Cement production for the construction industry contributes up to 5% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Developing more environmentally friendly concrete requires the assessment of strength for a diverse range of new cement materials. Similar issues arise during the development of biocompatible cements for medical applications. Properties of naturally cemented materials of organic origin are of key importance in the oil industry, with carbonate reservoirs prone to creep, particularly during the injection of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery or permanent storage. However, despite the importance of cement materials to our infrastructure, health and environment, we still lack the fundamental basis for understanding the strength of cemented aggregates. Granular pastes and sediments transform to strong solids through reactions at nano-confined mineral interfaces, where nucleation and growth at the adjacent solid surfaces are affected in a manner not yet understood. There is a need for improved concepts, theories and models. NanoHeal targets this issue by bringing six industrial and six academic groups together in a European Training Network (ETN), in an emerging interdisciplinary field spanning from basic sciences to the corresponding engineering disciplines. NanoHeal will deliver an outstanding environment for training and career development of young researchers. The aims of NanoHeal are to: • develop innovative probes and models for nanoscale processes that open novel perspectives in design and control of organo-mineral materials. • measure and improve the strength and durability of 1) new man-made cemented materials like “green concrete”, speciality cements in construction and oil and gas recovery, and biocompatible implants and 2) natural sedimentary rocks inside reservoirs and as construction materials • educate young interdisciplinary researchers at the interface between fundamental science and European industry.

New concepts for high-temperature geothermal well technologies are strongly needed to accelerate the development of geothermal resources for power generation in Europe and worldwide in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way. The GeoWell project will address the major bottlenecks like high investment and maintenance costs by developing innovative materials and designs that are superior to the state of the art concepts. The lifetime of a well often determines the economic viability of a geothermal project. Therefore, keeping the geothermal system in operation for several decades is key to the economic success. The objective of GeoWell is to develop reliable, cost effective and environmentally safe well completion and monitoring technologies. This includes: - Reducing down time by optimised well design involving corrosion resistant materials. - Optimisation of cementing procedures that require less time for curing. - Compensate thermal strains between the casing and the well. - Provide a comprehensive database with selective ranking of materials to prevent corrosion, based on environmental conditions for liners, casings and wellhead equipment, up to very high temperatures. - To develop methods to increase the lifetime of the well by analysing the wellbore integrity using novel distributed fiber optic monitoring techniques. - To develop advanced risk analysis tools and risk management procedures for geothermal wells. The proposed work will significantly enhance the current technology position of constructing and operating a geothermal well. GeoWell aims to put Europe in the lead regarding development of deep geothermal energy. The consortium behind GeoWell constitutes a combination of experienced geothermal developers, leading academic institutions, major oil&gas research institutions and an SME. These have access to world-class research facilities including test wells for validation of innovative technologies and laboratories for material testing.

To meet the ambitious EC target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) needs to move rapidly towards full scale implementation with geological storage solutions both on and offshore. Onshore storage offers increased flexibility and reduced infrastructure and monitoring costs. Enabling onshore storage will support management of decarbonisation strategies at territory level while enhancing security of energy supply and local economic activities, and securing jobs across Europe. However, successful onshore storage also requires some unique technical and societal challenges to be overcome. ENOS will provide crucial advances to help foster onshore CO2 storage across Europe through: 1) Developing, testing and demonstrating in the field, under “real-life conditions”, key technologies specifically adapted to onshore storage. 2) Contributing to the creation of a favourable environment for onshore storage across Europe. The ENOS site portfolio will provide a great opportunity for demonstration of technologies for safe and environmentally sound storage at relevant scale. Best practices will be developed using experience gained from the field experiments with the participation of local stakeholders and the lay public. This will produce improved integrated research outcomes and increase stakeholder understanding and confidence in CO2 storage. In this improved framework, ENOS will catalyse new onshore pilot and demonstration projects in new locations and geological settings across Europe, taking into account the site-specific and local socio-economic context. By developing technologies from TRL4/5 to TRL6 across the storage lifecycle, feeding the resultant knowledge and experience into training and education and cooperating at the pan-European and global level, ENOS will have a decisive impact on innovation and build the confidence needed for enabling onshore CO2 storage in Europe.