Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is the largest University in Greece, with more than 75,000 under- and post-graduate students. Studies and research at AUTH are organized into 11 Faculties and 41 Schools/Departments, covering almost all scientific disciplines. AUTH has a proven track record in research activities with extensive participation in National, European and International projects, as well as industrial collaboration schemes.

In this project, AUTH will participate with the Group of Prof. Konstantinos S. Triantafyllidis which is part of the Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Technology (LCET) of the Department of Chemistry.

The group conducts fundamental and applied research in various scientific fields such as:

• Nanoporous and nanosized materials and catalysts synthesis and characterization
• Polymer (bio-based) nanocomposites
• Heterogeneous catalysis
• Adsorption/catalysis for environmental remediation
• Integrated Biorefining: Biomass (lignocellulosic, lipid) and organic waste valorization to high added value fuels, chemicals, monomers, polymers
• Plastic waste chemical recycling/upcycling
• Green and sustainable chemistry and technology

In the project Plastic2fuels, the main task of AUTH is the:

• characterization of various plastic wastes and the corresponding pristine polymer
• conversion of polymers/plastic wastes via fast pyrolysis and hydrogenolysis to crude oil with tuned composition and properties
• study and optimization of the process parameters and the catalysts utilized, in relation to the characteristics of the polymers/plastics used as feedstock.

AUTH’s team will also support horizontal project’s activities such as education and training, Technoeconomic analysis (TEA) & Life cycle assessment (LCA), upscaling design, dissemination and communication.