Researcher Details |

Lorna Fitzsimons

Dr. Lorna Fitzsimons is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in DCU. Research expertise and interests include the water-energy nexus: water and wastewater treatment; thermodynamics and exergy analysis; energy auditing, modelling and benchmarking; LCA; control and automation for energy efficiency. The focus of her PhD was the energy optimisation in the semiconductor manufacturing industry (Intel). She has coordinated and delivered two EPA funded projects which audited, benchmarked and modelled the energy and resource efficiency of Irish wastewater treatment plants: Increasing the resource efficiency of Irish wastewater treatment plants (http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/research/water/researchreport168.html) and Optimal design of small Irish wastewater treatment plants (http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/research/water/research255.html). Currently, she is a PI in three H2020 and national energy and sustainability research projects which focus on the energy-water nexus: ESIPP (https://esipp.ie/), Saltgae (http://saltgae.eu/), and ALICE (https://www.alice-wastewater-project.eu/). She has a strong track record of funding success: EPA, H2020, SFI, Enterprise Ireland.

Other Journal

	Year	Publication
	2014	E. Doherty, L. Fitzsimons, B. Corcoran, Y. Delauré and E. Clifford (2014) 'A Resource Consumption Benchmarking System for WWTPs' .

Published Report

	Year	Publication
	2016	Lorna Fitzsimons, Eoghan Clifford, Greg McNamara, Edelle Doherty, Thomas Phelan, Matthew Horrigan, Yann Delauré and Brian Corcoran (2016) Increasing Resource Efficiency in Wastewater Treatment Plants. The Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland, .

Conference Publication

	Year	Publication
	2016	G. McNamara, L. Fitzsimons, E. Doherty, E. Clifford, and Y. Delaure (2016) 13th IWA Specialized Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems *The evaluation of technologies for small, new design, wastewater treatment systems* Athens, Greece,
	2015	E. Doherty, L. Fitzsimons, B. Corcoran, Y. Delauré and E. Clifford (2015) IWA Water Efficiency and Performance Assessment of Water Services *Benchmarking Resource Efficiency in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Developing Best Practices* Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 21/04/2015- 24/04/2015
	2015	McNamara, G., Fitzsimons, L., Doherty, E., Clifford, E. (2015) 10th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems *Performance Metrics in Life Cycle Assessments of Wastewater Treatment Plants* Dubrovnik, Croatia,
	2014	Greg McNamara, Matthew Horrigan, Thomas Phelan, Yan Delauré, Brian Corcoran, Eoghan Clifford and Lorna Fitzsimons (2014) 1st South East European Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems *Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Water Treatment Plants in Ireland* Ohrid, Macedonia,
	2014	Thomas Phelan, Matthew Horrigan, Greg McNamara, Yan Delauré, Brian Corcoran, Eoghan Clifford and Lorna Fitzsimons (2014) SEE SDEWES Ohrid 2014, 1st South East European Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems *Opportunities for Process Control Optimisation in Irish Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants* Ohrid, Macedonia,
	2014	E. Doherty, L. Fitzsimons, B. Corcoran, Y. Delauré and E. Clifford (2014) IWA Water, Energy and Climate Conference 2014 *Design and Implementation of a Resource Consumption Benchmarking System for Wastewater Treatment Plants* Mexico City, Mexico, 21/05/2014- 23/05/2014
	2012	Fitzsimons, L., Heery, B., Chapman, J., Lau, K. T., Regan, F., Kim, J-H., Diamond, D. and Sullivan, T. (2012) EuropetrodeXI *Development of a realtime, continuous, optical turbidity and colorimetric sensing device for the marine environment* Barcelona, Spain,
	2012	Fitzsimons, L., Corcoran, B., Young, P., Foley, G. and Regan, F. (2012) HEFAT 2012 (Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics) *Modelling the Activity of Seawater and Implications for Desalination Exergy Analyses* Malta,
	2010	Fitzsimons, L., Corcoran, B., Young, P. and Foley, G. (2010) Fifth International Ege Energy Symposium and Exhibition (IEESE-5) *Desalination Exergy Models: Mathematical and Seawater Model Comparison* Denizli, Turkey,
	2010	Fitzsimons, L., Corcoran, B., Young, P. and Foley, G. (2010) HEFAT 2010 (Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics) *A Comparison of Prevalent Desalination Exergy Models*

Peer Reviewed Journal

	Year	Publication
	2016	Fitzsimons, L;Horrigan, M;McNamara, G;Doherty, E;Phelan, T;Corcoran, B;Delaure, Y;Clifford, E (2016) 'Assessing the thermodynamic performance of Irish municipal wastewater treatment plants using exergy analysis: a potential benchmarking approach'. Journal of Cleaner Production, 131 :387-398.
	2016	McNamara G.;Fitzsimons L.;Horrigan M.;Phelan T.;Delaure Y.;Corcoran B.;Doherty E.;Clifford E. (2016) 'Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment plants in Ireland'. Journal Of Sustainable Development Of Energy, Water And Environment Systems, 4 (3):216-233.
	2015	Fitzsimons L.;Horrigan M.;McNamara G.;Doherty E.;Phelan T.;Corcoran B.;Delauré Y.;Clifford E. (2015) 'Assessing the thermodynamic performance of Irish municipal wastewater treatment plants using exergy analysis: A potential benchmarking approach'. Journal of Cleaner Production, .
	2015	Fitzsimons L.;Corcoran B.;Young P.;Foley G. (2015) 'Exergy analysis of water purification and desalination: A study of exergy model approaches'. Desalination, 359 :212-224.

Research Interests

Water-energy nexus
Water treatment - Ultra-pure, desalination and wastewater
Energy modelling
Exergy analysis
LCA

Research Projects

Title	Role	Start date	End date
ALICE	PI	16/01/2017	15/12/2021
Feasibility study	PI	21/07/2016	21/01/2017
Saltgae	PI	01/06/2016	31/05/2019
ESIPP	PI	25/11/2015	24/11/2019
Optimal design an operation of small-scale wastewater treatment plants:the Irish case	Coordinator	01/04/2015	31/03/2017
Optimal design of small-scale wastewater treatment plants	Coordinator	01/04/2015	31/03/2017
Increasing Resource Efficiency in Wastewater Treatment Plants	Coordinator	01/01/2013	31/07/2015

Modules Coordinated

Term	Title	Subject
2022	Strength of Materials I	MM211
2022	Energy-An Intro to Thermodynamics	MM204
2022	Project & Quality Management	MM309
2022	Fundamentals of Control	MM353