Director of the Laboratory of Toxic & Hazardous Waste Management
School of Environmental Engineering | Technical University of Crete.

Why I joined IWWG

In 2002, I first became a Professor at the Technical University of Crete (Greece), moving from working on problems solving for large companies (e.g. Battelle Institute) to working for education, research and science. My participation in international conferences became more and more frequent, as the need for communication with other colleagues and exchange of knowledge and experiences was vital for the progress and orientation of my research activities. Although, I had the chance to learn about IWWG and its goals right from the beginning of its establishment, as I already knew some of its founding members, it took me a few years to see and be convinced that IWWG is a very active group of people, who are really involved in the waste management industry and willing to promote scientific development in the field. That is when I became a member. IWWG members are well connected, specialists on their own field of research, meeting frequently due to the numerous IWWG events carried out every year and always positive for new co-operations, projects and activities. Joining the IWWG made me a member of a big family, offered me opportunities for co-operations and access to many different sources of knowledge.

Dr. Evangelos Gidarakos has been a Full Professor at the School of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Laboratory of Toxic & Hazardous Waste Management at the Technical University of Crete in Greece since 2002. Currently, he is also President and Chief Executive Officer of the Property Evaluation and Management Company of the Technical University of Crete.

In 1980 he first became scientific cooperator and director of several research programs at the GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht Research Centre in Germany, where he worked for 5 years. These programs focused on nuclear and toxic hazardous waste management and treatment, as well as on the disposal of nuclear residues and radioactive fission products. From 1985 to 2001 he was Director and Vice-President of the Battelle Institute in Germany, supervising the conduction of many research and other activities.

Prof. Gidarakos has collaborated with many research centers and institutes (e.g. Max-Planck, Fraunhofer, MIT, Battelle Memorial Institute, BNNL, etc.) and has been a Visitor Professor in many Universities, such as the Technical University of Hamburg, Dresden and Cottbus in Germany. Also, he is a member of many international associations and working groups and has received honorable discriminations. He holds 5 patents, has published more than 90 papers in scientific journals and has presented more than 250 papers in different international scientific conferences.

The scientific fields of his concern include:

• toxic and hazardous waste management, treatment and disposal,
• sustainable municipal solid waste management,
• soil and groundwater remediation, using innovative technologies.

Many of the research programs that Prof. Gidarakos has supervised for the European Union, the Environmental Protection Agency of U.S.A. or the German Environment Agency concerned the above mention fields. Finally, Prof. Gidarakos has served as a Guest Editor in International Scientific Journals, supervising the edition of Special Issues, connected to the biannual IWWG Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management that is held in Crete every two years (www.hwm-conferences.tuc.gr).

Some recent papers:

1. Savvilotidou V., Kousaiti Α., Βatinic Β., Vaccaric Μ., Kastanaki Ε., Karagianni Κ., Gidarakos Ε. "Evaluation and comparison of pre-treatment techniques for recovering indium from discarded liquid crystal displays" Waste Management, Accepted (2019).
2. Moukazis I., Pellera F.-M., Gidarakos E. "Slaughterhouse by-products treatment using anaerobic digestion" Waste Μanagement, 71, 652-662 (2018).
3. Pellera F.-M., Gidarakos E. "Chemical pretreatment of lignocellulosic agroindustrial waste for methane production" Waste Management, 71, 689-703 (2018).
4. Valouma, A., Verganelaki A., Tetoros I., Maravelaki-Kalaitzaki P., Gidarakos Ε. "Magnesium oxide production from chrysotile asbestos detoxification with oxalic acid treatment" Journal of Hazardous Materials, 336, 93-100 (2017).
5. Savvilotidou, V.,Antoniou, A., Gidarakos, E. "Toxicity assessment and feasible recycling process for amorphous silicon and CIS waste photovoltaic panels", Waste Management, 59, 394-402 (2017).
6. Pellera F.-M., Gidarakos, E. "Microwave pretreatment of lignocellulosic agroindustrial waste for methane production" Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 5(1), 352-365 (2017).
7. Pellera F.-M., Gidarakos E."Anaerobic digestion of solid agroindustrial waste in semi-continuous mode: Evaluation of mono-digestion and co-digestion systems" Waste Management, 68, 103-119 (2017).
8. Pellera F.-M., Santori S., Pomi R., Polettini A., Gidarakos E. "Effect of alkaline pretreatment on anaerobic digestion of olive mill solid waste" Waste Management, 58, 160-168 (2016).
9. Hahladakis J.N., Latsos A. Gidarakos E. "Performance of electroremediation in real contaminated sediments using a big cell, periodic voltage and innovative surfactants" Journal of Hazardous Materials, 320, 376-385 (2016).
10. Pellera F.-M., Pasparakis E., Gidarakos E. "Consecutive anaerobic-aerobic treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and lignocellulosic materials in laboratory-scale landfill-bioreactors", Waste Management, 56, 181-189 (2016).
11. Pellera F. M., Gidarakos E. "Effect of substrate to inoculum ratio and inoculum type on the biochemical methane potential of solid agroindustrial waste" Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 4, 3217-3229 (2016).
12. Hahladakis J.Ν., Vasilaki G., Smaragdaki E., Gidarakos E. "Application of ecological risk indicators for the assessment of Greek surficial sediments contaminated by toxic metals" Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 188(5), 271-, (2016).
13. Valouma A., Verganelaki A., Maravelaki-Kalaitzaki P., Gidarakos E. "Chrysotile asbestos detoxification with a combined treatment of oxalic acid and silicates producing amorphous silica and biomaterial" Journal of Hazardous Materials, 305, 164-170 (2016).
14. Savvilotidou V., Hahladakis J.N., Gidarakos E. "Leaching capacity of metalsmetalloids and recovery of valuable materials from waste LCDs" Waste Management, 45, 314-324 (2015).
15. Gidarakos E. "War and Environmental Impact" Waste Management, 35, 1-2, (2015).

Contact information

Prof. Evangelos Gidarakos

Technical University of Crete
School of Environmental Engineering
Laboratory of Toxic & Hazardous Waste Management
University Campus, P.C. 73100, Chania, Crete, Greece
Phone +30 28210 37789
Fax +30 28210 37850

Email: gidarako(at)mred.tuc(dot)gr
http://www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz/staff/mmilke.shtml