Other national and regional projects
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics

The BioMOON project falls under "THEME C: Bioregenerative and waste recycling systems for the Moon" and specifically in the area of interest related to "Development of biotechnologies for the treatment and recycling of liquid and solid waste, including food and plant waste." The project focuses on developing a third-generation biorefinery capable of producing food, energy, and chemicals from renewable sources and organic substrates such as CO2 or waste, through the use of integrated and sustainable technological and biotechnological processes. The application and optimization of the proposed technologies is a research field that will address the effects of climate change: the difficult management of water resources, the scarcity of raw materials, and the growing need for food production. The proposed solutions, designed for the terrestrial environment, are even more important for confined environments such as permanent stations on the lunar surface. In these stations, in situ resource regeneration will be essential. The experimentation of bioregenerative systems based on groups of microorganisms belonging to different metabolic groups and their functional integration in a dual "biorefinery" context (potentially applicable in both reduced gravity environments and terrestrial), is the foundation of the BioMOON Project.

The project supports the Nature Restoration Law by defining guidelines to assess habitat conditions and set restoration targets through biodiversity indicators and beta-diversity analysis.
The project aims to support the implementation of the Nature Restoration Law, which promotes environmental restoration while introducing specific obligations for EU Member States in tackling biodiversity loss and the associated decline in ecosystem services. Given the flexibility allowed by the current regulatory framework, there is a need to develop operational guidelines, planning procedures, and a clear decision-making methodology to effectively guide restoration actions.
The project addresses two key operational challenges:

1. producing an accurate description of the current state of habitats, essential for identifying suitable restoration interventions; and
2. defining restoration objectives through the establishment of a reference state, representing the expected ecological trajectory of the ecosystem.

To characterise existing ecological conditions, the project will employ commonly used biodiversity indicators and indices derived from vegetation data. Subsequently, beta-diversity analysis will be applied to assess the ecological dissimilarity between current habitats and the defined reference state. The proposed approach will be tested in an area adjacent to an abandoned quarry in the municipality of Longare (VI).
The integration of conventional biodiversity metrics with beta diversity analysis is expected to be effective in providing information to guide the planning and implementation of restoration interventions and best practices across different habitats.

The research project aims to develop and integrate several technologies (two-phase anaerobic digestion, membranes separation, innovative storage systems, etc.), for the conversion of organic waste (organic fraction solid urban waste and sewage sludge) into hydrogen, methane and subsequently to electricity. The Ca' Foscari research group together with VERITAS spa (lead partner) and the University of Padua, will study and optimize the biological fermentation process for the hydrogen production maximization, through batch and semi-continuous tests. The results will be used for the prototype design and development that will be implemented at the VERITAS GPLab and integrated with separation, storage and conversion systems of gases into electricity.

The project aims to cover the gap of the scientific knowledge on the Dark Fermentation (DF) technology, by applying circular economy principles, i.e. a virtuous use of renewable resources through energy recovery and/or their conversion into products of commercial interest, minimizing the secondary waste production. The approach is diversified and aims at verifying the technical feasibility in different scenarios:

• use of different types of organic waste, i.e. the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) after source sorted collection, sewage sludge, different types of by-products/agricultural waste;
• application of different types of pre-treatment/hydrolysis (enzymatic, acid, alkaline, oxidative) on the matrices listed above;
• application of a wide range of operating conditions and process parameters in traditional suspended cells systems and set-up of immobilized cells systems (fixed or fluidized bed bioreactors) for process intensification to increase the bio-hydrogen (H2) production;
• bio-electrochemical upgrade of the DF process (microbial electrolysis cells - MEC) and, as a preliminary step, photo-fermentation approaches (FF), both aimed at increasing the production of bio-H2 compared to the single stage DF process;
• development of a solid-state probe for the H2 quantification during process operation and identification of prevention/protection systems to reduce the risk of explosions during fermentation processes;
• evaluation of the microbiological composition to evaluate the presence and quantity of pathogens.

In line with the international recommendations promoted by UNAIDS and WHO regarding communication on HIV and people living with HIV and considering it important to produce actions that counteract language that still produces stigma towards people living with HIV, the aim is to analyze the communication methods used by national media in the narration of HIV, particularly regarding the U=U evidence. The volume of activity, contents, the language used, and reactions from the public will be analyzed using data from major social media platforms to acquire information about the state of HIV communication in Italy in recent years. A specific focus will be dedicated to messages disseminated by the media on World AIDS Day (WAD) during the analysis period. Specifically, the period preceding the COVID-19 epidemic, coinciding with the emergence of the U=U concept in the Italian context, as well as the pandemic and post-pandemic periods, will be analyzed. The research results will be used to structure training directed towards journalists and communication professionals with the intention of providing technical and theoretical elements that promote the use of correct and "people first" language in communication activities, as well as basic scientific knowledge related to HIV infection, prevention, and care, with particular emphasis on the U=U evidence.

The project aimed to promote the environmental sustainability of artisanal fishing and protect biodiversity in the Venice lagoon. Overall, the project highlighted the potential of traditional fishing in the Venice lagoon, not only as a sustainable exploitation of the lagoon's biological resources, but also as an activity that can effectively contribute to environmental management aimed at conserving lagoon habitats and biodiversity.
More details and reference materials can be found on the page on the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (FEAMPA) 2021-2027 [ITA].

To improve the management of fish stocks of species that migrate in and out of the Venice lagoon during their life cycle, through the quantification and characterization of biomass flows through the lagoon inlets, thus contributing to ensuring the sustainability of fishing, to protect and restore biodiversity and the lagoon/coastal ecosystem. The project aims to extend and integrate the knowledge base produced with the EXCHANGE project (01/RBC/2017), applying the innovative bioacoustic monitoring methodology, tested in that context, to all three lagoon inlets, and to the surrounding canals. The data collected will provide the basis for the preparation of the guidelines necessary for updating the lagoon fisheries management plan, with the aim of ensuring the sustainability of fishing over time, and promoting the resilience of the lagoon system.

Video presentation and project interviews [ITA]

Final project report "EXCHANGE II" [ITA]

3 MB

The idea behind Ville Venete Virtual Reality Boat (ViVe VR-Boat) is the result of the perfect mix between research interests, the development of new technologies and the specific territorial needs around which universities, startups have gathered and the companies that form the partnership. The objectives pursued by ViVe VR-Boat fall within the scope of the valorisation of the national cultural heritage, through the use of skills, techniques and technologies relating to both the audiovisual and gaming sectors. The tangible result of the project will in fact be an absolutely new service for the use of places of cultural interest, adaptable to the vast plurality of contexts that the Italian artistic, natural, architectural and monumental heritage offers. The place chosen for the experimentation will be the famous Venetian Villas and Palladian Villas which overlook the banks of the Brenta. Visitors will live an experience that is absolutely unprecedented on a global level, extremely immersive and inclusive, and which will offer a new point of view on the places and the history that has passed through them. All of this will be made possible thanks to the application of new technologies including, first and foremost, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and Virtual and Augmented Reality. These will interact and communicate on a 5G network infrastructure, using the Edge Computing paradigm to process some data that will make the experience unique and, above all, unforgettable.