The process industries and other crude oil consuming sectors are heavily dependent on fossil inputs for both carbon feedstock and energy, with the consequential CO2 emission problems and import dependency as a result. To be prepared for a future with significantly reduced emissions they are seeking alternative carbon sources to replace traditional fossil fuels. The objective of the CarbonNext project is to evaluate the potential use of CO2/CO and non-conventional fossil natural resources as feedstock for the process industry in Europe. The work will examine the existing and expected sources of CO2 and CO as well as non-conventional fossil natural resources such as shale gas, tar sands, coal bed methane, gas to liquid, and coal to liquid technologies. Results of the project will include the identification of value chains within processes and where industrial symbiosis can be valuable (chemistry, cement, steel, etc.). The CarbonNext project will inform, as a basis for decision-making, Europe’s SME’s, large industry and policymakers with an enhanced understanding of the impact and opportunities for new sources of carbon for the processing industry. CarbonNext will primarily focus on new sources of carbon as a feedstock and secondarily the impact on energy availability, price and emissions. The CarbonNext consortium brings together three of the leading organisations in the field of carbon dioxide/carbon monoxide utilisation. The knowledge base that each member brings is as a leader in the field and is therefore exemplary. CarbonNext will build on the project team achievements in the FP7 project SCOT (Smart CO2 Transformations), the BMBF funded coordination project CO2Net, the CO2Chem network and many climate and energy related projects in Europe and for the European Commission.

RoadToBio will deliver a roadmap that will specify the benefits for the chemical industry along the path towards a bioeconomy to meet the societal needs in 2030. The roadmap will contain the following two main components: (1) An analysis of the most promising opportunities (sweet spots) for the chemical industry to increase its bio-based portfolio, as well as the technological and commercial barriers and the hurdles in regulations and acceptance by society, governing bodies and the industry itself. (2) A strategy, action plan and engagement guide to overcome the existing and anticipated barriers and hurdles as mentioned above. Furthermore it will bring together different parts of chemical industry, society, and governing bodies, to start a dialogue and to create a platform where this action plan can unfold its full potential, in order to help meet the very ambitious targets of the BIC for 2030. The approach is based on three pillars, which are (a) analysis of status quo and potentials, (b) forward looking activities, (c) continuous feedback loops and interactions with stakeholders. The results will be wrapped up and phrased as a roadmap and an engagement guide describing the benefits and a way forward for the European Chemical Industry towards a more bio-based future. In order to derive a holistic roadmap that can lead the way, the analytical part of the project will consider feedstocks, technologies and markets as well as regulatory issues, societal needs, consumer questions and communication. The consortium partners bring in complementary expertise in relevant fields of the bioeconomy and chemical industry, covering in depth all aspects that need to be included in the roadmap. All partners have been or are still actively involved in successfully completed and ongoing FP7, H2020, and BBI projects on different aspects of the bioeconomy, as well as in several groups and committees working on political or standardization aspects of bio-based products.

AceForm4.0 will strengthen European leadership in the development and commercialisation of innovative and sustainable formulated products by i) engaging stakeholders and establishing a strategic common vision, European 2025 roadmap for formulated products and an associated implementation plan; and ii) facilitating knowledge exchange activities aiming at the formation of new collaborative value chains and partnerships in the context of the challenges, barriers and opportunities offered by Industry 4.0 and the drive towards a Circular Economy. Whilst a number of the challenges faced by manufacturers of formulated products are shared with the wider process industry, their nature is very different. Being often micro-heterogeneous, formulated products tend to be unstable and rely on a judicious selection of ingredients and fine-tuned production methods to guarantee physical and chemical stability during their lifetime. Compared to basic chemicals, this makes product development far more challenging in terms of, e.g.: 1) predicting the properties of combined ingredients at an early stage of their lifecycle for optimal use of ingredients; 2) designing new manufacturing processes and equipment; 3) selection of adequate modelling and simulation processes to minimise resources and energy utilisation; 4) scale-up from lab to production; and 5) developing in-stream high throughput metrology to enable quality control, plant automation and supply chain management. AceForm4.0 will establish and engage a European-wide Formulation Interest Group, comprising of stakeholders from industry, research institutes and government bodies to identify specific cross-sector challenges, barriers and opportunities. The resulting common European strategy will provide a framework for the rational development of sustainable products and stimulate targeted investment in RDI initiatives leading to new commercialised products, manufacturing facilities and services.

The improvement of energy efficiency across European industry is crucial for competitiveness. So far, the measures for improvement of energy efficiency have been directed at primary production processes. In this project, we will address the improvement of energy efficiency in industrial water circuits: auxiliary electric motor driven systems with high optimisation potential. The European manufacturing industry consumes about 37 000 million m³/y freshwater recycling it up to 10 times with the specific electrical energy consumption >0.2 kWh/m³. By the according energy consumption of 74 000 GWh/a the potential 10% savings amount to 7 400 GWh/a. Currently, there is neither a benchmark on the energy consumption in industrial water circuits, nor tools for its systematic reduction, nor awareness of the saving potential. The WaterWatt project aims to remove market barriers for energy efficient solutions, in particular the lack of expertise and information on energy management and saving potential in industrial water circuits. The aims will be achieved through: i) case studies in relevant industries, ii) development of improvement measures for energy efficiency in industrial water circuits, iii) market studies, iv) capacity building activities and v) dissemination in workshops and by e-learning. An Energy Efficiency Evaluation Platform (E3 Platform) will be developed to disseminate knowledge/know-how on energy efficiency improvements using gaming approach. The tools of E³ Platform will be used by SMEs and large industrial producers for self-assessment and improvement of the energy efficiency in their circuits. WaterWatt will reach more than 2000 relevant persons, organisations and policy makers triggering investments of €7-12 million resulting in primary energy saving of 100-180 GWh/a during the project life-time. The planned spin-off company will ensure further investments and savings after the project has finished.

The e-CODUCT project aims at electrifying the simultaneous chemical conversion acid gas components (CO2 and H2S) into the platform molecule CO and marketable sulphur using an electrothermal fluidised bed reactor (ETFB) technology. The corresponding process will comprise two steps: a first one for CO2 and H2S reduction into COS and a second step for COS decomposition into the platform molecule CO and Claus grade sulphur. To demonstrate its valorisation potential, CO will be converted into green methanol as final product using a third reaction. The e-CODUCT consortium is composed of nine entities including industrial and academic partners spanning a complete value chain from material suppliers and engineers to modelling experts and technology providers. e-CODUCT will optimise and scale-up the reactor materials and catalysts to TRL6 to 16t/y of CO production while reducing reactor size by 50%, among others via the removal of heating units. Techno-economic and environmental assessment of the reactor performances will demonstrate -40% CAPEX and OPEX as well as -50% of GHG emissions. Optimisation of operating conditions and reaction yield will be supported by fundamental (micro)kinetic modelling as well as industrial process planning accounting for variability of feedstock composition and renewable energy resources. Integrated conceptual design will fasten future scale-up and commercialisation of the reactor demonstrator at TRL9 with a final capacity of 34kt of CO2 converted per year. e-CODUCT will provide a first-of-a-kind fast-response electrically heated catalytic reactor able to replace the conventional Claus unit for sulphur recovery and simultaneous electroreduction of CO2, allowing -50% energy demand for acid gas treatment in over 130 refineries in Europe by 2035. The process could then be diversified to other applications such as FCC, steam cracking and dehydrogenation and multiple sites as biogas digesters and gas plants representing 18,000 sites in Europe.