Francesco is the CEO and co-funder of Hexxcell Ltd. With a background in Chemical and Process Systems Engineering, he has a track-record of developing industrial digital solutions from ideation to deployment in the field, with particular focus on hybrid AI-deterministic models for monitoring, optimization and predictive maintenance of process and energy systems. Prior to Hexxcell, Francesco worked as a Development Specialist at Praxair Technology Center (now Linde) in Buffalo, NY, where he focused on mathematical optimization of cryogenic multi-stream heat exchangers and air separation units.
He has co-edited a monograph dedicated to Crude Oil Fouling, published over 70 journal articles and conference proceedings and is the Executive Editor of Heat Exchanger Design Handbook.
He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and since 2015 is one of the two elected representatives for the UK serving on the Scientific Committee of the International Heat Transfer Conferences, the top global conference in the field held every four years. He was elected to the UK National Heat Transfer Committee in 2014, and subsequently appointed as its Secretary in 2016. He has been a member of AIChE since 2006 and since 2019 is a Director of the AIChE Fuels&Petrochemical Division and is currently its Second Vice Chair and the Chair of the Topical on Refining Processing. In 2020, he has started and he is chairing a Topical conference on Heat Exchangers as a part of the AIChE Spring meeting which is held very to years. Francesco is also a part-time Associate Professor at Brunel University London where he contributed to the launch of a new Chemical Engineering Department and was visiting academic at Imperial College London (2016-2017).
He holds a Laurea degree in Chemical Engineering from Padova University, Italy, an MSc in Process Systems Engineering and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, UK. He was awarded by Imperial College London the Newitt Prize for best Computational PhD thesis in Chemical Engineering and the Townend prize for excellence in research in the area of fuel production.