Sustainability has been one of the core values of A&A Fratelli Parodi SpA since the company started operating, way back in 1955. The company has been refining vegetable oils and developing animal by-products at its Campomorone plant in Genoa ever since .
However, the Parodi family also soon introduced new methods and products, the result of a philosophy based on a ground-breaking use of Green Chemistry.
This vision, which combines a sharp focus on product quality and performance, on the customer, on the environment and on innovation, has led the company to develop, over time, the know-how that is now one of its distinguishing traits, together with a highly flexible production facility that is designed to allow broad diversification of its solutions, marking a genuine milestone in the industrial chemicals sector.
In the pursuit of innovation, the company has invested in technologies and equipment that have allowed it to add processing of plant esters alongside processing of natural oils and thus obtain sustainable solutions.
The ability to adapt to the broadest range of needs is also demonstrated by the adoption of the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 22000 international certification standards and by the presence of an in-house laboratory dedicated to research and development, analysis and quality control.
The laboratories, among the best in their field in both Italy and Europe, guarantee that the products reflect the increasingly high quality standards, through continual testing and analysis performed by highly qualified personnel.
This work forms the basis for the supply of products distinguished by a greater stability over time, as well as minimising the risk of declines in performance or products that do not conform with the specifications.
The research and development department, as the ‘control room’ of the future, allows the company to adapt easily and to offer tailor-made application.
With a production capacity in excess of 40,000 tons of product and hundreds of tailor-made solutions for its customers, the true strength of the company lies in its ability to strike a balance between diversification, research and development and the know-how accrued over decades of experience.
This is one of the key factors in allowing the company to meet and satisfy the most stringent market needs.
Stability is another core value that sets A&A Fratelli Parodi apart from all the rest.
The company’s raw material back integration methods allow it to offer constant and reliable supplies to its customers. It also invests heavily in developing relationships of trust with its customers, who are looking for a company prepared to focus on and listen to their needs.
The company is organized in 3 production divisions:
Industrial,
dealing with vegetable liquids for industrial applications like lubricants, solvent/carriers, paints, coatings, plasticizer, quenching and insulating liquids. The latter one includes natural esters, synthetic esters, blended esters, and esters for capacitors.
Advanced biofuels,
production of advanced biodiesel, glycerine, and sustainable distillation by-products
Life Science,
production of natural actives for cosmetics application, cosmetics and personal care formulation and production, microalgae and extracts, and biotechnology.
Diego Pattaro holds a Bachelor and a Master Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Padova. After experiences in the field of mechanical design, he embarked in his journey into the electrical world with DASOTEC Company. At DASOTEC, he has been active in various roles, ranging from promotion, sales and assistance of monitoring systems and electrical test equipment, primarily for power transformers, to performing on-site installations and commissioning of monitoring devices, organization of testing and maintenance tasks, and hands-on work with maintenance activities and transformer oil treatment, combining both the intellectual activity with practical application. Currently he serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DASOTEC, where he continues to sharpen his expertise and knowledge within the world of electromechanics.
James Reid holds a MSc Reliability Engineering & Safety Management from Heriot Watt University and a BEng Chemical Engineering from University of Edinburgh. He has been a chartered Chemical Engineer with the IChemE since 2002 and is also a member of ASTM. Based in the UK, James leads the technical applications team providing global support for all the ester-based products manufactured by global specialty materials company M&I Materials, including the MIDEL range of dielectric liquids. Prior to joining the technical team at M&I Materials in 2019, James has over two decades experience in technical and operational management roles with major UK utility, leading international chemical, and specialist oil companies.
Jean SANCHEZ is senior transformer engineer at EDF, French main generation utility, mostly on investigations, tests and its associated diagnosis, Factory Acceptance Tests, HV bushings, fleet assessments. He’s involved in IEC and CIGRE working groups. He completed a PhD degree on power transformers fault diagnosis in 2011 with a French power transformer reparation factory, TSV.
Ufuk Kivrak has BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering. He has more than 25 years of industrial experience in transformers and power grid industries. He has worked for ABB in several management positions in Turkey, Thailand and Switzerland. He has led Supply Chain Management organization of ABB Transformer business globally from 2003 to 2015, which included explosive growth of transformer market from 2003 to 2008, which was followed by a market collapse in 2009 and onwards. In 2015, he has joined Alstom Grid as VP-Strategic Sourcing and continued as Head of Strategic Sourcing in GE Grid Solutions after Alstom was acquired by GE. Currently he is Managing Director of SCM Consulting GmbH.
Armando Pastore received his mechanical engineering master’s degree from University of Naples Federico II. After the graduation he had different experiences in automotive and railway sectors. He joined the power grid business sector in 2012 working as R&D mechanical engineer and product industrialization with special focus on transformer and wall bushings for HVDC application. Since 2015 he has been working at GE Grid Solution covering different roles as engineering manufacturing, production, technical and product manager. In 2022 he has been appointed chair for Italy SC 36A – Insulated bushings.
Riccardo Actis was born in 1969 He holds a degree in mechanical engineering, obtained from Polytechnic University of Turin in 1995. Today he is the Global Operation Manager of the On-Site Service Department at Sea Marconi, with more than 25 years of experience in organization and follow-up of on-site work activities, in Italy, France, Spain, and other countries (KSA, Argentina, Uruguay, Japan). Riccardo has a deep knowledge of condition-based maintenance, as well as treatment and decontamination techniques of insulating liquids.
Dr. Diego Robalino is the Global Industry Director – Utilities Transformers at Megger. He specializes in the diagnosis of complex electrical testing procedures and the strategic development of state-of-the-art transformer testing technology. He has over 25 years of involvement in the electrical engineering profession with management responsibilities in the power systems, oil and gas, and research arenas.
Vojko Mrdic has been working as applications engineer in transformer testing group at DV Power, a well-known manufacturer of test and measurement equipment for electric power industry. His responsibilities include development of new methods for transformer testing, providing technical support to DV Power customers, as well as performing on-site field testing. Before joining DV Power 13 years ago, he had been working at the large apparatus manufacturer Energoinvest RAOP for 1 year as a junior engineer in circuit breakers and instrument transformers development department. Vojko has a BSc diploma degree in electrical engineering from the University of East Sarajevo.
Roberto Fernández is an experienced Electrical Engineer who has spent most of his career on the transformer design field and R&D activities focused on the magneto-electric and thermal design for a wide range of transformer applications. He is member of the IEC, CIGRE and several national and international working groups. He is currently the Application Technical Leader at Cargill Bioindustrial.
Alfredo Ortiz Fernández is Professor in the area of Electrical and Energy Engineering at the University of Cantabria.
Field Service engineer since 1976 working for Merlin-Gerin on GIS Switchgear, Schneider Electric Equipment, JST Tranformateurs , following in SIEMENS as African Aera sales Manager and JST Maintenance as business development
Dr. Sameera completed his Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Honors) and Master of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. After graduating, he worked as a High Voltage Laboratory Instructor at the University of Peradeniya and as a Research Assistant in the Condition Monitoring Team at the Engineering Design Centre. He then pursued his PhD at the University of Queensland, Australia. Following that, he joined the same university as a postdoctoral research fellow, where he investigated the use of drone footage and Machine Learning technologies for detecting overhead conductor defects. After completing his fellowship, he became a consultant at EA Technology, one of the world’s leading asset management consultancy service providers. Currently, he works as an asset strategy engineer at Energy Queensland, the largest distribution network service provider in Australia.
Fabrizio Ferrari was born in Pavia (Italy) in 1968. He is a Senior Consultant for CESI, for some major Utilities (e.g. EGP, A2A) and for transformer manufacturers. He has experience in small, medium and large power transformers and the main HV, MV and LV components. Previous experience as Quality and Environmental Management Systems Responsible in Italian leader transformer manufacturer Groups. Member of IEC/CEI TC 10, TC 14, TC 36 and TC 68, member of CENELEC TC 14, member of CIGRE A.2 and T&D Europe. Chairman of “Transformers Group” in ANIE Energia (Federation associated to Confindustria).
Christian Pößniker received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in 2015 and 2019, respectively and the B.Eng. (Hons) and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2017. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree within the Centre for Smart Grid, Department of Engineering, at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. He has previously worked as a certified electronics technician after receiving a craftsman apprenticeship in Germany in 2010. His research interests include ageing transformer insulation systems and overloading constraints.
Founder of Sea Marconi in 1968, is the inventor of more than 40 international patents for processes and technologies in the field of decontamination, detoxification, dehalogenation of Persistant Organic Pollutants.
Dr Bruce Pahlavanpour BSC, DIC, PHD from Imperial College, London. Recently he joined Ergon International as consultant. Dr Pahlavanpour was Chief Specialist for the Electrical industry application group within Nynas TDMS.
Fabio Scatiggio was born in Venezia, Italy, in 1957.