CERTH

Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas , CERTH / CPERI / PSDI

The Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI) was founded in 1985 and is a former member of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH). After 2000, the year of establishment of the Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH) under the administration of the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI), CPERI has been one of the five institutes of the center. These five research institutes are engaged in research in fields such as Energy, Environment, Industry, Mechatronics, Information & Communication, Transportation & Sustainable Mobility, Health, Agro-biotechnology, Smart farming, Safety & Security, as well as several cross-disciplinary areas. As a result of high participation in competitive research grants, CERTH is among the TOP-20 such EU institutions, and it has received numerous awards and distinctions over the years. The annual turnover is more than 50 M €, coming from competitive research programs at 77%, from bilateral contracts with industry at 13%, and from institutional government funding at 10% demonstrating that, essentially, it is a self-financed operating model.

The CPER Institute is a non-profit research and technological development (RTD) organization that conducts research guided by four main thrusts: materials development (functional, organic, inorganic, and biological nano-materials), energy technologies (fossil fuels, renewable sources, fuel cells), process engineering (physical, chemical, biotechnological), environmental research (processes and devices for pollution control) and it consists of 8 laboratories.

The host laboratory of the current project is the Laboratory of Process Systems Design and Implementation and the group ECoS team being its member, conducts research in Proton Exchange Membrane and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (PEMFC and SOFC), and electrolysis (PEMEC, SOEC) technology, as well as lithium-ion battery technology. Electrochemical Technologies Group (ETG) has a strong background and expertise in electrochemical processes and an extensive research track in material development and the physicochemical and electrochemical characterization of materials and cells, respectively.

The 10 years of experience in the development and long-term testing of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Devices (SOECs) and reversible solid oxide devices (RSOCs) operated with CO2, and/or H2O is a result of consecutive participation in successful programs, such as the General Support Technology Programs (GSTP), funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), for energy storage and Auxiliary Power Units (APU) in planetary missions (Technology Maturity Level, TRL 3-4). In solid oxide cell technology, the research group was the coordinator of the European project T-CELL (FP7‐FCH JU), aimed at a new SOC architecture while addressing the problem of their degradation due to carbon deposition, and participated in the SElySOS and NewSOC projects (H2020-FCH 2JU) that were into electrolysis in SOEC devices and increasing SOC technology maturity.