The project GR4FITE3 aims to reach Graphite Resilience For lithium-Ion baTtery anodes through a sustainable European End-to-End supply chain. This supply chain includes environmentally responsible European mining of natural crystalline flake graphite from Europe’s largest natural graphite resource, highly innovative, continuous and low energy input upgrading of the mined ore, adding recycled and fully repaired for reuse synthetic graphite and optionally silicon nanoparticles to compose a unique anode active material’s particle architecture, making the high density anodes, creating the cells, developing battery modules, certifying the lithium-ion batteries for safety and viability, and ultimately using these products by the OEMs including an established European electric bus manufacturer and a utility grid developer, among others. The purpose of GR4FITE3 project is to demonstrate the creation of a sustainable supply chain for the European industrial graphite and carbon products for specific use as anode active materials in Lithium-Ion batteries designed for applications in electric vehicles and power sources for utilities, such as solar and wind farms. This project is going to combine the efforts of 10 partner organizations from six European nations, employing both industry and academia. There are also four OEMs and five supporting organizations who have expressed their interest in tracking project’s progress and part-taking in a tangible manner in commercialization efforts associated with GR4FITE3 projects’ outcomes. With this larger group of stakeholders, the project spreads its reach to as many as ten countries and three continents, ensuring its global outreach from the very start.

Specific raw materials become increasingly important to manufacture high level industrial products. Especially electronic equipment contains precious metals and a series of strategic raw materials. To date the material specific recycling is focused on mass stream concepts such as shredder processes and metallurgy to extract the high-value metallic constituents, i.e. copper, gold, silver. However, a series of critical elements cannot be recovered efficiently or is even lost in dust or residual fractions. The goal of ADIR is to demonstrate the feasibility of a key technology for next generation urban mining. An automated disassembly of electronic equipment will be worked out to separate and recover valuable materials. The concept is based on image processing, robotic handling, pulsed power technology, 3D laser measurement, real-time laser material identification (to detect materials), laser processing (to access components, to selectively unsolder these; to cut off parts of a printed circuit board), and automatic separation into different sorting fractions. A machine concept will be worked out being capable to selectively disassemble printed circuit boards and mobile phones with short cycle times to gain sorting fractions containing high amounts of valuable materials. Examples are those materials with high economic importance and significant supply risk such as tantalum, rare earth elements, germanium, cobalt, palladium, gallium and tungsten. A demonstrator will be developed and evaluated in field tests at a recycling company. The obtained sorting fractions will be studied with respect to their further processing and recovery potential for raw materials. Refining companies will define requirements and test the processing of sorting fractions with specific material enrichments. An advisory board will be established incorporating three telecommunication enterprises.

MARCLAIMED will be a breakthrough addressing in an efficient, sustainable, and trustworthy way the water scarcity and water stress mitigation. MARCLAIMED will support decision makers to integrate Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) with Alternative Water Resources (AWR) in River Basin and Drought Management Plans supporting the adaptation and resilience of structural supply systems in the context of climate change. The main outcome will be the MARCLAIMED Integrated Decision Support Tool (IDST) that will provide solutions to tackle existing and emerging threats and support decision making and adaptation policies. MARCLAIMED IDST will ensure I) high level operational performance through 3 AI-based tools to: i) monitor and control AWR quality, ii) forecast the water resources availability and iii) provide health, environmental and performance risk indicators; II) economic sustainability under uncertainty providing: i) a municipal scale water scarcity indicator, ii) water security economic value of MAR with AWR and iii) a cost recovery-based system; and III) social acceptance, strengthen the engagement of national and EU policy makers in collaboration with a Community of Practice and the definition of EU MAR-lines, as rules and guidelines, to promote policy recommendations and boost regulatory framework. MARCLAIMED results will be implemented and validated in 3 demo sites in southern (PT, ES) and western Europe (NL) chosen by their wide range of settings in terms of climatic conditions, alternative water sources, MAR scheme or MAR potential, as well as political and socio-cultural context. In addition, to cover a wide spectrum of economic sectors and activities, an industrial feasibility study (in the mining sector) will be carried out in central (PL) and eastern Europe RIS countries.