Maria A. Goula is Professor of Catalysis in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Laboratory of Alternative Fuels and Environmental Catalysis (LAFEC), of the University of Western Macedonia (UOWM). She is also a collaborating faculty member in the Hellenic Open University (HOU) for the MSc program entitled “Environmental Catalysis for Pollution Abatement and Clean Energy Production”.
Prof. M.A. Goula obtained her diploma (Chemistry) in 1987 and her Ph.D. (Catalysis) in 1993, from the University of Patras (UOP). From 1993-1997 she worked as a Senior Researcher at the Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute (CPERI), and from 2001-2002 at the Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Applications (ISFTA) - both of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). From 2000-2004 she worked as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Departments of (i) Mechanical Engineering, (ii) Medicine, and (iii) Biochemistry and Biotechnology, of the University of Thessaly (UOT). In 2004 she was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental and Pollution Control Engineering (Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia TEIWM); the position became a permanent one in 2007. She was elected an Associate Professor in 2012 and full Professor in 2017.
Prof. M.A. Goula is author or co-author of more than 110 research publications in Peer Reviewed International Journals with a total Impact Factor ~ 950 and average IF/paper= 7.5, which have received over 4350 citations (Scopus), giving her a Hirsch (h)-index= 36. She also has a large number of publications in peer reviewed international (175) and national (107) conference proceedings. She is on the Editorial Board of five international scientific journals (Frontiers in Fuels, Chemistry, Catalysts, International Journal of Environmental Engineering, Journal of Environment & Waste Management) and acted as Guest Editor for various international scientific journals. She acts as a regular reviewer in over than 150 Scientific Journals (>7500 reviews). She also acts as research projects reviewer for HORIZON, Greek Secretariat for Research and Development, Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (RPF), ERA.Net RUS Plus Innovation, American Chemical Society, Croatian Science Foundation (CSF) and Marie Curie FP7-PEOPLE.
Prof. M.A. Goula has participated at seven (7) European projects and acted as Coordinator or Team Leader at fifteen (15) National R&D projects. She has also been Coordinator at two (2) national projects, one (1) Interreg IRA, two (2) industrial R&D contracts (awarded by GEOHELLAS S.A. and PPC S.A.). She has also been awarded a research grant by the Centre for Catalysis and Separation of the Khalifa University of Science & Technology, United Arab Emirates. Prof. M.A. Goula has developed a network with leading Universities and Research Institutions abroad (Khalifa University of Science and Technology/UAE, University College London/UK, University of Surrey/UK, University of Zaragoza/Spain, Italian National Research Council/Italy, University of Milan/Italy, University of Bolognia/Italy, University of Shanghai/China, Sichuan University /China, Beijing University of Chemical Technology/China, Cyprus University of Technology/ Cyprus, Delft University of Technology/Netherlands, University of Hamburg/Germany) and with academic and industrial collaborators in Greece (Technical University of Crete, UOP, UOI, UOT, CPERI/CERTH, HOU, GEOHELLAS S.A., HELBIO S. A., PPC S.A., Advent and INTERGEO S.A.). She has co-supervised four (4) PhD students and is currently supervising six (6) more. She has also supervised more than 25 MSc (HOU) and 60 diploma dissertations. Prof. M.A. Goula has taught a wide variety of undergraduate subjects (>20), published numerous laboratorial handbooks and was the scientist in charge of the translation (in Greek) of ‘Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach’ by C.D. Cooper and F.C. Alley. The book forms part of the recommended reading lists for relevant courses at UOWM, UOT and Democritus University of Thrace.
Prof. M.A. Goula also has extensive administrative experience as she served as: School Vice Dean (2007-2008), Head of Department (2004-2008), Vice Head of Department (2008-2016), Director of the Lignite Sector at the Centre of Research and Technology of TEIWM (2010-2012), as Member of Committee for Economic & Research development (2005-2010 & 2021-2023), Member of the External Evaluation Committee (2016-Present), and Member of the Graduate Studies Committee (2014-Present); the latter two Committees are formed at Departmental level.
Prof. M.A. Goula has enjoyed research stays as invited Researcher at several excellent research centers e.g., Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France), Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), Khalifa University of Science & Technology (UAE), University of Aveiro (Portugal), University of Surrey (UK), University of Zaragoza (Spain), University of Cyprus, University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China) and Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany).
The research interests of Prof. M.A. Goula are focused on the fields of Heterogeneous Catalysis and, especially, in materials synthesis and characterization, catalyst development and evaluation, and investigation of reaction kinetics and mechanisms. Of particular interest is the investigation of the surface chemistry and structure of dispersed metallic systems and of reducible metal oxides and also their mixtures. Materials are characterized using a combination of physicochemical techniques, including selective chemisorption of probe molecules, Temperature Programmed Desorption, Reduction, Hydrogenation and Oxidation (TPD, TPR, TPH and TPO), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), FT-IR, Raman, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning/Transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM). In parallel to catalyst development and testing, fundamental studies are made to identify the surface parameters, which determine the catalytic performance.
The primary goal of Prof. M.A. Goula is the development of novel catalytic systems for: (i) Hydrogen/syngas production via (a) Glycerol Steam Reforming, (b) Biogas dry reforming, (c) Ethanol steam reforming, Bio-oil Steam Reforming (ii) Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NOx present in the exhaust of lean-burn and diesel engines, (iii) Production of “green diesel” via the selective deoxygenation (SDO) of natural triglycerides, (iv) CO2 hydrogenation for methane, methanol, higher hydrocarbons and higher alcohols production, (v) Methane oxidative coupling (vi) Catalytic pyrolysis of biomass agro-residues (vii) Experimental and theoretical studies of multiphase flows in porous media and transport phenomena, (viii) Biomass sustainability through Life Cycle Analysis
