NIAGARA’s project intends to make a significant contribution to the development of a sustainable process chain, involving the shaping and procurement of openly available EU biogenic wastes (wastewaters, digestate, sewage sludge etc.), a production of carbohydrate-rich microalgae , an innovative continuous and flexible HTC process to convert the mix of biogenic wastes and microalgae into a solid fraction (hydrochar) and an aqueous phase that will in turn be converted into an advanced biofuel (a biogenic syngas rich in hydrogen) via gasification and aqueous phase reforming. Subsequent syngas cleaning processes are envisaged to ensure a full compatibility of the syngas to the solid oxide fuel cells. NIAGARA’s value chain will feature a very low carbon balance with a strong potential to become carbon negative overtime. NIAGARA will dramatically improve advanced biofuel production by combining complementary scientific and industrial know-how while fostering various promising market applications (e.g., fuel cells). the NIAGARA methodology, which derives from the ambitious idea of producing advanced biofuels from EU-widely available biomasses and wastes on a fully circular basis, making this value chain ultimately sustainable. The main market application that is sought in the NIAGARA project is the generation of electricity using highly efficient SOFC. This implies (i) individually developing key innovative and carbon-efficient processes, (ii) assessing their performances (carbon footprints, energy balance and production yields), and (iii) demonstrating their integration and global compatibility to reach the objective of negative carbon emission on the biofuel production chain up to the generation of electricity. NIAGARA will contribute towards lowering the technological, economic, and social barriers faced by the development of the contemplated processes at TRL5. The outcome of this work will contribute directly and significantly to EU’s overall renewal energy targets.

Advanced biofuels represent an important piece of the puzzle in the EU’s quest for climate neutrality as they contribute to decarbonising transport sectors and decrease the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels. Fuels-C aims to contribute to this quest by increasing the availability of two liquid and two gaseous advanced biofuels for maritime and road transports, produced from biogenic organic wastes and CO2. Fuels-C will develop an integrated platform of innovative energy-efficient conversion technologies validated at TRL5 including bioelectrochemically assisted CH4 production, bioelectrochemical NH3 production, gasification, microbial electrosynthesis, and electroreduction. Various biogenic residues (biodegradable and non-biodegradable) will be converted under mild conditions into CH4, NH3, formic acid and ethanol, by two main production routes, using renewable energy, thereby enabling efficient energy surplus storage as chemicals. The 4 biofuels can be used as drop-in, but Fuels-C will also test them in FCs for electricity production: gaseous NH3 and CH4 in SOFCs, liquid ethanol and formic acid in DLFCs. Power density, energy efficiency and stability of each process will be validated. The technologies will be modelled at process level, for the description of interfacial phenomena, and at system level, leading to an integrated processes Digital Twin. This second model, together with a feedstocks mapping tool, will provide relevant data for circularity assessment, cost calculation, benchmarking and replication in other relevant use cases. This is expected to create new businesses opportunities and strengthen the EU's leadership in science and technology and in the biofuels market. Fuels-C gathers an interdisciplinary consortium composed of EU’s prominent RTOs and Universities, a large industry providing feedstocks and four SMEs contributing to market uptake and global outreach. It will be supported by an international Advisory Board providing strategic advice.

The main objectives of the REMEB project are the implementation and validation of a low-cost ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) in a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), the study of the impact and replication of the technology for the reuse of the water in regions with water scarcity and the industrial sector, and finally, the definition of a proper business plan to start the commercialization of the technology, once the project will be finished. The low cost recycled ceramic membranes of the project are based on residues obtained in agricultural and industrial processes (sub-products), such as olive oil solid wastes, marble working wastes and chamotte from fired scrap, in addition to the typical raw materials used in the ceramic tile industry. The project aims to achieve several specific objectives: valorization of wastes from different agricultural or industrial processes, manufacturing of an innovative product using recycled materials, validation of a new MBR with a lower initial and running costs by using low cost ceramic membranes and comparison between REMEB MBR and the MBR in operation in the WWTP selected for the validation. Replication of both, manufacturing and validation tasks, is assured by repeating the processes in the facilities of some participants. Manufacturing membrane replicability will be performed in Turkey and Italy. The replication study of the MBR implementation in the urban and industrial wastewater sector will be performed in Colombia and nearby countries, Cyprus and nearby countries and Europe. Furthermore, evaluation of the environmental impact of product and process will be carried out by the method of LCA. Finally, a marketing and dissemination plan of the technology will be done by the entire consortium. It is expected that this technology would be implemented massively, principally due to the low cost of REMEB MBR (3.5 times lower than a MBR of organic membranes and 2.5 times lower than a ceramic MBR).

This project aims to facilitate the implementation of the Circular Economy package and the SPIRE Roadmap in various process industries by developing the necessary concepts, technological solutions and business models to re-design the value and supply chains of minerals (including magnesium) and water, while dealing with present organic compounds in a way that allows their subsequent recovery. This is achieved by demonstrating new configurations to recover these resources from saline impaired effluents (brines) generated by process industry, while eliminating wastewater discharge and minimising environmental impact of industrial operations through brines (ZERO BRINE). The project will bring together and integrate several existing and innovative technologies aiming to recover end-products of high quality and sufficient purity with good market value. It will be carried out by large Process Industries, SMEs with disruptive technologies and a Brine Consortium of technology suppliers across EU, while world-class research centres ensure strong scientific capacity and inter-disciplinary coordination to account for social, economic and environmental considerations, including LCA. A large scale demonstration will be developed in the Energy Port and Petrochemical cluster of Rotterdam Port, involving local large industries. Two demo plants will be able to treat part of the brine effluents generated by one process industry (EVIDES), while the waste heat will be sourced by neighbouring factories. The quality of the recovered end-products will be aimed to meet local market specifications. The involvement of representatives covering the whole supply chain will provide an excellent opportunity to showcase Circular Economy in Rotterdam Port, at large scale. Finally, three large-scale pilot plants will be developed in other process industries, providing the potential for immediate replication and uptake of the project results after its successful completion.

SYMSITES?s main objective is to implement regional industrial urban symbiosis in four European regions different in social economic, and environment aspects, from the north Denmark, through the mid Austria to the south Spain and Greece. The four EcoSites will use the same technologies for wastewater and waste treatment and energy production and cycling, enabling a clean comparison of the EcoSite impacts. The four EcoSites will generate virtuous circles of energy, treated waste and wastewater streams between urban and industrial entities. The enabling technologies to be developed for waste and wastewater (WW) co-treatment, are: a newly developed IT Regional Management platform (ITRMP) including novel IIoTs and Social Decision support System (SDSS) to manage efficiently the I-U symbiosis; an anaerobic bioreactor(AnMBR) with advanced membrane coupled with a tertiary treatment, to be installed at the four EcoSites for a clean comparison of all impacts not directly influenced by different technologies. The aim is A) to achieve near-zero GHG emissions or CO2 negative footprint; B) use of bio-waste and non-recyclable wastes (NRW) to produce energy and reusable water as well as high-value new resources (HVNR), thus reducing the waste generation by ~50%; LCA and LCC studies and the quantity prevented from transportation (Ton-Kilometer units) and from landfilling (Ton/m3 units) will evaluate the costs and environmental impact. Dedicated tools will be developed to spread he I-US concept within Europe. These include: virtual demonstration of replication potential in other regions by setting up a network amongst waste associations ' facilitation services for implementing symbiotic processes; actions to facilitate relations and to involve the local community actors and establishment of a social innovation non profit spin-off involving tools and business models for streams exchange in a dynamic production.