study located in London was selected for the application of a detailed and a simplified urban drainage model. Both models were calibrated using real data and their uncertainty were assessed and compared. As a results of the collaborations the following papers have been presented:
Mannina G., Schellart A.N.A., Tait S., Viviani G. (2011). Uncertainty in sewer sediment deposit modelling: detailed vs simplified modelling approaches. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 42-44, 11-20.
Mannina G., Schellart A.N.A., Tait S., Viviani G. (2010). Uncertainty in sewer sediment deposit modelling: detailed vs simplified modelling approaches. XXXII Hydraulics and Hydraulic Constructions, Palermo, 14-17 September 2010.
2007- 2008 Modelling moving bed biofilm reactors
The research project was developed in cooperation with Proff. H. Ødegaard at NTNU Norwegian University. The research was aimed at developing a mathematical model for hybrid moving bed biofilm reactors treating domestic wastewater. An experimental campaign was carried out at NTNU on a laboratory pilot plant for gathering field data for model calibration. As a results of the collaborations the following papers have been presented:
Mannina G., Di Trapani D., Viviani G., Ødegaard H. (2011). Modelling and dynamic simulation of hybrid moving bed biofilm reactors: model concepts and application to a pilot plant. Biochemical Engineering Journal, Vol. 56(1-2), 23-36.
2004- 2005 Uncertainty in integrated urban drainage modelling
The research project was developed in cooperation with Proff. W. Schilling and S. Saegrov at NTNU Norwegian University. This project was a part of the PhD studies and regarded the quantification of the uncertainty of a home-made integrated urban drainage model by means of the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation. As a results of the collaborations the following papers have been presented:
Mannina G., Freni G., Viviani G., Sægrov S., Hafskjold L. S. (2005). Integrated Urban Water Modelling with Uncertainty Analysis. Proceeding 10th ICUD (International Conference on Urban Drainage) - Copenhagen (Denmark), 2005.
Mannina G., Freni G., Viviani G., Sægrov S., Hafskjold l. S. (2006). Integrated urban water modelling with uncertainty analysis. Water Science & Technology. Vol. 54(6-7), 379–386.
Principal Publications - Project PRIN2012
Cosenza, A., Mannina, G., Vanrolleghem, P.A., Neumann, M.B. (2014) Variance-based sensitivity analysis for wastewater treatment plant modelling Science of The Total Environment, Volumes 470–471, 1068-1077.
Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., (2014) Quantifying sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of a new mathematical model for the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from membrane bioreactors. Journal of Membrane Science, submitted.
Vanrolleghem, P.A., Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Neumann, M.B. (2014) Global sensitivity analysis for urban water quality modelling: terminology, convergence and comparison of different methods, Water Research, submitted.
Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Gori, R., Sobhanic, R., Garrido, M., Rosso, D. (2014) Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of a plant-wide model for carbon and energy footprint of wastewater treatment plants, Proc. International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs) 7th Intl. Congress on Env. Modelling and Software, San Diego, CA, USA, Daniel P. Ames, Nigel W.T. Quinn and Andrea E. Rizzoli (Eds.)
Principal pubblications - Project STITAM
Di Trapani, D., Di Bella, G., Mannina, G., Torregrossa, M., Viviani., G. (2014) Comparison between moving bed-membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems: Influence of wastewater salinity variation. Bioresource Technology, 162, 60-69.
Principal pubblications - Project PRIN2010-11
Principal pubblications - Project SIGLOD
Principal pubblications - Project PRIN2009
Cosenza, A., Di Bella, G., Mannina, G., Torregrossa, M. (2013) The role of EPS in fouling and foaming phenomena for a membrane bioreactor, Bioresource Technology, 147, 184-192.
Principal pubblications - Project PRIN2005
Principal pubblications - Project PRIN2002
