Carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) has been recently recognised as a key technology to reduce carbon emissions, especially in hard-to-abate sectors, and significantly contribute to EU carbon neutrality targets for 2030 and 2050. Accelerating the upscaling and subsequent market introduction of CCUS research results and technologies is becoming thus increasingly urgent. The Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020) has contributed to the development of innovative technologies, including CCUS. The Innovation Fund Programme (IF) on the other hand, focuses on commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The transition from mature H2020 projects to the IF is a logical pipeline along the TRL line. Synergies between these and other EU funding programmes can contribute substantially to overcome the hurdles and de-risk large scale investments in first-of-a-kind CCUS flagship projects, but still much remains to be done in accelerating go-to-market strategies for publicly funded innovations. LEADS aims at bridging the gap from research to deployment for CCUS projects in Europe by building an innovation pipeline of promising H2020/HEU projects and supporting project owners to overcome the main bottlenecks and reach final investment decision. Building on their outstanding experience in innovation and EU programmes, as well as leveraging on their strong EU networks, LEADS partners will implement a well-designed methodology and set of measures to assess and select the most promising H2020 projects, coach them and enable them to apply to IF. LEADS methodology will be tested with six H2020 CCUS project cases. A set of reusable IF tools will be created and made available to CCUS stakeholders. Synergy mechanisms between H2020 and IF will be also created by aligning the CCUS up-scaling potential with IF targets. At LEADS project end, at least three H2020 projects are expected to have completed the full LEADS cycle and have submitted a full IF application.

Responsible, sustainable and low CO2 footprint mineral extraction is vital for the preservation of our planet. Ensuring responsible supply of minerals, involves addressing the environmental, social, and economic impacts of mineral extraction and developing technologies and know-how to minimize them. Mining within these low-impact boundaries in a world that is putting an increasing pressure on the mineral supply requires developing environmentally friendly, safe, intelligent and resource efficient extraction technologies and methods. REESOURCE will set a sustainable and decarbonized value chain basis for the extraction of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in Europe, supporting the ambition of the continent to become self-sufficient on REEs. This target will be achieved through a set of actions (scientific, technical, social and financial) that will serve to pave the road for the development of the European mining of the future. These include i) enhancing key technologies of raise mining to foster invisible mining, with minimal socioenvironmental impact and lower CO2 emissions footprint compared to existing approaches; ii) developing novel formulations based on environmentally friendly chemicals for both, the mineral beneficiation process of REEs and the process water treatment, supporting the recirculation of this resource; iii) developing a novel stabilization technique for tailings, making them suitable for backfilling, stabilizing the mine and avoiding the need of tailing ponds; iv) valorize the tailings through a Circular Economy approach, to make them suitable for expanded value chains as geopolymers for construction applications and composite materials for catalytic and CO2 capture applications; v) assess the social dimension to maximize early social awareness, engagement and acceptance and vi) multiply the project impact through cross-fertilization with other projects and clusters, supporting the mass adoption of UNFC and UNRMS in the raw materials sector.

The HEPHAESTUS project is built around one key, overarching objective: To develop a set of scalable and tuneable unit operations, to be built as integrated processing plant, featuring the capacity to treat multiple process wastes deriving from primary mineral and metallurgical (primary and secondary) streams. The unit operations are: - Clean-Tech electric furnace, to transform the EAF and AOD dust into metal alloy to be immediately remelted, process supported with streams of fines by-products from the mineral primary extractions (construction, aggregates and dimensional stone) - EZINEX process, to extract the zinc present in the dust of the furnace - Fibre drawing, for mineral wool manufacturing out of the process slag in molten state - Catalytic conversion of CO2 gas into methanol or formic acid - Ammonia-ammonium carbonate (AAC) and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) based hydrometallurgical processes, to produce a recyclable Fe-rich residue and to recover metals (e.g.e.g., ZnS) from EAF dust The project is targeting primarily small-scale applications (order of magnitude 10 k tons waste dust per year), to cope with the typically fragmented European process size. Such scale is matching the waste volumes and differentiation and granting positive environmental AND economic sustainability through the valorisation of different streams of by-products at low operational and capital expenditure, ensuring vast replicability and short ROI Project will be demonstrated in two pilot applications, in Greece and Italy, with the purpose of creating awareness on the business potential and to generate the conditions for a long-term exploitation, leading to meaningful reduction of wastes for the extractive and steel industries.

HARARE will demonstrate sustainable pathways to produce metals using hydrogen as an enabler, for removing waste and valorising materials in carbon free processes. The consortium’s concern and thus the drive to build this initiative, starts with an industry that is key contributor to a sustainable future: the metallurgical sector. The switch to renewable energies requires vast amounts of metals, such as steel and aluminium for solar panels and wind turbines, and copper for bolstering the electricity grid necessary for transport and industry. However, the metallurgical industry amounted to 70 million tons direct CO2 emitted in 2017. Moreover, carbon-based processes make the European metallurgical industry dependent on imports. Using hydrogen as a reductant to substitute carbon is one of the few ways metallurgical industry can potentially become truly free of CO2-emissions, utilizing raw materials that can be produced in Europe. HARARE’s vision is to tackle these challenges and become part of the solution, making the metallurgical industry more sustainable by presenting a circular concept that is based on a two-fold reasoning: 1) Recover wastes with hydrogen. choosing two representative wastes from the copper and aluminium production processes, namely: flash smelter slag from primary copper production and Bauxite residue (BR) from aluminium production. 2) Hydrogen-based processes will allow for an environmentally friendly metal industry while decreasing dependence from hard coal imports and being cost competitive. HARARE will thus eliminate waste from the metallurgical industry while recovering valuable materials, and increasing the use of hydrogen in the industry, thereby increasing its circularity, the utilization of raw materials and the profitability, lessening the negative side-effects on the community, and making steps toward the less carbon-dependent metallurgical industry necessary for a sustainable future.

Surface coatings are essential for protecting materials and enhancing their functionality, but the reliance on fossil resources necessitates safer, sustainable alternatives that maintain high performance while reducing environmental impact. To address these challenges, BLUECOAT will develop 12 safe, sustainable, bio-based, and low-carbon emission coating formulations for the marine, textile, and construction sectors that are challenging and demanding conditions for coatings. The project will explore 4 bio-based feedstocks: bio-derived polymers, natural fibres, bioplastics, and plant-based proteins, to develop 6 optimized coatings consisting of bio-based PU, bio-based silicone, PLA, natural fibres with antimicrobial agents (such as chitosan and curcumin), and encapsulates with Phase Change Materials (PCM). BLUECOAT formulations will cut GHG emissions by 45% and minimize Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) while delivering superior performance under industrially relevant conditions (TRL 5). BLUECOAT solutions will provide antifouling and anti-corrosion protection for ship hulls, weatherproof, antimicrobial, and durable features for outdoor technical garments, and flame-retardant and antifungal for insulation boards in marine, textile, and construction sectors, respectively. The BLUECOAT’s vision is to establish a suite of comprehensive Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design criteria guiding the development of bio-based coatings throughout their lifecycle, emphasizing circularity, energy and resource efficiency. The project will conduct the ex-post environmental assessment, techno-economic feasibility of scaling potential products, socioeconomic impact analysis for ensuring sustainable market adoption and long-term viability of the developed coatings. It will also explore End-of-Life strategies like biodegradability and recycling to extend material utility and support sustainable practices.