The Unit of Environmental Science and Technology (UEST) functions under the responsibility of the Department of Chemical Sciences at the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens. The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest and most prestigious educational institution of Greece in the field of technology and has contributed unceasingly to the country’s scientific, technical and economic development since its foundation in 1836.

The activities of the NTUA, in general, are divided into two main categories:

i. Education – training (undergraduate studies, postgraduate studies, student exchange programs and educational programs-seminars) and
ii. Research

The variety of topics of the research projects of NTUA is really wide and underlines the ability of the University to conduct not only basic research but to get directly involved with the problems of the society, which can be treated by applied and/or technological research and/or provision of technological services. The scientific staff in the Schools, together with post-graduate researchers, apart from their teaching and related educational activities, conduct research work assisted by post-graduate students and a considerable number of external collaborators; the amount and the high standards of this research are proved by the numerous publications in International Scientific Journals and Proceedings of International Conferences as well as by the prominent place of NTUA among all Europeans Universities, due to the increasing number of research projects financed by the EU and other Greek and foreign organizations of the public and the private sector.
NTUA operates many of its Laboratories also as “service laboratories”, which provide expert advice, tests and measurements and all specialized services in general, within the framework of its technological competence, which can be useful for the development of the country.

The main activities of the UEST cover the following issues:

• Design, application and evaluation of modern technologies in the field of municipal solid waste management
• Climate change (adaptation, mitigation)
• Development and application of making decision systems for the selection of the appropriate scheme for the management of municipal solid waste
• Development of programs for the integrated management of wastewater
• Design, application and optimization of lab-scale and pilot-scale systems, including state-of-the-art technologies for the treatment of industrial wastewater and solid waste
• Development of systems for prevention and control of environmental pollution
• Development and application of inventory programs concerning the production of solid waste (municipal and industrial) and industrial wastewater
• Development of appropriate schemes for the integrated management of municipal solid waste at local and national level
• Development of appropriate schemes for the integrated management of special types of solid waste (batteries, plastics, used oils, used tyres, end-of-life vehicles, construction and demolition waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment, etc.) at local and national level
• Development of appropriate schemes for the integrated management of hazardous waste at local and national level
• Development and application of making decision systems for the selection of the appropriate site for the installation of waste and wastewater treatment plants
• Development and application of making decision systems for the estimation and the time prediction of the pollution in contaminated sites
• Environmental impact assessment
• Development of simulation models and other software tools
• Life-Cycle analysis, eco-design end-of-life management of various products
• Air Pollution and pollution prevention and control
• Energy Engineering: Energy conservation in the industry. Renewable energy systems: Geothermal, Biomass, Solar, and Wind. Energy Co-generation. Coal Combustion, Gasification and liquefaction. Biomass Gasification
• Process Engineering: Process Design of environmental systems; Simulation of environmental and chemical systems; Environmental process synthesis; Reaction synthesis; optimisation of single and multiple objectives; Modelling and control of polymerisation reactors; dynamic simulation of systems

UEST works in close cooperation with competent Ministries and other Governmental agencies as well as various European and International Organizations, providing environmental management inputs for the development and implementation of national strategies and action plans. Indicative ongoing and completed projects of the working team of UEST are available at: http://www.uest.gr/projects.html.
It should be noted the UEST laboratory has been certified by ISO17025 according to the standard ELOT ΕΝ ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and has already been certified by EN ISO standard 9001:2008 from 2008.