The Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) is one of Europe’s leading research centers, promoting innovation across a variety of sectors, such as clean energy, digital technologies, agriculture or artificial intelligence. In the NextFuel project, CERTH contributes to NextFuel through its, Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), the only research institute in Greece dedicated to transport.
CERTH/HIT plays a key role in assessing the environmental and techno-economic performance of biomethanol production via the eREACT technology. The team leads the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) studies, evaluates regulatory frameworks and market incentives that support the adoption of sustainable marine fuels and identifies optimal locations for biomethanol production plants in Southern Europe, by integrating technical, environmental and logistical criteria. CERTH/HIT also contributes to feasibility studies and simulation activities that assess scalability potential and guide future replication of the technology across Europe.
Vassilis Kappatos (Research Director and Project Manager)
Dr. Vassilis Kappatos is a Mechanical Engineer (MEng, PhD) and currently serves as Research Director and Project Manager at the Hellenic Institute of Transport (CERTH/HIT). He holds a PhD in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and has extensive experience in managing and coordinating R&D projects in the fields of transport, energy efficiency and advanced monitoring technologies. Within the NextFuel project, he provides scientific and strategic leadership, ensuring the alignment of CERTH’s research activities with the project’s objectives on sustainable fuel production and maritime decarbonization.
Athanasia Moustaka (Research Associate)
Athanasia-Maria Moustaka is a Chemical Engineer (MEng) and Research Associate at the Hellenic Institute of Transport (CERTH/HIT). She contributes to the NextFuel project by leading the development of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and sustainability analysis, focusing on the environmental and economic performance of biomethanol production through eSMR. Her work also involves the identification of use cases across Southern Europe, the assessment of regulatory frameworks supporting biomethanol adoption and the definition of KPIs and evaluation criteria for future upscaling scenarios.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 101136225.
