PhD student profile, Cesare Rovera

PhD Student: Cesare Rovera

 

Tutor: Prof. Stefano Farris, DeFENS – PackLAB Team

Dean: Prof. Ella Pagliarini

Research area: Food Science and Nutrition

PhD title achieved on: 1^st March 2022

 

Research topic

Innovative Biocompostable Materials for Sweetened Condensed Milk Packaging

 

Project Synopsis

Plastics dumped into the environment pose a serious threat to the environment and to our society. Accordingly, food packaging materials coming from renewable resources are highly sought. According to the circular economy principles, using wastes for the manufacturing of new materials is a target for the next years. The aim of this PhD project is to re-consider wastes from the food industry to produce high added value additives to be incorporated in packaging materials. These additives will be used to improve the overall performance of the most promising bioplastics (e.g., PLA, PHAs, PHBs, and PBS), which still suffer from a number of drawbacks that limit their wide marketing. The attention will be paid on the production process of these molecules, as well as to their deposition on the surface of the films. The use of these bioplastics is specifically intended for the shelf life extension of condensed milk powdery products.

 

 

Project keywords

Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials, Food Packaging, Process Engineering, Green Chemistry, Materials Science, Bioplastics, Circular Economy

 

Contacts

Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences – DeFENS

Packaging Division

Via Celoria, 2 – 20133 Milan (MI)

E-mail: cesare.rovera@unimi.it

Phone: +39 02503 16661

 

Collaborations

Prof. Diego Romano – UNIMI/DeFENS – Bioprocess and Biocatalysis Division

Prof. Roberto Pilu – UNIMI/DISAA – Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Agroenergy

 

Sponsor

Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano

 

  

Publications

Publications with impact factor

Cesare Rovera, Hasan Türe, Mikael S. Hedenqvist, Stefano Farris, “Water vapor barrier properties of wheat gluten/silica hybrid coatings on paperboard for food packaging applications”, 2020, Food Packag. Shelf Life. 26:100561-100572. DOI: 10.1016/j.fpsl.2020.100561

Mahsa Sadat Razavi, Abdollah Golmohammadi, Ali Nematollahzadeh, Filippo Fiori, Cesare Rovera, Stefano Farris, “Preparation of cinnamon essential oil emulsion by bacterial cellulose nanocrystals and fish gelatin”, 2020, Food Hydrocoll. 109:106111-106118. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodhyd.2020.106111

Cesare Rovera, Filippo Fiori, Silvia Trabattoni, Diego Romano, Stefano Farris, “Enzymatic hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose for the production of nanocrystals for the food packaging industry”, 2020, Nanomaterials. 10:735-746. DOI: 10.3390/nano10040735

Cesare Rovera, Masoud Ghaani, Stefano Farris, “Nano-inspired oxygen barrier coatings for food packaging applications: An overview”, 2020, Trends Food Sci. Technol. 97:210-220. DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2020.01.024

Giulia Borlini, Cesare Rovera, Michela Landoni, Elena Cassani, Roberto Pilu, “lpa1-5525: A New lpa1 Mutant Isolated in a Mutagenized Population by a Novel Non-Disrupting Screening Method”, 2019, Plants. 8:209-223. DOI: 10.3390/plants8070209

Cesare Rovera, Masoud Ghaani, Nadia Santo, Silvia Trabattoni, Richard T. Olsson, Diego Romano, Stefano Farris, “Enzymatic hydrolysis in the green production of bacterial cellulose nanocrystals”, 2018, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 6: 7725-7734. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b00600

Cesare Rovera, Carlo A. Cozzolino, Masoud Ghaani, Davide Morrone, Richard T. Olsson, Stefano Farris, “Mechanical behavior of biopolymer composite coatings on plastic films by depth-sensing indentation – A nanoscale study”, 2018, Colloid Interface Sci. 512: 638-646. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.108

Carlo A.Cozzolino, Cesare Rovera, Claudia Anchisi, Sara Savoldelli, Gaetano Campanella, Eugenio Muroni, Massimo Meloni, Stefano Farris. “Preservation of bread-made museum collections by coating technology”, 2017, Cult. Herit. 25: 121-126 DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2017.01.001

Masoud Ghaani; Cesare Rovera; Flavia Pucillo; Mohammad R Ghaani; Richard T Olsson; Matteo Scampicchio; Stefano Farris, “Determination of 2,4-diaminotoluene by a bionanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode”, 2018, Actuator B-Chem. 277: 477-483 DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2018.09.053

 

Publications without impact factor

Stefano Farris, Cesare Rovera, Cristina Alamprese, Susanna Buratti, Simona Benedetti, Ernestina Casiraghi, “Packaging sostenibili per l’olio d’oliva”, 2020, Olivo e Olio. 3:16-20. ISSN 1127-0713

 

Communications to congresses

“Cellulose Nanocrystals Obtained From Komagataeibacter Sucrofermentans Through A Top-Down Chemical Treatment” – Cesare Rovera, Carlo Alessio Cozzolino, Diego Romano, Stefano Farris, “IX^th ECNP – International Conference on Nanostructured Polymers and Nanocomposites” – Rome, 19-21 September 2016 – Poster

“Environmentally-friendly enzymatic manufacturing of Bacterial Cellulose Nanocrystals” – Cesare Rovera, Diego Romano, Stefano Farris, “IV^th MATBIM International Meeting on Packaging Material / Bioproduct Interactions” – Porto – Portugal, 26-28 April 2017 – Poster

“Sustainable preparation of immobilized (bio)catalysts for heterogeneous stereoselective transformations” – Diego Romano, Stefano Farris, Valerio De Vitis, Cesare Rovera, Rahul Mangayil, Andrea Pinto, Clelia Previtali, “II^nd Green and Sustainable Chemistry” – Berlin – Germany, 14-17 May 2017 – Poster

“Differenti Strategie per l’ottenimento di nanocristalli di cellulosa: processi di top-down convenzionali e “green” a confronto” – Cesare Rovera, Diego Romano,Stefano Farris, “IIIth Edition “Agorà” – Incontro Nazionale sul food packaging” – Milan, 25 October 2017 – Poster and Oral Presentation

“From Cheese Whey Permeate To An Anti-Listeria Food Packaging Device: Bacterial Cellulose Nanocrystals/Sakacin-A Conjugates (Nanosak)” – Alberto Barbiroli, Daniele Bussini, Stefano Debenedetti, Valerio De Vitis, Stefano Farris, Rafael Gavara, Pilar Hernandez Munoz, Laura Higueras, Chiara Mapelli, Paolo Motta, Alida Musatti, Diego Romano, Cesare Rovera, Manuela Rollini, “IX^th SLIM – Shelf Life International Meeting” – Naples, 17-20 June, 2019, Poster

“Development of a pectin-based bio-coating solution with enhanced oxygen barrier proprieties – Cesare Rovera, Alessandro Nocenti, Stefano Farris, “V^th MATBIM – International Meeting on Packaging Material / Bioproduct Interactions” – Milan, 05-08 May 2019, Poster

“Sviluppo di imballaggi attivi sostenibili da permeato di siero: il progetto NANOSAK / WP IV: Da cellulosa batterica (BC) a nanocristalli di cellulosa batterica (BCNCs)” – Manuela Rollini, Luisa Pellegrino, Daniele Cavicchioli, Immacolata Serra, Diego Romano, Cesare Rovera, Alberto Barbiroli, Stefano Farris, Daniele Bussini, Alida Musatti, “NANOSAK final meeting” – Milan, 18 October 2019, Oral Communication

 

Others

Awarded by DSM Nutritional Product AG for “the most innovative and promising idea to develop with DSM a sustainable packaging for the vitamins and minerals that we distribute in hot and humid countries to fight hidden hunger” (V^th MATBIM – International Meeting on Packaging Material / Bioproduct Interactions conference, 2019).