Francine Duarte Castro is a Chemical Engineer from Brazil. She also holds a master degree in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and has experience with waste, water and wastewater characterization and treatment. Francine is currently a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Brescia. Her research focuses on the valorisation of resources from residues in the circular economy context. Francine Duarte Castro is the responsible for the project dissemination of Creaimo_ project.
Francine considers that our current model of economy is a linear model, which consists in the exploitation of natural resources to feed the processes that generate products and waste. The residues are often disposed of in nature and the products are transformed into waste after use. However, this model has become unsustainable and has led to environmental degradation and scarcity of raw materials. In order to deal with these problems, in recent years, the concept of circular economy has been widespread, based on the principles of reduction, reuse and recycling (3 R), underlining the importance of correctly designing products and processes. The processes should mainly use renewable energy sources and non-toxic chemicals, while the products should be manufactured to last and allow for easy recovery of materials, minimizing waste generation. In the context of remediation, soils contaminated with hydrocarbons can be recovered using surfactants, which are usually made from non-renewable raw materials. Therefore, the use of bio-surfactants produced from waste is an alternative to increase the circularity of production processes and sustainability of the remediation sector.

CREIAMO_Project: Circular Economy in olive oil and wine sectors. Valorisation of by-products and residues through innovative processes and new business models.  Partner: University of Brescia  – University of Milano Bicocca–  ENEA 
Funded by: Fondazione Cariplo