Dr Adriano Sciacovelli PhD

Adriano Sciacovelli

School of Chemical Engineering
Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone
+44 121 414 8747
Email
a.sciacovelli@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Sciacovelli_UoB
View my research portal
Address
School of Chemical Engineering
Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Adriano Sciacovelli is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and a member of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage where he leads his MODES research group. His research is in the field Energy Process Engineering and Process Intensification; he is specialist in in thermal, thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical processes and systems for storage, generation and upgrade of zero-carbon thermal energy (heat and cold). The ability to undertake combined thermo-fluid computational modelling and heat transfer experimental research is a distinct feature of Dr Sciacovelli’s research and of the capabilities in his team. He has been supported by EPSRC, EU, Royal Society, Innovate UK and industry.

Qualifications

  • PG Cert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Birmingham, 2019
  • PhD In Energy Engineering, Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino (Italy), 2010
  • MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino (Italy), 2006

Biography

Dr Adriano Sciacovelli is Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering of the University of Birmingham, and member of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage where he leads his MODES research group. He was awarded a First Class Master degree in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Energy Engineering from the Politecnico I Torino (Italy). After post-doctoral activity he moved to the University of Birmingham where he was appointed in 2017.

Dr Adriano Sciacovelli has been working on thermal energy processes since 2007. His key competencies and research areas are: high-performance thermal energy storage technologies and associated heat and mass transfer intensification strategies, Thermo-mechanical energy storage processes with and optimization of their thermodynamic optimization, Digital Twin modelling for optimal process integration and operation of heating/cooling technologies and heat networks; As PI or Co-I Dr Sciacovelli has been awarded >12 grants and contracts to support his research activities, with support from EPSRC, EU, Innovate UK, Royal Society and Industry. He has been also awarded by the Royal Society. He  develop international collaborations, including with China, Italy, South Africa and Australia.  He has published >100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings (h index of 24, Google Scholar). His work on thermal energy systems has been awarded at international conferences, including, HEFAT 2019 and HEFAT 2021. He received the Edward F. Obert Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME). He is also Associate Editor for Applied Thermal Engineering (Elsevier).

Teaching

  • Advanced transport phenomena
  • Energy Systems Modelling
  • Chemical Engineering Design Project
  • MSc Final Year Research Project   

Postgraduate supervision

Adriano Sciacovelli is always happy to consider inquiries and applications from prospective PhD students. If you have interested in a topics in energy engineering, energy storage, thermal systems as well as modelling; please contact Dr Sciacovelli.

Dr Sciacovelli is particularly interested in International PhD Scholarship schemes or bilateral PhD Schemes, such as Priestley Scholarship (UK-Australia), China Scholarship Council (UK-China), IsDB Scholarship (Iran-UK and more), and others. please contact Dr Sciacovelli in such instance.

If interested please send your CV and a research statement (max 2 pages) indicating:

  • Show reasonable understanding of existing work in the research field of interest: what is the state of the art?
  • Area for new work: what is worth pursuing?
  • Have concrete goals
  • Indicate that you know how to achieve them: What are your specific skills and experiences that make you suitable person for a PhD?

Research

His research is in the field Energy Process Engineering and Process Intensification; he is specialist in in thermal, thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical processes and systems for storage, generation and upgrade of zero-carbon thermal energy (heat and cold). The ability to undertake combined thermo-fluid computational modelling and heat transfer experimental research is a distinct feature of Dr Sciacovelli’s research and of the capabilities in his team.

Overarching research interest 1: processes, devices, technologies, systems for storage, production valorization of thermal energy (heat/cold) heating and recovery of wasted thermal energy

Specific interest in this theme are:

  • Thermal energy storage and thermochemical energy storage
  • Large scale thermo-mechanical-chemical processes
  • Recovery and valorization of Waste heat and waste cold
  • Digital twin modelling and optimization of low-carbon energy processes, with specific focus on optimal integration and operation

Overarching research interest 2: transport phenomena, heat transfer, mass transfer and fluid flow in energy devices and technologies

  • Heat and mass transfer intensification strategies for high-performance thermal energy technologies,
  • Topological optimization methods for energy technologies
  • Hybrid experimental-modelling analysis of thermodynamic and heat/fluid flows effects in thermal energy technologies

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Hua, N, Lu, T, Yang, L, Mckeown, A, Yu, Z, Xu, B, Sciacovelli, A, Ding, Y & Li, Y 2022, 'Thermodynamic analysis and economic assessment of a carbon dioxide hydrate-based vapor compression refrigeration system using load shifting controls in summer', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 251, 114901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114901

Vecchi, A, Li, Y, Mancarella, P & Sciacovelli, A 2021, 'Multi-energy liquid air energy storage: a novel solution for flexible operation of districts with thermal networks', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 238, 114161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114161

Ge, R, Humbert, G, Martinez, R, Attallah, MM & Sciacovelli, A 2020, 'Additive manufacturing of a topology-optimised multi-tube energy storage device: Experimental tests and numerical analysis', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 180, 115878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2020.115878

Vecchi, A, Li, Y, Mancarella, P & Sciacovelli, A 2020, 'Integrated techno-economic assessment of Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) under off-design conditions: Links between provision of market services and thermodynamic performance', Applied Energy, vol. 262, 114589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114589

Vecchi, A, Naughton, J, Li, Y, Mancarella, P & Sciacovelli, A 2020, 'Multi-mode operation of a Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) plant providing energy arbitrage and reserve services – Analysis of optimal scheduling and sizing through MILP modelling with integrated thermodynamic performance', Energy, vol. 200, 117500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117500

Pizzolato, A, Sharma, A, Ge, R, Maute, K, Vittorio, V & Sciacovelli, A 2019, 'Maximization of performance in multi-tube latent heat storage – optimization of fins topology, effect of materials selection and flow arrangements', Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.155

Chang, C, Sciacovelli, A, Wu, Z, Li, X, Li, Y, Zhao, M, Deng, J, Wang, Z & Ding, Y 2018, 'Enhanced heat transfer in a parabolic trough solar receiver by inserting rods and using molten salt as heat transfer fluid', Applied Energy, vol. 220, pp. 337-350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.091

Sciacovelli, A, Navarro, H, Jin, Y, Qiao, G, Zheng, L, Leng, G, Wang, L & Ding, Y 2018, 'High density polyethylene (HDPE) — Graphite composite manufactured by extrusion: A novel way to fabricate phase change materials for thermal energy storage', Particuology, vol. 40, pp. 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2017.11.011

Cammarata, A, Verda, V, Sciacovelli, A & Ding, Y 2018, 'Hybrid strontium bromide-natural graphite composites for low to medium temperature thermochemical energy storage: Formulation, fabrication and performance investigation', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 166, pp. 233-240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.04.031

Shere, L, Trivedi, S, Roberts, S, Sciacovelli, A & Ding, Y 2018, 'Synthesis and characterization of thermochemical storage material combining porous zeolite and inorganic salts', Heat Transfer Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1080/01457632.2018.1457266

Pizzolato, A, Donato, F, Verda, V, Santarelli, M & Sciacovelli, A 2017, 'CSP plants with thermocline thermal energy storage and integrated steam generator – Techno-economic modeling and design optimization', Energy, vol. 139, pp. 231-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.160

Pizzolato, A, Sciacovelli, A & Verda, V 2017, 'Centralized control of district heating networks during failure events using discrete adjoint sensitivities', Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.09.102

Nie, B, She, X, Navarro, H, Smith, DP, Sciacovelli, A & Ding, Y 2017, 'Charging properties of a compact energy storage device for transport air conditioning applications', Energy Procedia, vol. 142, pp. 3531-3536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.12.241

Conference contribution

Vecchi, A, Li, Y, Mancarella, P & Sciacovelli, A 2019, Analysis of multi-mode operation of liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant – Link between provision of grid balancing services and thermodynamic performance. in W Stanek, P Gladysz, S Werle & W Adamczyk (eds), ECOS 2019 - Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems. ECOS 2019 - Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, Institute of Thermal Technology, pp. 901-913, 32nd International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, ECOS 2019, Wroclaw, Poland, 23/06/19.

Review article

Vecchi, A, Li, Y, Ding, Y, Mancarella, P & Sciacovelli, A 2021, 'Liquid air energy storage (LAES): a review on technology state-of-the-art, integration pathways and future perspectives', Advances in Applied Energy, vol. 3, 100047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adapen.2021.100047

View all publications in research portal