Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
• Work experience in mining, fertilizer, recycling, and nuclear industries • Chemical process development and optimization, process scale-up and industrialization • Management of R&D/technical projects (corporate, collaborative) • Management of R&D teams (technicians, engineers) • Strong background in laboratory work and hands-on experience in pilot plant operation • Proficient in data analysis and presentation of scientific results • Strong interpersonal, analytical, and organizational skills • Multicultural and used to international work environments • Multilingual: Italian, English, French, and German
Lead in strategic process and technology implementation/development and resource evaluation for mining industry (AMG) → production of lithium carbonate/lithium hydroxide from the AMG spodumene mine (Minas Gerais, Brazil), from other lithium minerals (petalite, zinnwaldite), and from alternative resources (brine, recycling). Highlights: -) Flowsheet design (CAPEX/OPEX driven) for the conversion of the Brazilian spodumene concentrate into technical-grade lithium carbonate and detergent-grade anhydrous sodium sulphate (operation at the Volta Grande mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil) -) Flowsheet design (CAPEX/OPEX driven) for the conversion of the Brazilian technical-grade lithium carbonate (and other carbonate sources mainly from recycling) into battery-grade lithium hydroxide (operation at the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park in Bitterfeld, Germany) -) Bench-scale and pilot testing of the designed processes (organization, planning, and management of the experimental campaigns) -) Collaboration with international engineering companies through the FEL stages of the projects (review of technical documents: BFD, PFD, P&ID, PDB, PDC, MEB, HAZID, HAZOP, etc.) -) Investigation, testing, and selection of process technologies through the collaboration with technology vendors – work on combining technologies for both CO2 minimization/capture and reagents regeneration -) Development and testing of process technologies with academic partners. In particular, international collaboration to develop and scale up (lab and pilot tests) a pyrometallurgical technology allowing processing of low-grade lithium minerals (e.g., petalite, zinnwaldite) to simultaneously produce a LiCl brine and a sinter of relevance to the cement industry (slag/clinker) -) Evaluation of lithium resources other than lithium minerals (i.e., salar brines, geothermal brines) to produce lithium salts feeding the conversion/refining plant in Germany (process reviews/technical due diligence of greenfield projects)
Within the frame of the Eramet Centenario project, manager of the technology for direct lithium extraction (DLE) from brine. Highlights: -) DLE project organization: project preparation (customer need, definition of technical and administrative aspects, definition of budget, set-up of milestones), project execution (R&D, meetings with client and client manager, monthly reports, technical reports, budget control), project end (client satisfaction, REX of the project) -) Coordination of technical work to produce an adsorption material capable of selective extraction of lithium from brine -) Supervision of performance/qualification tests of the material (lab and pilot scale) through the management of R&D teams -) Industrialization of material production through collaboration with international suppliers (definition of technical specifications and production technologies, on-site production supervision, management of operational meetings)
Process development for mining industry → direct lithium extraction from Argentinian brine (salar de Centenario Ratones) for production of battery-grade lithium carbonate. Highlights: -) Development, optimization, debottlenecking of the lithium carbonate production process (particular focus on the direct lithium extraction unit) -) Pilot campaigns in France and Argentina for the industrialization of the process -) On-site pilot supervision (daily monitoring of KPIs, intervention on individual units) -) Remote pilot assistance (treatment of process data to identify problems and propose solutions) In addition: -) Within the Eramet Centenario project, process study aiming at coupling direct lithium extraction to natural evaporation (process book, PDC, etc.) -) Within the European project EuGeLi, process development aiming at applying the direct lithium extraction technology to geothermal brine (lab and pilot tests) -) Within the Las Navas Lithium Project (external client), pre-feasibility study aiming at defining a process route for lithium extraction from Li-bearing micas -) Manager of the wastewater treatment plant at Eramet Ideas (treatment of lithium-polluted wastewater produced at the R&D center - developer of an innovative, economical, and effective process for the simultaneous removal of lithium and other metals from wastewater)
Within the HYDROMET collaboration (www.hydromet.no), process optimization and technology development for fertilizer industry → purification of industrial liquors for production of cadmium-free NPK fertilizers. Highlights: -) Solvent extraction of cadmium from mother liquors produced by nitric acid digestion of phosphate rocks -) Selection of suitable cadmium extractants according to extraction/stripping ability, selectivity, and chemical stability of the molecules -) Impregnation of commercial magnetic particles with the selected molecules (preparation of magnetic slurries) -) Application of the produced slurries for magnet-aided pilot tests of purification of the liquors
Process development for battery recycling industry → maximization of the recovery and purity of electrode materials (black mass) for improved recycling rates and process profitability. Highlights: -) Search for complementary and competitive new technologies for the improvement of the preprocessing (shredding and sieving) of the spent batteries -) Implementation of chemical processing steps (chemical washing) to increase the efficiency of recovery of the black mass as well as its purity -) Development of multi-stage processes (leaching, precipitation) for the extraction and purification of strategic metals (cobalt, lithium) from the recovered black mass -) Industrialization of the developed processes by scale-up to pilot plant
Hydrometallurgical reprocessing of nuclear waste → production of large-area plutonium electrodeposits for transmutation tests. Highlights: -) Leaching of plutonium-bearing solid waste materials -) Plutonium purification by means of ion-exchange -) Plutonium recovery by means of electroplating -) Radiochemical and physical characterization of the plutonium electrodeposits -) Use of the deposits for plutonium transmutation tests