This research project endeavours to pioneer a biological solution for mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from effluent gases produced by bioenergy combustion systems. The primary focus is on converting the captured CO2 into carbon-negative energy carriers, specifically emphasizing the photosynthetic conversion of biogenic CO2 into energy-rich biomass. The transformation of this biomass into widely used renewable energy carriers, such as biocrude and biogas, is targeted, with an additional emphasis on enriching these carriers with renewable hydrogen to achieve carbon circularity. The project is structured to address key aspects, including; efficient biogenic CO2 capture from effluent systems, development of resilient microalgae strains to enhance resistance to flue gas toxicity, novel biomass pre-treatment methods for cell disruption and nitrogen removal (concurrent production of biostimulants), and improvements in the efficiency and sustainability of hydrothermal liquefaction (biocrude), anaerobic digestion (biogas) and hydrogenotropic conversion of CO2 to biomethane. The ultimate goal is to validate the viability of the developed direct CO2 fixation methods through integration with effluent systems at a pilot scale, reaching TRL5. This multifaceted approach underscores the project's commitment to advancing sustainable and efficient methods for biogenic CO2 fixation and subsequent conversion into renewable energy carriers. To assess the economic viability, a detailed techno-economic analysis of the proposed carbon capture and use solution will be conducted. Furthermore, sustainability and social impact assessments will be performed, taking into account circular economy principles and addressing social, economic, and environmental aspects in alignment with the priorities outlined in the European Green Deal.

The project aims at a holistic new design strategy, coordinated pilot lines and business model for the prototyping, fabrication and commercialization of polymer-based microfluidic systems. It stems from the recognition that a microfluidic chip is a key part of a microfluidic MEMS, but only a part. Many limitations to fast prototyping, industrialization and ultimate performances lie not in the chip itself, but in the world-to-chip connections and integration of multiple external components. We shall address in a single strategy the streamlined construction of whole microfluidic systems, starting from existing pilot lines in injection moulding, 3D printing and instrument construction. This will specific innovations. First, the resolution of 3D printing will be increased by a factor at least 10, down to 1~3µm, with a throughput 10 to 100x higher than that of current high resolution 3D printing machines, to support the flexible production of chips with complex 3D architectures. New soft, bio, environment-friendly and/or active materials will be integrated in the production chain using a technology patented by the partners. Large-scale markets requiring mass production at the lowest cost will be addressed by a fully integrated pilot line, streamlining injection moulding of raw chips, reagents and components integration, sealing and quality control. Inter-compatibility between 3D printing and injection moulding, regarding architectures and materials, will be developed to accelerate the prototype to product value chain. After development and upscaling, the technology will be demonstrated and qualified in operational environment by end-users with lab-on-chip applications in health (cancer diagnosis, organ-on chip) and environment (water control). Partners jointly have the production lines onto which the project’s innovation will be readily integrated, helping microfluidics to become a major component of the 4th industrial revolution.

The main objective of the SMARTWASTE MSCA SE project is to form a world class international and inter-sectoral network of organizations, working on a joint research programme in the field of novel Sustainable Smart Textile Materials, by replacing conventional and high costs textile materials with sustainable, environmentally friendly, cheaper and novel materials such as cellulose fibres from tomato stems waste and creating nonwovens from unconventional poplar seed fibers. This can only be achieved by bringing together world-class experts in materials, polymers, environmentalists, chemists, software engineers, and designers with state-of-the-art innovations and processes in their respective fields of expertise. The participants will exchange skills and knowledge to create sustainable textile materials, strengthening collaborative research between different countries and sectors. SMARTWASTE will also refine and produce potential commercial market opportunities for non-academic participants in the project (WP7). Our goal is to train next generation of researchers and innovators in sustainable textiles through cross-sectoral and training modules. The staff members will develop new skills, be exposed to new research and innovation environments, international networks, new industrial processes and techniques whilst widening and enriching career development through cross-sectoral knowledge transfer and international mobility.

E-textile is rapidly developing segment of electronics with an estimated growth from 2.3 billion USD in 2021 to 6.6 billion in 2026. They facilitate many socially important applications such as personalized health or elderly care or smart agriculture and production. Unfortunately, today, e-textiles are highly problematic in terms of environmental impact. Problems range from toxic materials used for production, through energy/water requirements to the difficulty end-of-life processing systems that combine traditional electronics and textile components. The aim of this project is to develop circuit technologies for e-textiles that are based on materials that minimize environmental impact, are compatible with the life-cycle of normal textiles to facilitate easy re-use in the spirit of circular economy and can be produced (and recycled) in an energy efficient way. The main breakthroughs with respect to the current state of technology will be in three areas: (1) A combination of digital inkjet, 3D printing and atmospheric plasma to produce sustainable textile electronics building blocks from environmentally friendly materials (e.g conducting polymers such as PEDOT:PSS and carbon based polymer nanocomposites). (2) Going beyond embedding electronics in textile structures on substrate and layer levels as is state of the art today, and using fibrous materials (enriched with electronic properties as stipulated above) as such to create electronic components such as transistors, capacitors etc. and combine them into more complex circuits. (3) Comprehensive, lifecycle-oriented model of the environmental impact of such e-textile technologies and their applications. Overall STELECT will create the foundations for a new paradigm for e-textiles development that is not just environment friendly and sustainable but also fundamentally changes the way e-textiles and wearable systems are designed and built facilitating whole new application domains and associated markets.

AMAPOLA will foster the developments achieved in the FET-Open SALBAGE project, towards real applications and towards market. The focus will be put in turning the promising research results obtained in SALBAGE into genuine technological innovations demonstrating that Al-S based batteries can have a place in certain market niches as a new future technology on batteries. The project is founded in the combination of sulfur and aluminium in a battery, what is especially attractive because of the very high abundance of both elements. The Al-S cell has the potential to store very high energy, and very high prospective values of energy density of 660 Wh/l and specific energy of 400 Wh/kg are calculated at a cell level, taking advantage of the incorporation of novel solid Polymer Gel Electrolytes (PGEs) based on novel highly conductive and inexpensive Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) for a cheaper, lighter, tougher and safer battery concept. In AMAPOLA project the focus will be put in: 1- further develop the materials proposed in SALBAGE with special emphasis in (i) the preparation of controlled-phase gel electrolytes from highly conductive novel DES; (ii) the development of advanced cathode formulations to achieve high sulfur loading and high sulfur utilisation in the cathode in combination with new promising redox mediators and (iii) strategies to overcome the presence of oxide layer in the aluminium anode. 2- in up-scaling and extrapolation towards real application 3- pre-industrialization and market aspects. To succeed in the high demanding tasks, most part of the former consortium that have shown outstanding competence and remarkable level of commitment in SALBAGE is present in AMAPOLA together with a world recognised battery company and an SME expert in IPR managent and transfer to market.