Research projects of environmental interest

In the context of its sustainable development policy PPC participates in several voluntary initiatives and research projects on Environmental Protection.

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) KAPA Dynamiki
3) CERTH-CPERI
4) PPC - STRATEGY & TRANSFORMATION DIVISION – THERMAL PROJECTS ENGINEERING-CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT – TRSC
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)
2) LANDRES
3) PPC LCWM – ENVIROMENT DEPARTMENT
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)
2) Technical University of Crete/Department of Environmental Engineering
3) ICB/IOPC
4) NCUA/Biology Department
5) Demokritos / Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
6) Algae S.A.
7) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ΒΙΟ)
8) PPC – ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT
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)
2) R-NANO
3) DEMOKRITOS
4) Amen Technologies
5) DELTA
6) PPC –Thermal & Hydro Generation Business Unit
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)
2) PPC
3) ΝΟΚΙΑ HELLAS
4) FUELICS
+ 15 additional European entities
8 Sustainable use of mining waste dumps– SUMAD   Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS)- 2018 

1) UON (Coordinator – United Kingdom)
2) POLTEGOR (Poland)
3) VUHU MOST (Coordinator-Czech Republic)
4) CERTH (Greece)
5) INERIS (France)
6) KOMAG (Poland)
7) EMAG (Poland)
8) GIG (Poland)
9) LWB (Poland)
10) PPC – Retail Support Department
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)
2) TU BAF (Germany)
3) GIG (Poland)
4) UNEW (United Kingdom)
5) Calamites Ltd. (Hungary)
6) DMT (Germany)
7) UP (Hungary)
8) CERTH (Greece)
9) PPC – Retail Support Department

 

 

COFORMIT (COntribution FOrests MITigation) 
 

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:  

  • Decreasing the Company’s environmental footprint since the WMLC tree-planted land can be considered as part of the actions that contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.  
  • Economic and social benefits to the local community in terms of jobs to be created before and after the termination of the project and the multiple goods and services to the region from the creation of the recreational and environmental information park. 
Rehabilitated land
Photograph of a tree-planted area on rehabilitated soils at the Amyntaio Mine from research project COFORMIT

CO2 – BIOPRODUCTS   

 

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:  

  • Access to research know-how on ways to develop end-products that constitute fixed forms of CO2 capture or recoverable fuel sources as a result of CO2 capture such as biomass.  
  • Access to the results of the sustainability analysis of the process to be developed in the project with regard to the cultivation of microalgae to capture CO2 on a larger scale, as in utilizing CO2 generated in power plants.  
  • Access to the results of the technical feasibility study and the study on the promotion and development of a business plan for the overall technical and economic assessment of the process and its comparison to other CO2 capture techniques. 

INTELWATT, Intelligent Water Treatment Technologies  

 

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: 

  • Access to research know-how on ways to implement technological solutions in water and water waste management.   
  • Access to the results from developing and optimizing the proposed water treatment and reuse technologies in settings and for the characteristics of large-scale industrial facilities.
  • Access to the results of the sustainability study including a lifecycle methodology analysis and development plan regarding the comprehensive technical and economic assessment of the technologies to be applied in all three use cases of the project. 

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.