The Aerosol and Particle Technology Laboratory (APTL) is part of the Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), which is one of the institutes of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). CPERI is a leading research organization of the greater public sector in Greece, carrying out diverse research projects in close collaboration with European and US industries in the areas of energy conservation, environmental processes, solid fuels, liquid fuels and hydrocarbons, chemical technology, polymers, membrane processes, electrochemical processes, computer aided design and optimization, and aerosol and particle technology. CPERI currently employs about 150 employees (80% of which are directly involved in research), it participates in several EU funded projects, and it offers a range of engineering and analytical services to interested parties. In addition, CPERI is the major shareholder of the Thessaloniki Technology Park, providing R&D support and technology transfer services to SMEs.
APTL performs research in the following areas:
Emission Control Technologies for Mobile and Stationary Sources
- Soot filters for Diesel particulate emission control
- Gaseous emission control technologies (HC and CO oxidation, NOx reduction)
- Filter and membrane systems for hot gas clean-up
- Catalytic nanoparticle synthesis by aerosol, combustion and wet chemistry based routes
- Spatially controlled coating and functionalization of porous materials
- Multifunctional compact monolithic reactors
Hydrogen and Clean Energy Technologies
- Solar thermal volumetric receivers for future power plants
- Monolithic solar water splitting reactors for hydrogen production
- Solar assisted hydrocarbon reforming for hydrogen / carbon nanoparticle production
- Material technologies for multi-fuel processors
Sensor and Measurement Technologies
- Controlled nanoparticle generation, separation and measurement
- Evaluation of the size specific biological effects of nanoparticles
- Optical and laser diagnostics for particle measurement
- Nanoparticle and gas sensors for on-board monitoring and control
- Multi-sample testing units for fast screening of emission control devices
Computer Simulation of Aerosol and Particulate Processes
- Discrete particle simulation (Monte Carlo, lattice Boltzmann, cellular automata and discrete element methods)
- Computational fluid dynamics analysis of entire engine exhaust systems
- Simulation of fouling and slagging phenomena in solid fuel combustion
- Simulation of aerosol reactors using multivariate population dynamics methods
