About the Webinar
The 1st Melodizer Webinar “From Seawater to Freshwater: Innovative Paths to Sustainable Desalination” brings together leading experts in water treatment to explore the latest advancements in sustainable desalination technologies. Through four focused talks, participants will gain a comprehensive overview of the state of the art, emerging innovations, and real-world applications.
Agenda
- 14:30 – 14:35 > Opening & Introduction
Cristina Schiavi (Tinexta Innovation Hub)
- 14:35 – 14:50 > Turning Saltwater into Freshwater: Where We Stand Today
Alberto Tiraferri (Politecnico di Torino)
- 14:50 – 15:05 > Freshwater from Thin Air (and Warm Water): The Promise of Membrane Distillation
Matteo Fasano (Politecnico di Torino)
- 15:05 – 15:20 > Implementation of Sustainable Prototypes
Alba Ruiz (PSA CIEMAT)
- 15:20 – 15:35 > New Generation and Green Materials and Membranes
Mirko Frappa (ITM CNR)
- 15:35 – 15:45 – Q&A
All
Speakers
Alberto Tiraferri is Full Professor of Applied Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Torino (Turin, Italy) where he also founded and managed the interdepartmental Clean Water Center. He currently serves as Delegate for Research Affairs to the Vice-Rector for Scientific and Technological Innovation. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2012 and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. His research focuses on membrane-based water treatment, desalination, wastewater reuse, zero liquid discharge, and resource recovery from aqueous streams, as well as the remediation of contaminated environments.
Abstract
Desalination is increasingly vital for ensuring water security in coastal and arid regions, where conventional freshwater sources are insufficient to meet rising demand. This presentation reviews the current global desalination landscape, highlighting dominant and emerging regions, market trends, and technological progress. It examines the performance and scalability of established processes such as distillation and reverse osmosis, and introduces new approaches including membrane distillation and solar-thermal desalination. These technologies, though at different stages of maturity, offer pathways toward integrating desalination with renewable and low-enthalpy energy sources, as well as in the valorization of brines and recovery of valuable materials. The talk also touches upon non-technological aspects, such as economic viability, policy frameworks, and public perception, that will shape the deployment of next-generation desalination solutions.
Matteo Fasano is an Associate Professor at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Torino. He earned his Ph.D. in Energy Engineering in 2015, also attending the Scuola Interpolitecnica di Dottorato in nanotechnology. He worked as a research fellow at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, was a visiting researcher at MIT, and collaborated with scientists from Imperial College. In 2017 he received the ENI Award as “Young Researcher of the Year,” presented by the President of the Italian Republic. At the Multi-Scale Modeling Laboratory (SMaLL), he works on European and national projects involving multiscale simulations of nanostructured materials and renewable-energy technologies, also contributing to sustainable water treatment initiatives. He has authored over 90 scientific publications, including five in Nature journals, and teaches applied thermodynamics, heat transfer engineering, and advanced materials for energy applications.
Abstract
Membrane Distillation (MD) is an emerging desalination and water-treatment technology that can turn low-temperature heat, such as waste heat, solar energy or warm industrial streams, into high-quality freshwater. Its operation is simple: a hydrophobic membrane allows only water vapor to pass through, enabling the separation of clean water from salty or contaminated sources with minimal pressure requirements. This presentation provides an accessible overview of MD fundamentals, highlighting its advantages over conventional processes, including compatibility with renewable heat, resilience to high salinity, and potential for decentralized production of drinking water. Building on this foundation, the presentation explores recent advances developed within the MEloDIZER project, where innovative membrane designs, optimized thermal management and hybrid solar-driven configurations significantly enhance efficiency.
Alba Ruiz-Aguirre has a degree in Chemical Engineering and obtained her PhD (Extraordinary PhD Prize of University of Almería) in 2017. During the following two years, she belonged to the Innovazione Industriale e Digitale (DIID) department at University of Palermo. Then, she joined at Plataforma Solar of Almería, the research center where she has developed her research career to to date and where she currently holds a permanent position. Her research topics are focused on membrane technologies applied to water treatment and brine concentration, mainly membrane distillation (MD) and diffusion dialysis (DD), and the application of solar energy to the processes, as well as hydrogen production by solar energy.
Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) has overcome major challenges and achieved various milestones over recent years. It has improved in terms of technological robustness, energy efficiency, productivity and permeate quality. Its development will be presented in this talk by showcasing the results of different improvements tested at engineering scale, with special emphasis on successful cases. Furthermore, this technology is currently gaining greater relevance in novel applications. In the context or zero liquid discharge and brine valorisation for a more sustainable desalination, technologies for concentrating reverse osmosis (RO) brines are required.
Dr. Mirko Frappa is currently a Researcher (Professional Level III) at CNR-ITM, working full-time on the Horizon Europe project MEloDIZER. He earned an Industrial Research Doctorate in Physics and Chemistry of Materials (STFCM-XXXIV cycle) in 2023, in collaboration with the University of Calabria and BeDimensional S.p.A., focusing on hydrophobic porous membranes incorporating 2D materials for water treatment and desalination. His research centers on the preparation and characterization of polymeric membranes and their application in membrane processes for the purification and desalination of seawater and wastewater.
Abstract
This presentation introduces recent advances and innovations in the preparation of polymeric membranes, with a focus on enhancing their sustainability for both the environment and human health. In particular, it highlights the adoption of green and non-toxic solvents through some representative case studies. These studies were conducted within the framework of the MEloDIZER project, which developed PVDF-based membranes using environmentally friendly solvents for application in the Membrane Distillation process.
