Department of
Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics

Environmental Chemistry, Risk Assessment and Sustainability

The Lab’s research activities focus on:

  • Study as well as physical-chemical and environmental characterization of priority and emerging contaminants, nutrients and nanomaterials, and of the processes determining their partitioning and transformation in different environmental matrices, ultimately influencing their (eco)toxicity;
  • Development and experimental validation of fate and transport models of contaminants in the environment, including also bioaccumulation processes along the trophic chain;
  • Environmental impact assessment along the life cycle of products and processes by e.g. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and in general assessment of environmental and integrated sustainability;
  • Environmental (ecological and human health) risk assessment for exposure to contaminants, nutrients and nanomaterials, and related risk management and governance;
  • Impact assessment of climate change on bio-geo-chemical cycles of organic and inorganic contaminants.
Research group

Collaborators:

  • Cagnato Clarissa (Postdoc Marie Curie)
  • Longo Laura (Postdoc)
  • Sano Marcello (Postdoc Marie Curie)
  • Furlan Elisa (Adjunct Professor)
  • Gottardo Stefania (External Collaborator)
  • Maraschini Margherita (External Collaborator)
  • Zennaro Federica (External Collaborator)
  • Bettiol Cinzia (Lab Technologist)
  • Bonetto Alessandro (Lab Technologist)
  • Allegri Elena (PhD Student)
  • Asrat Tekle Asresu (PhD Student)
  • Calore Francesco (PhD Student)
  • Canaletti Vanessa (PhD Student)
  • Dal Barco Maria Katherina (PhD Student)
  • Devecchi Sara (PhD Student)
  • Ferrario Davide (PhD Student)
  • Guolo Pier Paolo (PhD Student)
  • Harris Remi (PhD Student)
  • Horneman Fabienne Regina Francina (PhD Student)
  • Labella Fonseca Heloisa (PhD Student)
  • Livieri Arianna (PhD Student)
  • Menegaldo Martina (PhD Student)
  • Moftakhari Anasori Movahed Saman (PhD Student)
  • Ngoc Diep Nguyen (PhD Student)
  • Ozkiper Ozan (PhD Student)
  • Rufo Olinda Jack Mariano (PhD Student)
  • Sellitri Antonio (PhD Student)
  • Simeoni Christian (PhD Student)
  • Vogt Mathilda (PhD Student)
  • Carisi Matteo (Subject Expert)
  • Giubilato Elisa (Subject Expert)
  • Hristozov Danail (Subject Expert)
  • Pizzol Lisa (Subject Expert)
  • Rosada Fabio (Subject Expert)
  • Torresan Silvia (Subject Expert)
  • Zabeo Alex (Subject Expert)

Website: http://www.ecraunit.com

Collaborations

The Lab has several (>50) collaborations with institutes and other universities in the frame of both international and national/local research projects.
As an example, the following are institutes and universities collaborating with the Lab from decades:

Publications

  • Brunelli, A., Serrano-Lotina, A., Bañares, M.A., Alcolea-Rodriguez, V., Blosi, M., Costa, A., Ortelli, S., Peijnenburg, W., Fito, C., Fernandez, E.G., Hermosilla, J.S., Soeteman-Hernández, L.G., Garmendia Aguirre, I., Rauscher, H., Murphy, F., Stone, V., Balbuena, J., Cormano, J.M.L., Pizzol, L., Hristozov, D., Marcomini, A., Badetti, E., 2025. Safe-by-design assessment of an SiO 2 @ZnO multi-component nanomaterial used in construction. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: NANO, 12, 762–776. doi.org/10.1039/D4EN00352G
  • Zervakis, V., Kolovoyiannis, V., Calgaro, L., Giubilato, E., Marcomini, A., Mazioti, A.-A., Ferrarin, C., Majamäki, E., Potiris, M., Krasakopoulou, E., Tragou, E., Kukkonen, J., Jalkanen, J.-P., 2025. A novel method to assess the dilution of complex mixtures in the marine environment: Application to marine scrubber water effluents. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN, 216, 117956. doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117956
  • Hristozov, D., Badetti, E., Bigini, P., Brunelli, A., Dekkers, S., Diomede, L., Doak, S.H., Fransman, W., Gajewicz-Skretna, A., Giubilato, E., Gómez-Cuadrado, L., Grafström, R., Gutleb, A.C., Halappanavar, S., Hischier, R., Hunt, N., Katsumiti, A., Kermanizadeh, A., Marcomini, A., Moschini, E., Oomen, A., Pizzol, L., Rumbo, C., Schmid, O., Shandilya, N., Stone, V., Stoycheva, S., Stoeger, T., Merino, B.S., Tran, L., Tsiliki, G., Vogel, U.B., Wohlleben, W., Zabeo, A., 2024. Next Generation Risk Assessment approaches for advanced nanomaterials: Current status and future perspectives. NANOIMPACT, 35. doi.org/10.1016/j.impact.2024.100523
  • Carlesso, A., Pizzol, L., Marcomini, A., Semenzin, E., 2024. Data quality assessment of aggregated LCI datasets: A case study on fossil-based and bio-based plastic food packaging. JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, 28, 1900 – 1911. doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13572
  • Cecchetto, M., Peruzza, L., Giubilato, E., Bernardini, I., Rovere, G.D., Marcomini, A., Regoli, F., Bargelloni, L., Patarnello, T., Semenzin, E., Milan, M., 2023. An innovative index to incorporate transcriptomic data into weight of evidence approaches for environmental risk assessment. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, 227, 115745. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115745
  • Calgaro, L., Giubilato, E., Lamon, L., Semenzin, E., Marcomini, A., 2024. Fate and transport of ten plant protection products of emerging concern in a coastal lagoon: application and evaluation of a multimedia level III fugacity model.  ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, 263, 120047. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.120047
  • Sperotto, A., Molina, J.L., Torresan, S., Critto, A., Pulido-Velazquez, M., Marcomini, A., 2019. A Bayesian Networks approach for the assessment of climate change impacts on nutrients loading. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY, 100, 21–36. doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.06.004
  • Sambo, B., Sano, M., Sperotto, A., Zanetti, M., Torresan, S., Lambert, J.H., Linkov, I., Critto, A., 2024. Sensitivity analysis for a participatory approach to enhance the climate resilience of Venice, Italy. RISK ANALYSIS, 44, 1573–1585. doi.org/10.1111/risa.14258
  • Zanetti, M., Allegri, E., Sperotto, A., Torresan, S., Critto, A., 2022. Spatio-temporal cross-validation to predict pluvial flood events in the Metropolitan City of Venice. JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY,  612, 128150. doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128150
  • Sambo, B., Sperotto, A., Torresan, S., Pittore, M., Zebisch, M., & Critto, A., 2024. Looking at the Water-Energy-Food nexus through the lens of Ecosystem Services: a new perspective. Environmental Research Letters, 19(12), 121003. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/AD96CF
  • Badetti, E., Brunelli, A., Basei, G., Gallego-Urrea, J.A., Stoll, S., Walch, H., Praetorius, A., von der Kammer, F., Marcomini, A., 2021. Novel multimethod approach for the determination of the colloidal stability of nanomaterials in complex environmental mixtures using a global stability index: TiO2 as case study. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 801, 149607. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149607
  • Zennaro, F., Furlan, E., Simeoni, C., Torresan, S., Aslan, S., Critto, A., Marcomini, A., 2021. Exploring machine learning potential for climate change risk assessment. EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS, 220, 103752. doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103752
  • Semenzin, E., Subramanian, V., Pizzol, L., Zabeo, A., Fransman, W., Oksel, C., Hristozov, D., Marcomini, A., 2019. Controlling the risks of nano-enabled products through the life cycle: The case of nano copper oxide paint for wood protection and nano-pigments used in the automotive industry. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 131, 104901. doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.06.011
  • Fadeel, B., Farcal, L., Hardy, B., Vázquez-Campos, S., Hristozov, D., Marcomini, A., Lynch, I., Valsami-Jones, E., Alenius, H., Savolainen, K., 2018. Advanced tools for the safety assessment of nanomaterials. NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY, 13, 537–543. doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0185-0

Case studies

  • Quality of water and sediment of the Venice lagoon;
  • PFAS in the groundwater system of the Vicenza province;
  • Assessment of human health and environmental risks as well as of environmental (LCA) and economic (LCC) impacts of innovative solutions for the conservation of cultural heritage objects;
  • Nano-Cu based coatings for wood treatment;
  • Medical devices based on nano-Ag;
  • Multi-risk assessment related to climate change;
  • Cumulative impact assessment in marine and coastal environments;
  • Machine Learning application for risk assessment of climate change;
  • Impact assessment of climate change on the “water-energy-food-ecosystem services” nexus;
  • Climate change impacts on environmental quality.

Equipment

The group uses state-of-the-art instrumentation and software for its research, and has access to University instrumentation for materials characterization and analysis of environmental matrices managed by the CSA.
In particular, the group possesses the specialized skills for the use, processing, and interpretation of data, including on behalf of third parties, of:

  • Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)
  • Electrophoretic Light Scattering (ELS)
  • Centrifugal Separation Analysis (CSA)
  • Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR)
  • Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)/Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
  • Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (spICP-MS)
  • Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)
  • Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
  • Software e database per studi LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) studies
  • Multicompartmental models for the simulation of transport and environmental fate of chemicals in the aquatic environment

Research projects

  • Horizon Europe - BioSusTex (€ 521.780,00)
  • Horizon Europe - SurfToGreen (€ 463.412,00)
  • Horizon Europe - SUNRISE (€ 399.982,00) - Coordinator prof. Antonio Marcomini
  • Horizon Europe - GREENART (€ 137.751,00)
  • Horizon 2020 - SUNSHINE (€ 401.625,00) - Coordinator prof. Antonio Marcomini
  • Horizon 2020 - EMERGE (€ 402.267,93)
  • Agreement CORILA-DAIS, Project Venezia2021 (€ 467.000,00)
  • Horizon 2020 - RISKGONE (€ 180.434,90)
  • Horizon 2020 - APACHE (€ 343.807,12)
  • Horizon 2020 - BIORIMA (€ 195.387,50)
  • Horizon 2020 - CALIBRATE (€ 199.150,00)
  • Horizon 2020 - NANOFASE (€ 121.068,75)
  • Horizon 2020 - NANORESTART (€ 324.437,50)
  • FP7 - SUN: Sustainable nanotechnologies (€ 1.002.374,00) - Coordinator prof. Antonio Marcomini
  • MAECI - BRIDGE (€ 100.000,00) - Coordinator prof. Andrea Critto
  • Horizon 2020 - MYRIAD (€ 25.000,00)
  • Horizon 2020 - "Green Deal" REST-COAST (€ 130.000,00)
  • Horizon EUROPE - EXPEDITE (€ 190.000,00) - Scientific manager prof. Andrea Critto
  • Interreg Italy-Croatia - ADRIACLIM (€ 125.000,00)

Last update: 05/06/2025