NRRE

NRRE
Natural Resources & Renewable Energies

NRRENatural Resources & Renewable Energies

Mission

  • An overarching goal of CPERI is to develop processes/technologies and tools for the sustainable utilization/management of natural resources and energy.
  • Toward achieving this goal, the NRRE Laboratory has focused (in the past two decades) on key issues regarding sustainable management of water and waste water, as well as industrial effluents, with emphasis on agro-industrial effluents and waste streams; furthermore, utilization/production of renewable energies (e.g., biogas) is a target.
  • Through the development of innovative processes, valorization of such effluents/wastes (considered resources) is pursued in tandem with pollution abatement for environmental and human health protection.
  • Collaboration with industry, and special services to other stakeholders, is a prime objective in these activities.

Research focus

Membrane technology is the core expertise of NRRE Lab, implemented in the form of advanced membrane processes and hybrids thereof, outlined below. Such special expertise (by trained scientific and technical personnel) and related infrastructure have been developed within NRRE/CPERI, in recent decades. Infrastructure includes state-of-the-art analytical equipment, fully instrumented/automated pilot units, and advanced process simulation tools. The pilot facilities (and software tools) are developed and constructed (in most cases) within NRRE/CPERI.

An integrated approach to process development is pursued/implemented, whereby:

  1. phenomena/ mechanisms are experimentally investigated at laboratory/bench scale,
  2. tools involving constitutive- expressions/correlations are developed next (aided by process modeling/simulation),
  3. process scale-up (and testing) follows in laboratory pilot units, thus enabling d) realistic pilot-process demonstration and optimization.

This approach allows process development to high Technology Readiness Level – TRL (i.e., TRL 6-7), starting from low TRL (2-3).

Areas of R&D activities in NRRE Lab include:

  • Water desalination and purification for specified uses (potable, irrigation, industrial process needs).
  • Treatment/reuse of wastewater and effluents (of any type), while pursuing Zero-Liquid Discharge-ZLD
  • Valorization of natural resources and of agro-industrial by-products/wastes, through the recovery of valuable bioactive compounds, recycled materials, nutrients and renewable energy (i.e., biogas, hydrogen).
  • Other membrane-based processes for niche applications; e.g., membrane haemo-filtration.

Main scientific directions

R&D activity at present is in the following main directions:

  1. Advanced and established membrane separation processes (i.e., RO, NF, UF, MD/Membrane- Distillation, FO/Forward-Osmosis, etc.), for adaptation to various applications.
  2. Advanced chemical/photochemical oxidation and electrochemical technologies (e.g., TiO2/UV, H2O2/UV-C, electro-Fenton, photo(electro)-Fenton, BDD anodic oxidation, etc.).
  3. Advanced biotechnological processes for various applications, including production and purification of both bulk bio-based chemicals and high-value niche products.
  4. Development of hybrid technologies, involving the above types of processes.

Projects & Activities

NRRE

BioRECER

/GA 101060684 

NRRE

AquaSole

/MIS 5136633 

NRRE

MedwayCap

/C-B.4.1 0042 

ARTEMIS, NRRE

CERESiS

/GA 101006717 

NRRE

Bio(Cat)Dieselc

/Τ2ΕΔΚ-00573/MIS 5074534 

NRRE

AgRefine: A Disruptive Innovative Coop

Personnel

NRRE

Baltzopoulos Odysseas

Scientific Personnel
, Chemical Engineer
NRRE

Chatzis Vassilis

Scientific Personnel
, Chemical Engineer, MSc
NRRE

Fotiadou Aggeliki

Scientific Personnel
, Chemical Engineer
NRRE

Karabelas Anastasios

Researcher Emeritus
, Professor, Researcher Emeritus
NRRE

Karanasiou Anthoula

Scientific Personnel
, Chemical Engineer, MSc
NRRE

Karastogianidou Avgi

Technical Staff
, Administrative Assistant
NRRE

Kostoglou Margaritis

Collaborating Faculty Member
, Professor
, AUTH, Chemistry Dept.
NRRE

Lekkas Asterios

Technical Staff
, Technical Support
NRRE

Lekkas Michael

Technical Staff
, Technical Support
NRRE

Moschona Alexandra

Collaborating Researcher PhD
, Chemical Engineer, PhD
NRRE

Nastouli Alexandra

PhD Candidate
, Chemical & Biochemical Env. Engineer
NRRE

Patsios Sotirios

Collaborating Researcher PhD
, Chemical Engineer, PhD
NRRE

Petsi Panagiota

PhD Candidate
, Chemical Engineer, MSc
NRRE

Plakas Konstantinos

Researcher
, Principal Researcher
, Chemical Engineer, PhD
NRRE

Saliakellis Panagiotis

Collaborating Researcher PhD
, Chemical Engineer, PhD
NRRE

Sarasidis Vassilios

Scientific Personnel
, Chemical Engineer, MSc
NRRE

Sioutopoulos Demetrios

Collaborating Researcher PhD
, Chemical Engineer, PhD
NRRE

Tsirigka Asimina

PhD Candidate
, Chemical Engineer

Publications

Koutsonikolas D., Karagiannakis G., Plakas K., Chatzis V., Skevis G., Giudicianni P., Ragucci R., Sabia P., Boukis N., Stoll I.

Membrane and electrochemical based technologies for the decontamination of exploitable streams produced by thermochemical processing of contaminated biomass

2022

Energies (MDPI) 15 (2022) 2683

Rodríguez-Sáez L., Patsios S., Senán-Salinas J., Landaburu-Aguirre J., Molina S., García-Calvo E.

A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study

2022

Membranes, 2022, 12 (2), 218

Nastouli, Tsirigka A., Harasek M., Karabelas A., Patsios S.

The Effect of Heat Sterilization on Key Filtration Performance Parameters of a Commercial Polymeric (PVDF) Hollow-Fiber Ultrafiltration Membrane

2022

Membranes 2022, 12, 725

Voutetaki A., Papadopoulos A.I., Plakas K., Seferlis P.

Integration of electrodialysis process for selective nitrate removal with renewable energy sources

2022

Chemical Engineering Transactions 94 (2022) 721-726

Moschona A., Kostoglou M., Karabelas A.

Mass transfer characteristics of haemo-filtration modules – Experiments and modeling

2022

Membranes 2022, 12, 62

Karabelas A.

Comments on “Deformation-induced cleaning of organically fouled membranes: Fundamentals and techno-economic assessment for spiral-wound membranes”

2022

Journal of Membrane Science 642 119932

Proskynitopoulou V., Lorentzou S., Yaman R., Herbert B., Rincon F., Plakas K., Kougias P., Zouboulis A., Panopoulos K.

Sustainable exploitation of biogas plant digestate for the production of high-quality products using selective electrodialysis

2022

Environmental Science Proceedings 21 (2022) 75

Karanasiou A., Karabelas A., Mitrouli S.

Incipient membrane scaling in the presence of polysaccharides during reverse osmosis desalination in spacer-filled channels

2021

Desalination, 500 (2021) 114821

Moschona A., Kostoglou M., Karabelas A.

Mass transfer characteristics of haemo-filtration modules – Experiments and modeling

2022

Membranes 2022, 12, 62

Karabelas A.

Comments on “Deformation-induced cleaning of organically fouled membranes: Fundamentals and techno-economic assessment for spiral-wound membranes”

2022

Journal of Membrane Science 642 119932

Proskynitopoulou V., Lorentzou S., Yaman R., Herbert B., Rincon F., Plakas K., Kougias P., Zouboulis A., Panopoulos K.

Sustainable exploitation of biogas plant digestate for the production of high-quality products using selective electrodialysis

2022

Environmental Science Proceedings 21 (2022) 75

Koutsonikolas D., Karagiannakis G., Plakas K., Chatzis V., Skevis G., Giudicianni P., Ragucci R., Sabia P., Boukis N., Stoll I.

Membrane and electrochemical based technologies for the decontamination of exploitable streams produced by thermochemical processing of contaminated biomass

2022

Energies (MDPI) 15 (2022) 2683

Rodríguez-Sáez L., Patsios S., Senán-Salinas J., Landaburu-Aguirre J., Molina S., García-Calvo E.

A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study

2022

Membranes, 2022, 12 (2), 218

Nastouli, Tsirigka A., Harasek M., Karabelas A., Patsios S.

The Effect of Heat Sterilization on Key Filtration Performance Parameters of a Commercial Polymeric (PVDF) Hollow-Fiber Ultrafiltration Membrane

2022

Membranes 2022, 12, 725

Voutetaki A., Papadopoulos A.I., Plakas K., Seferlis P.

Integration of electrodialysis process for selective nitrate removal with renewable energy sources

2022

Chemical Engineering Transactions 94 (2022) 721-726

Sarasidis C., Plakas K., Karabelas A.

A Pilot Study of a Hybrid Process Involving In Situ Regenerated Activated Carbon, Membrane Separation and Advanced Oxidation for Water Pollution Abatement

2021

Journal of Chemical Engineering Research Updates (2021) 60-72

Karanasiou A., Karabelas A., Mitrouli S.

Incipient membrane scaling in the presence of polysaccharides during reverse osmosis desalination in spacer-filled channels

2021

Desalination, 500 (2021) 114821

Kostoglou M., Moschona A., Karabelas A., Sioutopoulos D.

Implementation and validation of an innovative method for fluid mechanical characterization of haemo-catharsis modules

2021

Journal of Membrane Science, 624, (2021) 119117

MINOAN – Smart Sustainable
Energy Conversion and Management

GREEN – Geo-Resources, Energy
& Environmental Management

GrEnEA – Green Energy
& Environmental Applications

LIM – Laboratory
of Inorganic Materials

ARTEMIS – Advanced Renewable
Technologies for Energy & Materials
Integrated Systems

NRRE – Natural Resources
& Renewable Energies

PSDI – Laboratory of Process
Systems Design and Implementation

LPRE – Laboratory of Polymer
Reaction Engineering

NICE – Novel materIals
for Clean Energy Applications

LEFH – Laboratory of Environmental
Fuels/Biofuels and Hydrocarbons

HydPro – Hydroprocessing

BCPL – Biological Computation
& Process Laboratory

LEET – Laboratory of Environmental & Energy Transition technologies
(GrEnEA, Green & Minoan Groups)