Separation and purification of biopharmaceuticals is today one of the most time and cost intense Downstream Processing (DSP) operations in the manufacture of commercial products. Separation and purification of proteins is usually achieved chromatographically, with all of its disadvantages including high buffer requirements, large footprint, reuse and storage of resin studies as well as costs. Traditional DSP based on batch chromatography contribute ca. 66% of the total production cost of anti-cancer monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Largely contributing to this is the cost of chromatography media; for instance, the cost of 1 L of protein A resin with binding capacity of 20-70 g mAb is about 25000 Eur. By a visionary and ambitious combination of the emerging Continuous Manufacturing Paradigm with innovative Membrane Crystallization Technology and the selective nanotemplate-recognitions directly from the fermentation broth, the AMECRYS Network aims to develop a new Continuous Template-Assisted Membrane Crystallizer in order to revolutionize the DSP platform for mAbs production, thus achieving unprecedented purification and manufacturing efficiencies. Major research challenges will include: i) the synthesis of 3D-nanotemplates with specific molecular recognition ability towards mAbs from complex solutions; ii) the development of tailored macroporous fluoropolymer membranes for advanced control of selective heterogeneous nucleation; iii) the design of multilevel microfluidic devices for high-throughput mAb crystallization screening in a wide range of conditions under continuous flow (“pharma-on-a-chip” concept); iv) technology scale-up to a L-scale continuous prototype designed with recognition of QS/GMP compliance for biopharmaceuticals. The replacement of chromatography with a single membrane-crystallization unit will lead to >60% CapEx and O&M costs decrease, 30-fold footprint reduction and high-purity solid formulation of mAbs with preserved biological activity.

Exosomes and microvesicles/ectosomes, collectively termed extracellular vesicles (EV), have attracted much recent interest because of their potential functions, use as disease biomarkers and possible therapeutic exploitation. Due to their enormous relevance, this relatively new field of research is quickly expanding. While Europe leads the field of EV research, there are still many gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed to ensure optimal exploitation of EVs from health and Europe’s economic benefit. Addressing this, TRAIN-EV’s objective is to provide excellent and integrated multi-disciplinary and inter-sectoral training of a critical mass of ESRs of outstanding potential in the academic, clinical, and industry/business components of exploiting EV, while performing novel cutting-edge research to address these gaps and generate new knowledge. This will be achieved by appointing 15 ESRs into 10 Beneficiary Organisations (6 academic; 4 non-academic), with 4 additional Partner Organisations (3 non-academic; 1 academic) offering secondments, training and additional networking opportunities. All Participants have highly relevant and complementary medical/science/engineering/business expertise –detailed within– that will collectively contribute to the training, to PhD level, of these 15 ESRs as academic and industry EV leaders for the future.

The project MEASURED aims at developing and demonstrating at TRL7 advanced membrane materials for Pervaporation (PV), Membrane Distillation (MD) and Gas Separation (GS) technologies applied to acrylic ester production, membrane manufacturing and gas separation from a carbon capture & utilization (CCU) stream. PV targets 1 m2 of membrane processing H2O flux > 1.0 kg/m2·hr using a 55-channel tube in the industrial setting of ARKEMA, a stability > 90% over 3 months of testing, resulting in a CAPEX 30% lower compared to current cost - from 2100 €/m2 to 1500 €/m2. MD aims at treating the daily amount of generated wastewater (70 L/h) from the manufacturing facility of PVDF membranes at GVS Spa with energy supply via about 100 Solar/Photovoltaic collectors, showing higher chemical resistance (> 10%), >25% reduction of water footprint, permeability of reused MD for Microfiltration > 500 L/m2·hr·bar. GS prototype will be scaled-up to a membrane area of 1.2 m2/module using a 61-channel tube installed downstream the GAYA methanation unit of Engie, reducing the membrane cost (produced at large scale) from 1944 €/m2 to 795 €/m2 (almost 60%). At the end of the project, the integrated MEASURED technologies will reach a TRL7 demonstration over 20,000 hours operation under (industrial) operational conditions. MEASURED includes a thorough multiscale modelling and simulation techniques including a full Life Cycle Assessment and addresses the societal implications to increase the acceptance and further market readiness. The interdisciplinary consortium – overall 17 participants: 2 SMEs, 7 industries and 8 Universities/research centers – will comprehensively study the development of advanced materials, reactor design and process configuration to identify the most sustainable options from a demonstration, techno-economic and environmental point of view.

The EXTENDED overall objective is to design, develop and validate the next-generation battery pack systems that will be an answer to the unmet need for mass-market take-up of electrical vehicles and applications by developing efficient, lightweight, eco-designed and multi-life battery pack systems with substantially reduced charging times, passenger car ranges beyond 500 km under normal driving conditions with an optimized energy storage capacity, a lifetime of at least 300,000 km and being monitored with an advanced Battery Management System developed for 1st and 2nd life. The developed technologies and solutions will be optimized for applications such as stationary and aeronautics. The battery system will be developed based on semi-solid-state battery technology with almost double energy density compared to conventional lithium ion batteries. This will be the first time that a large semi solid state battery cell (35Ah) will be implemented in EU research projects. A set of 6 Specific Research objectives (SROs) are defined below, which support the overall objective of the project, to develop the next generation battery pack system from its innovative elements and parts to a next generation battery pack system validated under real life conditions. The overall objective is besides specific research objectives also supported by a set of dissemination and exploitation objectives (DEOs, see section 2.2) and communication objectives (COs, see section 2.2.1). To achieve those challenging and innovative targets, the EXTENDED project is composed of 19 partners from 10 EU countries. The geographical distribution, expertise complementarity, positioning within the technology value chain, academic versus industrial profiles and recognizable completeness of this consortium.