<< Objectives >>The International Cooperation Framework for Next Generation Engineering Students project, NextGEng, is an international consortium with the aim of creating new international teaching models in close collaboration with companies. NextGEng follows the guide lines contemplated by the European Education Area rethinking the teaching methodologies to produce upgraded courses, featuring a student-centered approach in cooperation with other international institutions and companies.<< Implementation >>NextGEng comprises three types of activities:- Training: Experts in pedagogy and teacher training sustain the skill improvement of HEIs partners in new/innovative teaching methods. - International team-teaching pilot program:Upgrade a set of engineering courses, belonging to the HEI partners curricula, in close collaboration with companies' partners. - Cases of Experiential Learning projects:Type of projects where students learn by doing in an international and multidisciplinary environment.<< Results >>- Development of a pedagogical tailored training program for sustaining the skill improvement of HEIs partners through workshops and guidance material. - Development of an international team-teaching pilot program for upgrading a number of six joint courses belonging to the HEI partners curricula. - Implementation of six CEL projects where international teams of students are involved in solving a research or an industry topic in direct collaborations with HEI researchers and company experts.

Black Liquor to Fuel (BL2F) process produces drop-in biofuels for aviation and shipping from black liquor, a side stream of chemical pulping industry. 83 % CO2 reduction compared to fossil fuels, and competitive production cost of 0.90 €/l for drop-in sustainable aviation fuel are received. A large deployment, using a variety of biomass, can yield >50 billion liters of advanced biofuels by 2050, then satisfying the EU demand for advanced biofuels for aviation (15 Mtoe) and shipping (30 Mtoe). First-of-a-kind Integrated Hydro Thermal Liquefaction (IHTL) process at pulp mills produces fuel intermediate for further upgrading in oil refineries. Biomass is converted to low oxygen content (85 %. Integrated hydrothermal HydroDeOxygenation (IHDO) will further upgrade HTL-oil to fuel intermediate (< 5 w-% O2), classifying as bunker-like marine fuel or feedstock for high-quality aviation and marine fuels production. The process innovations of BL2F are: 1) combined salt separation and HTL-reactor, enabling direct upgrading of HTL-oil, 2) reforming of the aqueous phase to hydrogen, decreasing the need for external fossil hydrogen in IHDO, 3) integrating the process to pulp mill, offering cost reductions in treating of the gaseous and solid side streams by existing process installations. The BL2F is supported by CEPI, Avinor, and Rolls Royce and covers the whole value chain: The 6th largest producer in the world of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp NVG, the leading biorefinery supplier Valmet, catalyst developer Ranido and Neste, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel collaborate with excellent research partners; VTT, PSI, SINTEF, Tampere University, KIT, Brunel University London. LGI and industrial partners maximize the impact of the project. The ambitious goals and strong consortium strengthens European leadership in renewable biofuels and climate protection.

SUPercontinuum broadband light sources covering UV to IR applications (SUPUVIR) will combine the efforts of 6 academic and 4 non-academic beneficiaries to train 15 ESRs for the growing industry within SC broadband light sources, giving them extensive knowledge in silica and soft-glass chemistry, preform design and fibre drawing, linear and nonlinear fibre and waveguide characterization, nonlinear fibre optics, SC modelling, SC system design, patent protection, and in-depth knowledge of a broad range of the main applications of SC high-power broadband light sources. The strong blend of academic and non-academic sectors in the consortium will give the ESRs a unique chance to develop a wide set of technical and transferrable skills, thus preparing them for long-time employment in the sector (academic or industry). Scientifically, SUPUVIR aims at solving current challenges preventing SC light sources from taking over key market shares or from being used for cutting-edge research . Specifically the objectives are to reduce noise and increase pulse energy of SC modules, as well as investigate SC generation in emerging wavelength regimes (UV and mid-IR) including fabrication of novel fibres and waveguides, and finally using SC sources for applications as to gain valuable knowledge of application requirements. This research and development will give improved SC sources and SC spectra enabling new science and applications for optical imaging, spectroscopy, sensing and control, e.g. optical coherence tomography, IR multimodal spectroscopy, confocal and fluorescence microscopy, photoacoustic imaging and food quality control.

Medium- to large-scale bioenergy utilisation for electricity and combined industrial or district heating is predicted to increase by 160% in 2020 compared to 2010, while carbon emission quotas are becoming stricter. Finding new ways to efficiently utilise cheap and currently unused feedstocks are necessary in order to meet these challenges. Within the project Biofficiency we will investigate how to handle ash-related problems in order to increase steam temperatures up to 600°C in biomass-based CHP plants, including pulverised fuel and fluidised bed systems. The major aspects are fly ash formation, the use of additives, and pre-treatment technologies for difficult fuels. This leads to highly reduced emissions, in particular CO2 and fine particulates, as well as a secure and sustainable energy production. Biofficiency gathers a unique consortium of excellent academic facilities and industrial partners, providing an exceptional platform for the development of new, highly-efficient CHP plants in order to significantly expand their potential in the fast-growing field of renewable energies. By sharing our collective experience, we will strengthen European bio-energy technologies and help solving global climate and energy challenges. The project approach addresses current bottlenecks in solid biomass combustion, namely enhanced deposit formation, corrosion and ash utilisation by a variety of new, promising technologies. Our goal is to deepen the understanding of fly ash formation, to improve current biomass pre-treatment technologies, as well as to contribute to the field of biomass ash utilisation. Through our strong collaboration with industry and academic partners, we want to pave the way for highly-efficient, low-emitting biomass CHP plants, capable of firing low-grade fuels. This benefits industry, communal partners and public authorities by providing sustainable heat and electricity at significantly decreased emissions.

Thanks to the development and implementation of several innovative technologies which focus strongly on the efficient use of energy, water and chemicals, a ubiquitous complex multi-material product, the fresh meat packaging consumed by the millions every day, will be thoroughly redesigned to make it fully biobased, smart and recyclable at conventional paper recycling mills. To achieve such remarkable goal, every intermediate product contained in that complex product, i.e., the tray, the barrier coating, the absorbing pad and the transparent film, will be made almost exclusively of wood constituents (fibres, micro-nanofibres, lignin and sugars, which have been chemically or enzymatically modified) and integrated with two food-quality sensors (rotting and cold-chain). Finally, several innovations will be brought to the existing recycling stages, both oriented to increase the overall efficiency of the process: incorporation of specific identification markers to allow precise sorting of the bio-contaminated products, advanced oxidation treatments to both sanitize and decrease energy consumption of the process and chemo-enzymatic revalorization of the recalcitrant fractions.