Catastrophic risks vary greatly, as do their
effects and the prevention and mitigation measures which may be
planned or implemented.
For this reason, AMRA coordinates the activities in this area, subdividing
them into two sub-areas:
“Air, water and soil pollution”
includes issues related to atmospheric pollution, that of surface
and underground water courses and of soils, the dynamics of such
issues and their general complexity. In this division AMRA has at
its disposal:
- state-of-the-art equipment for measuring and characterising
submicron dust particles;
- an analytical and simulation laboratory for soil characterisation
and restoration: Mesocosm;
- special know-how in dealing with issues related to the pollution
of water courses.
“Waste and industrial risk management”
includes applied and back-up research and technology transfer in
all technical and management sectors both of the urban and industrial
waste cycle (from issues of collection and selection, to those of
material and energy recovery and those of final disposal) and of
industries at risk (from the treatment of polluting effluent and
eco-management procedures to the risk of major accidents).
Our research activity is supported by equipment unavailable elsewhere
in Italy and through much of Europe:
- pilot gasifier for waste and alternative fuels,
on equipment to assess the explodability of substances used
in the process industry;
- integrated laboratory (CARMA) for environmental analyses
also of elements found in trace amounts. This laboratory consists
of a gas chromatograph with a thermal desorption device, a liquid-phase
chromatograph and a thermogravimetric balance, all fitted with
a dedicated mass spectrometer, besides having an element analyzer
for C, H, N, S and O, an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer
and a Photoacoustic Multigas Monitor.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy sources exploiting the
matter and energy flows that already exist in nature under undisturbed
conditions. An important objective for AMRA is the chance to improve
the exploitation of this energy resource, improving the competitiveness
of its cost in comparison to the non renewable sources, and the
production capabilities, availing of the experience existing in
Italy where geothermal fields are exploited since many decades
numerous areas with non negligible potentiality are present.
The elevated geothermal potential of the Campanian territory,
particularly concentrated in the volcanic area of the Phlegrean
Fields and in the island of Ischia, provides the opportunity to
contribute to the development of new technologies for the exploitation
of the geothermal energy, transforming a natural threat into chances
of development and, at the same time, promoting actions of technological
transfer to the industrial sector. A remarkable part of the energy,
contained in the geothermal fluids also as low enthalpy system
(temperatures of the order of 90-140 °C), can directly be
used for the industrial and domestic heating with very limited
costs and impacts. The geothermal production needs however to
be always submitted to true evaluations of environmental impact
in way to minimize the environmental alterations and the effects
on the public health, thus inserting this energy resource fully
in a context of compatible and sharable development.
AMRA is very careful to monitor and to plan actions to reduce
the connected risks and the environmental and sanitary impacts,
to extremely low values.
Besides the already experimented technologies for the exploitation
of conventional geothermal resources (low enthalpy reservoirs,
high enthalpy resources with hot fluids circulation), recently
it is developing the exploitation of deep geothermal reservoirs
in impermeable structures through the injection, in such structures,
of fluids that produce fracturing and subsequently allow their
heating and pumping at surface. (EGS: enhanced geothermal system).
The exploitation of deep geothermal reservoirs often triggers
a seismic activity, as it shows by the recent case of a geothermal
project in the area of the city of Basilea in Switzerland.
As contribution to the solution of the induced seismicity problem
Amra is participating EC FP7 Geiser project (Geothermal Engineering
Integrating Mitigation of Induced Seismicity in Reservoirs). The
objective of the project is the contribution to the development
of the EGS systems both investigating the double role of the induced
seismicity:
both proposing possible strategies for the mitigation of the
induced seismicity, as well as suggesting procedures and regulations
for the future geothermal explorations of deep reservoirs.
AMRA also participates in the international cooperation project
“Fields Flegrei Deep Drilling Project” (CFDDP). Such
project has as objectives:
-
definition of the volcanic structures and
the eruptive potential (depth of the magma, mechanisms of the
bradisisma genesis);
-
evaluation of the geothermal potential and
possible implementation of a geothermal power plant as pilot
project at the PTA of City of the Science and the other scheduled
interventions in the area of Bagnoli (Naples);
-
experimentation of new technologies for
the mitigation of the volcanic risk, the environmental monitoring
and the exploitation of the huge geothermal resources of the
area.
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