Το name just a few, a list of research projects are mentioned below, which are financed either by European Funds through programs like HORIZON 2020 or the Fund for Coal and Steel, or co-financed by the European Fund of Regional Development (EFRD) of the European Union and National Funds through the Operational Program “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (EPAnEK) and the Nation-Wide Action “Research Create Innovate”.
List of ongoing research projects of environmental interest
| No | Title | Financing Program | Coordinator - Partners |
| 1 | Scale-up of electrochemically promoted catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 for fuel production - CO2 TO FUELS (Τ1 EDK -01631) | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 1st cycle |
1) University of Patras (Coordinator) |
| 2 | Contribution of the Tree Planted land of West Macedonia Lignite Center to protection of environment and to mitigation of Climate Change-Coformit (Τ1ΕΔΚ-02521) | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 1st cycle |
1) Democritus University of Thrace (Coordinator) |
| 3 | Bioconversion of lignite power plant emissions to fuels and fine chemicals – BIOMEK (Τ1EDK-00279) | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 1st cycle |
ICE-HT (Coordinator) PPC – TRSC |
| 4 | Bioconversion of CO2 into High Value Bioproducts through Sustainable Microalgae Cultivation Processes CO2-Bioproducts (T1EDK-02681) | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 1st cycle |
1) CERTH-CPERI (Coordinator) |
| 5 | Development of Novel Electrochemical Water Treatment Applications with the combined use of Electrodes based on Nanocarbon materials and Conductive Polymers – NANOPOL (T1EDK-02663) | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 1st cycle |
1) CERTH-CPERI (Coordinator) |
| 6 | Design and installation of a hybrid industrial device to collect air pollutants from lignite combustion by recovering and activating solid by-products and non-reactive materials from dry desulphurization – REDESOX | NSRF “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE” 2nd cycle |
PPC – Lignite Power Plants Operation Department AGIOS DIMITRIOS TPP |
| 7 | Intelligent water treatment technologies to achieve water savings combined with energy generation and recovery of materials in energy intensive industries – ΙΝΤΕLWATT | HORIZON 2020, H2020-LOW-CARBON-CIRCULAR-INDUSTRIES-2020 / H2020 |
1) NCSR DEMOKRITOS (Coordinator) |
| 8 | Sustainable use of mining waste dumps– SUMAD | Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS)- 2018 |
1) UON (Coordinator – United Kingdom) |
| 9 | Coal-to-liquids supply chain integration in view of operational, economic and environmental risk assessments under unfavourable geological settings - ODYSSEUS | Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS)- 2018 |
1) GFZ (Coordinator - Germany) |
The COFORMIT project for the Contribution of the Tree-planted Land in West Macedonia Lignite Center to the protection of Environment and to mitigation of Climate Change is implemented in cooperation with the Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources at the Democritus University of Thrace and the company ENA DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS.
It will produce scientific evidence for the contribution of tree-planted lands in the Ptolemaida and Amyntaio mines to mitigating climate change and protecting the environment ,while illustrating the environmental benefits of these lands to the region in terms of protecting biodiversity.
It includes the creation of a model recreational and environmental information park that will contribute significantly to the preservation and enhancement of biodiversity in the region.
The expected benefits to the Company and local community are the following:
In CO2-BIOPRODUCTS PPC collaborates with the Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute of the Centre for Research and Technology (CERTH-CPERI) as project coordinator, with four other research entities and universities and one foodstuff company. The aim of the project is to exploit CO2 from power plant flue gases to cultivate specific strains of microalgae in order to capture CO2 while generating products of commercial value such as lubricants, oils and biomass.
The aim of the project is the research of methods for utilization of CO2 from power plant flue gases to cultivate specific strains of microalgae in order to capture CO2 while generating products of commercial value such as lubricants, oils and biomass.
The benefits to the Company and its operations from its participation in the project are:
In INTELWATT, “Intelligent Water Treatment Technologies for water preservation combined with simultaneous energy production and material recovery in energy intensive industries”, PPC joins with the Laboratory of Materials and Membranes for Environmental Separations at the Demokritos National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR) as project coordinator and scientific officer, and eighteen (18) other entities from Europe to develop new technologies for the management of water, water flows and water waste in Power Plants.
The object of the project is to develop water treatment technologies to be applied in industrial settings aiming to increase recycling and savings. The proposed processes will be based on membrane technologies and ion exchange resins capable of self-regulation via smart sensor systems to be developed for that purpose.
PPC S.A. is the provider in one of the project’s three use cases, as well as one of the industrial end-users of the technologies to be developed, which makes PPC a significant contributor to the project. The “Greek” use case will be implemented as a pilot project in Unit V of Megalopolis by developing economically efficient, smart solutions of rational water management to achieve savings in the amount of water coming from drilling wells, increase recycling and reuse of water discharged from cooling towers, and reduce water waste.
The anticipated benefits from participating in the project are:
The project is co-financed under the EU Program “HORIZON 2020”.
Information on all PPC research projects, as listed below, is presented in the annual Sustainable Development Reports.