Oxygen functionalities are key functional groups in many of today’s chemicals and materials. The efficient introduction of oxygen-functionalities into raw materials are key chemical transformations in bulk and fine chemicals. Innovative bio-catalytic oxidation routes using molecular oxygen (from air) under benign and mild (pH) conditions such as ambient temperature and pressure can greatly improve the sustainability and economics of processes, but were so far mainly been applied in the pharma segments. In this segment, the enzyme-catalyzed step often represents the highest added value and the high price of the end-product (> €1000/kg) justifies less than optimal enzyme production and limitations in its catalytic efficiency. In order to achieve the widening of industrial application of enzymatic bio-oxidation processes to also larger volume but lower price chemical markets, ROBOX will demonstrate the techno-economic viability of bio-transformations of four types of robust oxidative enzymes: P450 monooxygenases (P450s), Baeyer-Villiger MonoOxygenase (BVMOs), Alcohol DeHydrogenase (ADH) and Alcohol OXidase (AOX) for which target reactions have already been validated on lab-scale in pharma, nutrition, fine & specialty chemicals and materials applications. ROBOX will demonstrate 11 target reactions on large scale for these markets in order to prepare them for scale up to commercial-scale plants. ROBOX is industry-driven with 2 major industrial players and 6 SME’s. It will assess the potential of technologies applied to become platform technologies technologies (multi-parameter screening systems, computational methodologies, “plug bug” expression systems) for broad replication throughout the chemical industry. The markets addressed within ROBOX represent a joint volume of over 6.000 ktons/year. The introduction of bio-oxidation processes is expected to bring substantial reductions in cost (up to -50%), energy use (-60%), chemicals (-16%) and GHG-emissions (-50%).

In BIOCASCADES, nine early-stage researchers (ESRs) will investigate the development of sustainable (chemo)enzymatic cascade reactions under the ‘green chemistry’ philosophy. The proposed BIOCASCADES project combines different techniques such as compartmentalization, protein engineering and reaction engineering in order to develop commercially viable and environmentally benign one pot reactions. By avoiding intermediate downstream- and purification-steps, cascade reactions minimize production costs, energy demand and waste production and are thus expected to make a major contribution for the development of sustainable and efficient production processes. Small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are emerging as main drivers of European Research. They are dynamic, explore new areas and create new ideas, while large companies rely more and more on outsourcing research or involving SMEs by joint ventures. However, small companies are not strong enough as stand-alone enterprises, which requires them to form networks with other SMEs and academia. This creates a strong demand for young researchers who can move freely in an international and interdisciplinary environment. In a tailor-made training program BIOCASCADES aims to provide the nine early stage researchers with specific scientific and transferable skills for careers in the highly dynamic European biotechnology sector. Training at leading laboratories of biocatalysis will develop their scientific skills, while secondments to the industry and specific workshops will develop their entrepreneurship. The graduates of this doctorate program will be highly qualified for collaborative research between European academia and industry. The consortium is formed by leading academic laboratories from biocatalysis and protein engineering together with a network of four innovative biotech companies. By combining their versatile expertise, the consortium can achieve a success that would not be possible in isolated projects.

The vision of COCOP is that complex process-industry plants are optimally run by operators with the guidance of a coordinating, real-time optimisation system. COCOP will strengthen the global position of the European process industry, which represents 20 per cent of the European manufacturing base with around 450,000 companies generating €1.6 billion in turnover and 6.8 million jobs. The project’s objective is to enable plant-wide monitoring and control by using the model-based, predictive, coordinating optimisation concept in integration with plant’s automation systems. This ambitious approach will be developed and verified in co-operation of European universities, research institutes and industry. The Consortium comprises two universities, three research organisations, the leading copper-plant technology provider, two large companies from the process industry (steel and special chemicals) and four SMEs providing automation solutions. Technical objective is to define, design and implement a concept that integrates existing industrial control systems with efficient data management and optimisation methods and provides means to monitor and control large industrial production processes. The plant-wide monitoring and control comprehend computationally intensive data analysis and large scale optimisation. The social objective is to improve operator plant-wide awareness and reduce mental workload. COCOP will liaise with standardisation bodies (automation) to ensure a sustained impact of the project’s results. Commercialisation of the solution by its process-automation industry partners will allow plant operators to approach optimal production and result in reduced energy and resource consumption, and decreased on-site material handling time and greenhouse gas emissions.