Research interests

My research activity deals with the chemical-kinetic analysis of reacting systems of hydrocarbons, and is ultimately targeted at accommodating the information included in detailed kinetic mechanisms into large-scale computations. For this reason, my research interest is devoted, to a large extent, to the reduction of chemical kinetic mechanisms to a skeletal level, in such a way to allow their use for the numerical applications of interest. Starting from the lumping methodology to model the combustion and pyrolysis of hydrocarbons with a lower number of species, my work in the recent years has been first focused to attaining a further level of reduction through the implementation of approaches based on flux analysis and sensitivity analysis. As a result, a numerical tool for mechanism reduction, called DoctorSMOKE, has been finalized. Acquiring such a capability paved the way to carry out fundamental studies targeted at getting a deeper insight on the interaction between kinetics and fluid dynamics on the ignition behavior and pollutants formation. 

Teaching activities

• 2012 – 2017 Chemical Reaction Engineering – Teaching Assistant
• 2017 – Present  Impianti Chimici (Chemical Plants) – Lecturer

Education profile

• January 2021 – Present. Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Chemical Plants at Politecnico di Milano
• November 2019 – February 2020. Visiting Researcher at Technische Universität Darmstadt, STFS group (Prof. Christian Hasse)
• June 2017 – January 2021. Assistant Professor (RTDA) at Politecnico di Milano
• July 2016 – June 2017. Postdoctoral research fellow at Politecnico di Milano.
• February – November 2015. Visiting Student Researcher at Stanford University (Prof. Ihme’s group)
• November 2012 – July 2016. PhD in Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.
• September – December 2011. Internship at Procter & Gamble. Process Engineer in R&D Microprocessing Department
• 2009-2011. Double Degree in Chemical Engineering at Alta Scuola Politecnica (Politecnico di Milano – Politecnico di Torino). Multidisciplinary Project: “REPACK: Sustainable Packaging for Fast Moving Consumer Goods”, sponsored by Procter & Gamble.
• 2009-2011. Master of Science in Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. Thesis title: “Metodi Numerici di Calcolo Parallelo per la soluzione di reti di reattori”. Advisors: Prof. Tiziano Faravelli and Prof. Alberto Cuoci
• 2006-2009. Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. Thesis title: “Modellazione di un impianto IGCC”. Advisors: Prof. Tiziano Faravelli and Ing. Luca Mancuso (Foster Wheeler Italiana).

Selected publications

• Stagni, A., Calabria, R., Frassoldati, A., Cuoci, A., Faravelli, T., Chiariello, F., & Massoli, P., Kinetic Modeling of the Ignition of Droplets of Fast Pyrolysis Bio-oil: Effect of Initial Diameter and Fuel Composition. Industrial & engineering chemistry research (2021), 60(18), 6719-6729. DOI:10.1021/acs.iecr.0c05981
• Stagni, A., Cavallotti, C., Arunthanayothin, S., Song, Y., Herbinet, O., Battin-Leclerc, F., & Faravelli, T., An experimental, theoretical and kinetic-modeling study of the gas-phase oxidation of ammonia. Reaction Chemistry & Engineering (2020), 5, 696-711. DOI:10.1039/C9RE00429G
• Stagni, A., Song, Y., Vandewalle, L.A., Van Geem, K.M., Marin, G.B., Herbinet, O., Battin-Leclerc, F., & Faravelli, T., The role of chemistry in the oscillating combustion of hydrocarbons: An experimental and theoretical study. Chemical Engineering Journal (2020), 385, 123401. DOI:10.1016/j.cej.2019.123401
• Stagni, A., Cuoci, A., Frassoldati, A., Ranzi, E., & Faravelli, T., Numerical investigation of soot formation from microgravity droplet combustion using heterogeneous chemistry. Combustion and Flame (2018), 189, 393-406. DOI:10.1016/j.combustflame.2017.10.029
• Stagni, A., Brignoli, D., Cinquanta, M., Cuoci, A., Frassoldati, A., Ranzi, E., & Faravelli, T., The influence of low-temperature chemistry on partially-premixed counterflow n-heptane/air flames. Combustion and Flame (2018), 188, 440-452. DOI:10.1016/j.combustflame.2017.10.002
• Stagni, A., Esclapez, L., Govindaraju, P., Cuoci, A., Faravelli, T., & Ihme, M., The role of preferential evaporation on the ignition of multicomponent fuels in a homogeneous spray/air mixture. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute (2017), 36(2), 2483-2491. DOI:10.1016/j.proci.2016.06.052
• Stagni, A., Frassoldati, A., Cuoci, A., Faravelli, T., & Ranzi, E., Skeletal mechanism reduction through species-targeted sensitivity analysis. Combustion and Flame (2016), 163, 382-393. DOI:10.1016/j.combustflame.2015.10.013
• Stagni A., Cuoci A., Frassoldati A., Faravelli T., Ranzi E., Lumping and Reduction of Detailed Kinetic Schemes: an effective coupling. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2014) 53 (22), 9004-9016. DOI:10.1021/ie403272f
• Stagni A., Cuoci A., Frassoldati A., Faravelli T., Ranzi E., A fully coupled, parallel approach for the post processing of CFD data through reactor network analysis Computers & Chemical Engineering (2014), 60, pp 197-212, DOI:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2013.09.002
  
• Cuoci A., Frassoldati A., Stagni A., Faravelli T., Ranzi E., Buzzi-Ferraris G., Numerical modeling of NOx formation in turbulent flames using a kinetic post-processing technique, Energy & Fuels (2013), DOI:10.1021/ef3016987