Nicola Verdone graduated with honours in Chemical Engineering at Rome University “La Sapienza” in 1984. From 1985 to 1992 he worked as process engineer in several companies in the field of oil and gas industry and energy production industry, among which Enel and ENI. In this period his main areas of activity were the control and optimization of refining process units, the definition of the technical specifications of flue gas treatment plants and the management and strategic control of the energy sector.
In 1992 he joined the faculty of Engineering of Rome University “La Sapienza” as assistant professor and since 2006 is associate professor of Chemical Engineering.
He is in the teaching staff of Chemical Engineering courses, in the PhD courses in Chemical Engineering of Environment and Safety and in Master courses on Indoor und Urban Environment.
His research interests concern: (i) Nanomaterials - Experimental studies on the synthesis of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) and usage in environmental applications, with models development to interpret the obtained performances. (ii) Process Intensification - Studies on the hydrodynamics of the spinning disc reactor with CFD techniques for the synthesis of materials at nanometric scale usable in biomedical and environmental applications. (iii) Gasification and Pyrolysis - Development of mathematical models based on the distributed activation energy approach (DAEM) for the interpretation of experimental data obtained from TGA methods. (iv) Wastewater treatment - Development of mathematical models to interpret experimental data from lab-scale rotating biological contactors fed with synthetic wastewater. Modelling of the flushing process applied to contaminated soils. (v) Chemical Reaction Engineering - Studies on reactions relevant in environmental applications. Determination of the kinetics of the hydrogen chloride and sodium carbonate reaction from experimental data. Peroxyformic acid formation kinetics, used in the oxidative desulfurization of aromatic species containing sulphur. (vi) Solid Waste Energy Recovery - Analysis and optimization of innovative power cycles used for energy recovery in waste incineration. Recirculation of combustion gases in the solid waste incinerators. Evaluation of the behaviour of heavy metals in the RDF gasification processes. Use of oxygen enriched air as an oxidizer in waste incineration plants. (vii) Combustion Kinetics - Kinetic model of formation and thermal destruction of dioxins, dibenzofurans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the thermal treatment of waste
He is author of more than 90 published works and patents.