RURALtXA! promotes the development of extensive livestock farming linked to the conservation of mountain ecosystems (heathlands, peatlands, meadows and pastures) declared as Habitats of Community Interest (HIC in Spanish), thus boosting the rural bioeconomy in these areas.
La contaminación del medioambiente a lo largo de décadas por residuos plásticos tradicionales (de origen fósil) es un hecho constatable y que afecta no sólo a un bioma determinado, de forma muy grave y acusada (tanto a nivel paisajístico, a nivel organismo, hábitat, así como su prevalencia contaminante en el tiempo), sino al propio ser humano, al ingerir indirectamente los monómeros y componentes aditivos resultantes de la particularización de los plásticos. Estas sustancias afectan a diferentes órganos y sistemas, alterando la fisiología y causando problemas de salud a medio-largo plazo. Esta amenaza oculta se ve potenciada por el uso directo del consumo de alimentos en contacto con determinados plásticos, que a priori deben ser inertes, al menos en un primer uso, y otros materiales que pasan inadvertidos (ropa, mobiliario, etc.).
El proyecto BIOCENPLAS lo conforman ANFACO-CECOPESCA (líder del consorcio), CETAQUA y CRETUS-USC. ANFACO-CECOPESCA se centrará, además de liderar el consorcio y velar por una correcta ejecución del proyecto, en la extracción de PHA, desarrollo de bioplásticos y validación en productos alimentarios de la pesca. CETAQUA gestionará los efluentes de las empresas de la pesca para preconcentrar la materia orgánica presente en los mismos, reduciendo su volumen y coste de transporte, explorará su transformación en AGV en una plataforma centralizada, y evaluará la biodegradación de los bioplásticos generados una vez llegan al final de su vida útil. Por otra parte, CRETUS-USC definirá la mejor mezcla de AGV para la obtención de un PHA (HB o HV) que sustituya al PP, realizará la extracción selectiva de AGV para ajustar la composición de la mezcla obtenida por CETAQUA a partir de los residuos de la industria procesadora de pescados. Así, CRETUS-USC convertirá los AGV en PHA y en colaboración con ANFACO optimizarán el mejor (en términos de eficiencia y sostenibilidad) proceso de extracción de los mismos. Finalmente, CRETUS-USC realizará un análisis holístico de la sostenibilidad de la solución propuesta teniendo en cuenta aspectos medioambientales, económicos y sociales.
Financiado por Next Generation EU. Real Decreto 685/2021 de 3 de agosto.
La propuesta del proyecto SPOTLIGHT que pretende la prueba de concepto del reactor fotocatalítico basado en semiconductores inmovilizados en nanopartículas magnéticas se basa en los prometedores resultados obtenidos en el marco del proyecto MODENA (CTQ2016-79461-R). En dicho proyecto se sintetizaron y evaluaron catalizadores para diferentes procesos de oxidación avanzada (biocatálisis, foto-Fenton, fotocatálisis) para la eliminación de microcontaminantes en aguas residuales, así como su optimización realizando modificaciones sobre su estructura. Los fotocatalizadores basados en nanopartículas de óxido de zinc soportadas sobre magnetita obtuvieron unos resultados tanto de degradación como de impacto ambiental muy prometedores en relación con el resto de las alternativas estudiadas. Además, al estar soportados sobre magnetita, sus propiedades paramagnéticas suponen una ventaja de cara a la recuperación del catalizador mediante sistemas magnéticos, permitiendo su reutilización en sucesivos ciclos de reacción. La evaluación de su rendimiento y capacidad de reúso se llevaron a cabo en un reactor fotocatalítico a escala laboratorio equipado con un sistema de separación interno, en régimen de operación secuencial.
Se desarrollará e implementará un reactor fotocatalítico a escala piloto para la eliminación de microcontaminantes orgánicos en aguas residuales en un sistema de tratamiento descentralizado ubicado en el edificio de la oficina central de Porto do Molle (Nigrán - Pontevedra), que cuenta con segregación de aguas residuales grises y negras. La validación del reactor a escala piloto se efectuará sobre los diferentes efluentes de la planta: el efluente de un tratamiento anaerobio de aguas negras y el de un reactor biológico anóxico/aerobio para el tratamiento conjunto de aguas grises y negras. Junto con el escalado del reactor, también se realizará el escalado de la producción de las nanopartículas de óxido de zinc soportadas para permitir su uso a escala piloto. Así mismo, se considerará la deposición de clústeres atómicos sobre los nanocatalizadores desarrollados para mejorar la eficiencia fotónica y, en consecuencia, reducir los costes operacionales derivados del consumo eléctrico.
New approaches are needed to reduce the emission of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Some sources, such as hospitals or pharmaceutical industry, contribute strongly to such emissions, which has driven the focus of PRESAGE on innovative decentralized wastewater treatment (WWT).
PRESAGE aims at understanding the integrated behaviour of selected CECs comprising organic micropollutants (OMPs), antibiotic resistant microorganisms/genes (ARMs/ARGs) and pathogens (including bacteria and viruses), during decentralized WWT in different innovative treatment schemes. Separated domestic black water (BW) and grey water (GW), hospital wastewater (WW), and WW from a fermentation based antibiotics production industry will be considered, to assess the influence of operating parameters on the fate and behaviour of the target CECs. The ultimate aim is to find an optimal treatment strategy that provides a final effluent suitable for reuse, complying with safe chemical and biological water quality.
The specific objectives of this proposal address several important knowledge gaps:
SUMMARY OF THE OVERALL WORKPLAN
Innovative treatment processes will be developed, optimized and validated for the decentralized treatment and disinfection of WW containing CECs. Detailed information on the fate and removal of selected OMPs (WP4) and pathogens (including bacteria and viruses, WP6) will be obtained under different operational conditions. The generation and transfer of ARMs will be studied (WP5) specially in the biological treatment systems, evaluating the influence of biomass concentration, composition and conformation, as well other operational parameters as SRT and temperature. The load of ARMs/ARGs in the effluent will be comprehensively assessed and the impact of OMPs in the prevalence of ARMs/ARGs in the sludge will be examined. The effects of treated WW on aquatic ecosystems will be evaluated for the different treatment schemes by ecotoxicity studies (WP7). The project will be developed at 4 different demosites with the different WW types described above (WP1, 2 and 3), including innovative compact treatment and postreatement technologies.
PARTNERSHIP
- University of Santiago de Compostela (Project Coordinator: Francisco Omil)
- University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Marcelo Zaiat
- Technical University of Denmark (Denmark). Henrik Rasmus Andersen
- University of Porto (Portugal). Luis Melo
- CNRS/Institut National polytechnique de Toulouse (INP Toulouse). Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse (France). Eric Pinelli
- TU Dresden (Germany). Thomas Ulrich Berendonk
EXPECTED IMPACT
PRESAGE provides new scientific and technological knowledge, as it offers an original research perspective in which environmental and microbiological know-how will be integrated to develop sustainable decentralized treatment processes delivering high quality final effluents, facing important societal, economic and policy challenges. Decentralized treatment of WW containing higher loads of CECs can offer economic and environmental sustainable solutions to approach such challenges. There are still several hypotheses that need a scientific answer to come up with an optimum treatment strategy. A minimum global impact is targeted, preferentially promoting the onsite water reuse, in order to move towards the new circular economy EU strategy. Aware of the importance of actively involving industry, this proposal incorporates Aqualia, Veolia subsidiary, Krueger and Adict Solutions as associated partner. The structure of the project highly facilitates transfer of results as research will be carried out at 4 demosites in collaboration with those partners.
ECOPOLYVER follows up TREASURE (biogroup.usc.es/treasure), which demonstrated the feasibility of producing two different compounds, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and triacylglycerides (TAGs), from an oily waste stream generated by the fish-canning industry. However, the robustness and versatility of the process need to be assessed by testing the feasibility of using other lipidic waste streams.
Besides, the technology needs to be operated and optimised at a larger scale (i.e. pilot scale), as the determination of the structural composition and properties of the different intracellular compounds accumulated requires larger amounts of final products. Thus, testing this technology at a pilot-scale is the only way to identify the up-scaling hotspots which need to be addressed before the full-scale market is reached.
Moreover, it seems essential to identify the dynamics of the microbial populations conforming the MMC in connection with the process configuration and substrate characteristics. Furthermore, a life cycle perspective, including both up and down-stream processes till the end-of-life (EoL) phase, is required from both environmental and economic assessments to guarantee its competitiveness for future industrial application.
One of the major challenges of todays´ society is the shift of the chemical industry from being based on fossil feedstocks and relying on unsustainable processes towards renewable resources and eco-friendly manufacturing processes. The Cell4Chem project fits into these endeavours by harnessing the power of microbial communities. Microorganisms are poster children of circular processes, having kick-started the first global elemental cycles and having sustained them ever since. Today, microbial communities are routinely used in biotechnological processes such as wastewater treatment and biogas production, however, the ability to control these systems has been limited.
Cell4Chem aims at providing tools and strategies to unlock the full potential of microbial communities and enabling transformation processes that end in high-value products from sustainable feedstocks. Medium-chain carboxylates (MCC) such as caproate and caprylate are specialty chemicals with broad application spectra. Up to now, the use of sustainable feedstocks such as agro-industrial waste and residues for MCC production is mostly limited to biomass with high ethanol or lactate content, as such electron donors are crucial for reaching efficient MCC production processes. The exploitation of more abundant lignocellulosic biomass has the potential of greatly expanding the application of this new anaerobic fermentation technology, however, it harbours two major bottlenecks, i.e. the poor hydrolysis of cellulose and low internal production of lactate.
Overview of the work packages in Cell4Chem project
Cell4Chem tackles these issues on three engineering levels. On the first level, different bacterial strains including lactic acid bacteria will be genetically modified to create metabolic specialists for cellulose hydrolysis and lactate production in a Synthetic Biology approach. On the second level, these specialised bacterial strains will be combined in de novo constructed consortia with various wildtype microorganisms or enriched consortia including chain-elongating bacteria that can convert lactate into MCC. On the third engineering level, anaerobic bioreactors will be operated with microbiota with the aim to develop process strategies for targeted steering of anaerobic fermentation towards MCC formation. Experiences from these reactor experiments will be exploited for tailored upscaling of the most promising designed consortia. The communities will be monitored over time using nextgeneration amplicon sequencing and metaomics methods such as metagenomics and metaproteomics in order to follow community dynamics and process performance, leading to time series data and the recovery of genomes of not yet described species. This information will be further processed by bioinformatics tools to construct species-specific metabolic models that are combined to quantitative, mechanistic microbial community models, which both are parameterised towards the experimental data in order to elucidate determinants of observed dynamics, and to screen for optimal community compositions (Systems Biology).
Producing MCC from cellulose-based feedstocks (instead of e.g. palm oil) will demonstrate the validity of the methods used in Cell4Chem to modify microbial consortia in a controlled manner. Beyond this proof-of-concept, the project shows the potential of microbial communities to convert renewable feedstocks into desirable feedstocks in a sustainable way.
The management of urban organic waste currently presents environmental challenges to be addressed, such as minimizing landfill disposal or increasing recycling. ECOVAL proposes a new management approach based on the recovery of these wastes to obtain volatile fatty acids useful for the plastics, lubricants or agrochemical industries. ECOVAL will develop the complete value chain from the collection of the waste to the commercialization of the final product, through the development of innovative biotechnological processes. The project will offer a new model of environmental management to be applied in the cities of the Sudoe region, integrating multidisciplinary aspects such as legislative, economic, market, environmental or social perception. ECOVAL thus, contributes to the integration of the circular bioeconomy, promoting waste reduction and environmental protection, through the conversion of a waste into a resource.
Partners:
Cetaqua (Coordinator), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Biogroup), Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León, Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), l'
Apple pomace (AP), the residue generated in cider and apple juice making factories, is used mainly as animal feed or for compost. The general objective of the ULTREIA project is the multiproduct valorization of AP for the extraction of polyphenolics, the production of enzymes and the biological conversion into acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE).
Figure 1. Scheme of the multi-product biorefinery for the valorization of apple pomace envisaged in the ULTREIA project.
The main bioactive ingredients of apple pomace include procyanidins, flavonols, dihydrochalcones, hydroxycinnamic acids and catechins. The strong evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies revealed the potential use of apple phenolics as effective food supplements or nutraceuticals for the management of chronic diseases. In a first stage of the project, water and ethanol will be used to extract polyphenolics from apple pomace at different temperatures, using conventional and a non-conventional technology (ultrasonic assisted extraction). Particular attention will be given to the potential release of sugars in the polyphenolic fraction. In this sense, the minimization of monomeric sugars release is desired. This is one of the challenges of this proposal. Up to now, single objectives have been pursued: either the extraction of polyphenolics or the sugar release. Hence, our double objective goes beyond previously published research in this topic.
After polyphenolic extraction the remaining solid fraction will be subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis, leading to a solution with high concentration of fermentable sugars. Enzyme cost is one of the main constraints in the cellulosic biofuel production and it has been reported that on site enzyme production is a promising option to reduce enzyme cost. For this reason, cellulases used in this step will be produced on site, using AP and the different streams derived from the valorization process.
Subsequently, the AP hydrolysate will be used as substrate for ABE fermentation by Clostridia species. Biobutanol could be a preferable option to bioethanol because of its higher energy content, lower water miscibility and hygroscopicity, and better compatibility with existing vehicle engines. It has been described the importance of pretreatment methods in the fermentability of apple pomace, hence it is expected that the ABE productivity will depend on the different conditions applied to extract the polyphenolics. The reduced concentration of phenolics (known inhibitors of Clostridia) in the hydrolysate could favor the production of ABE. The integration of the fermentation process with an in-situ product removal system is one of the solutions described to overcome the problem of butanol toxicity on Clostridia. In the present project, an in-situ liquid-liquid extraction approach will be evaluated. The role of Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in the ULTREIA project will be to assess AP as a source of polyphenolics and biobutanol.
The removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in urban wastewaters is a hot topic all over the world. One of the most worrying groups of OMPs is that of antibiotics, since their contribution to the potential development of antibiotic resistant microorganisms (ARMs) in the environment has been confirmed. The ANTARES proposal aims at advancing at a scientific and a technological level, by combining knowledge on the fate of antibiotics and the presence and dissemination of ARM during wastewater treatment. A singular approach focussed on understanding the relation among antibiotic emissions, the production of transformation products and the generation of resistant genes in conventional and innovative plant layouts is presented. ANTARES combines a strong technological approach with lab, pilot and full-scale biological reactors (WP1, WP2, WP3), with the application of modern molecular microbiological techniques (WP4) and the development of analytical methods not only for antibiotic parent compounds, but also for transformation products (WP5). ANTARES is a coordinated Project between the USC and the ICRA (Girona).
The USC team is formed by Francisco Omil (IP1), Marta Carballa (IP2), Jesús A. López Romalde, Juan M. Garrido, Juan M. Lema and Sonia Suárez, whereas the ICRA team is formed by Jelena Radjenovic (IP1), Maite Pijuán (IP2) and Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda.
The challenge proposed by the HP-NANOBIO project is based on the development of a treatment system for antibiotics removal based on the use of nanoparticles and atomic clusters as high-performance photocatalysts combined with enzymes immobilized in nanoparticles to advance in the design of technologies that are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable. The cascade process combining photochemistry and biocatalysis with magnetically separable nanoparticles has not been addressed before.
The main objective of the LIFE ZERO WASTE WATER project is to revolutionize conventional treatment processes by putting into practice, testing and evaluating the applicability of an innovative, cost efficient and positive energy balance WWTP solution for the integrated management of urban wastewater flows and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (WW + OFMSW) in the specific context of small locations with less than 50,000 p. e.
The USC will lead action B.2.2 to develop a PN/AMX system for the treatment of the effluents from an AnMBR operated at ambient temperature and relatively low ammonium concentrations or “mainstream conditions”. In the USC project will be co-financed with own contributions.
CerealMed proposes the valorisation and rediscovery of landraces and domesticated relatives of tetraploid wheat, lentil and chickpea, domesticated and landraces, for cultivation in specific farming systems.
Background & Context
Mediterranean countries rely heavily on cereal, lentil and chickpea productions. Wheat is currently the most widespread crop, mostly grown under rainfed conditions. It is frequently exposed to environmental stresses, with high temperatures and water. Legumes are being grown under rainfed conditions in rotation with wheat suffering from drought and high temperatures and contributes to farming sustainability through its ability to fix atmospheric N in soil, thus enhancing its fertility.
Climate change is already having profound consequences on people’s lives and life diversity of our planet. CerealMed proposes the valorisation and rediscovery of landraces and domesticated relatives of tetraploid (i.e. Triticum turgidum ssp turgidum, ssp. turanicum, ssp. polonicum) wheat for cultivation in specific farming systems. Furthermore, other not yet domesticated wild species (i.e. T. turgidum ssp dicoccoides, Aegilops species) represent a remarkable reservoir of genes and alleles for resistance to pests and diseases, tolerance to various abiotic pressures and good nutritional values.
CerealMed will mainly focus on wheat (with lentil and chickpea studied for their value as rotated/consociated crop) and will capitalize the immense knowledge, germplasm collections and phenotypic data produced by the research institutions involved in the project.
The main scope of CerealMed is to fill the gaps for implementing biodiversity to field and to develop a biodiversity based agriculture system to secure the production of staple foods in the scenario of future climate changes. CerealMed will create genetic and agronomic knowledge, tools and approaches to develop a profitable and eco-sustainable strategy of biodiversity-based wheat farming.
Main Objectives
CerealMed will the gaps for implementing a strategy of biodiversity-based farming through:
1. Evaluation of wide cereal and legume collections including crop relatives for biodiversity restoration
2. Creation of new biodiversity by inter-generic and interspecific crosses
3. Soil fertility restoration
4. Valorisation of genotypes for biomass production
5. Environmental and economic assessment of the different biodiversity-based wheat farming options
Expected Impacts
Success in this initiative will open the door to a new cereal farming system in the Mediterranean countries. CerealMed, in fact, will increase the efficiency of business activities of agro-farm through the transfer and implementation of innovative systems and proper tools. Additionally, waste and residues of wheat cropping will be valorised into bio-based alternative end-products, supporting the development of new economic activities and new job opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas.
Partners
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, University of Bologna, Beni-Suef University, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P. - Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (CSIC-IAS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Agricultural University of Athens, American University of Beirut, National Institute For Agricultural Research Morocco, University Hassan 1st, FST de Settat, University of Çukurova
Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) from basidiomycete appear as highly promising biocatalysts for a variety of aromatic and aliphatic oxyfunctionalization reactions of industrial interest. These relatively novel heme proteins catalyze with advantages a variety of stereoselective and/or regioselective oxygen transfer reactions, previously assigned exclusively to P450s, bypassing the need of expensive cofactors and with higher stability.
In this project, the optimization of the production of UPO by the edible mushroom Agrocybe aegerita is proposed. For the first time, the production of the enzyme will be attempted under solid-state fermentations. Agro-industrial residues will be used as substrates to induce the production of the extracellular enzyme. The spent residue after the fermentation will be characterized to explore its potential application as fodder or plant fertilizer. Furthermore, the production under submerged conditions will be studied, using extracts from the agro-industrial wastes. Subsequently, the enzyme will be applied for the first time to produce hydroxylated oligoflavonoids. Flavonoids are widely distributed natural compounds with an important role in the prevention of various diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes or osteoporosis. The use and effectiveness of flavonoids, however, sometimes are hampered by their physicochemical properties such as limited solubility, low hydrophobicity and poor compatibility with biological membranes. It is expected that the enzymatic hydroxylation leads to new products with enhanced solubility, stability and biological activities. The environmental and economic analysis of the biotechnological processes will determine the feasibility of the integral technology.
The working plan of this proposal comprises the following phases: 1) Production of AaeUPO under solid-state and submerged fermentations; 2) Optimization of the enzymatic reaction for the hydroxylation and oligomerization of flavonoids; 3) Characterization of the products: chemical structure, antioxidant activity, solubility and biological activities; 4) Economic and environmental feasibility of the AaeUPO production and its application for the transformation of flavonoids.
The impacts of BioFlav-OH will result in: i) Improvement in resource efficiency and cost-efficiency over comparable current UPO production technologies; ii) New market opportunities for UPO, iii) Validation of new and feasible bio-chemical technologies using immobilized UPO; iv) New products with significantly higher value from selective oxyfunctionalizations reactions.
NEPTUNUS aims to pursue a new transnational clustering concept approach to review, examine and harness key eco-labelling and key enabling eco-innovations that add-value and cross-cut sea food-water-energy domains in order to address barriers and to strengthen these sectors regionally and across jurisdictions in the Atlantic region. A standardised clustering framework to define, evaluate and modify future strategies is necessary, in order to assess interacting governing forces and balance the nutritional, economic and energetic value of the seafood sector so as to shape and inform industry growth aligned and informed by consumer engagement.
This overall goal can be achieved by means of two specific objectives:
1) Introducing green economy strategies in the seafood sector to minimize environmental impacts, whereas incorporating competitive products into green markets promoting eco-labelling under a NEXUS approach.
2) Developing strategies and policies based on circular economy and cradle-to-cradle principles that deliver new products and working systems to the seafood sector.
USABLE Packaging will develop high performance plastic packaging through a sustainable and fully circular value chain, where the biomass raw material sourcing derives from food processing side streams, to obtain, via a low footprint biochemical processing, a portfolio of bio-based biodegradable building block materials enabling the realisation of complex packaging structures, including laminates and multilayer films, to match key functional requirements of commercial petrochemical plastics, such as gas/ liquid barrier properties, mechanical resistance, cold temperature resistance, hot tack, among others, while enabling the realisation of a full set of packaging items from rigid to semi rigid and flexible by tuning the functionalisation of base resins through bio-synthesis and the compound processing.
USABLE Packaging concept is designed to retrofit the existing state of the art packaging processing technology by controlling the chemical and physical properties of the base building blocks materials. With respect to petrochemical peers USABLE Packaging offers a sustainable end-of-life, since on one hand materials are biodegradable with no harm to the environment, on the other hand they have potential to deliver additional economic value through organic recycling for production of biogas, with the same consolidated disposal route as bio-waste, or through biotech recycling, to be used again as feedstock for the production of the same base resins for USABLE Packaging, basically closing again and again the same value chain to re-obtain virgin materials.
Partners
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Coordinator), InnoExc GmbH, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Fundacion Gaiker, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Nuova Ompi srl, Innoven srl, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Bioinicia SL, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Barilla, Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association, Agricultural University of Athens, Sonae, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, SABIO srl, Universitè de Montpellier, Publi Embal, Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Matikem, Bio-Mi, Orogel, Caviro, PHR, Koruma
Further information
Website: www.usable-packaging.eu
Twitter: @Uspackproject
The objective of CONSERVAL is producing new sustainable management schemes based on the valorization of residual streams from fish canning industry to obtain higher value-added products, namely volatile fatty acids, oils and proteins. More specifically:
Fulfilling these objectives will provide the following results for the sector and cross-border cooperation:
Climate change and food safety have become interdependent worldwide research priorities. In order to meet the EU challenge of doubling food production by 2050 (to meet population demands) while dealing with the impact of climate change on food safety, investment in research to address this issue is required.
The overarching aim of this Innovative Training Network (ITN) is to provide high-level training in Predictive mOdelling Tools to evaluate the Effects of Climate change on food safeTy (PROTECT) to a new generation of high achieving early stage researchers. PROTECT will provide them with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in a burgeoning area that underpins innovative technological development across a range of diverse disciplines.
PROTECT brings together intersectoral and multidisciplinary expertise from 11 European Countries (7 third level educational institutions, 6 industry partners, 1 United Nations agency). The consortium will share technical and training expertise to recruit and train 8 highly skilled ESRs in advanced modelling tools to investigate the impact of climate change on food safety, considering food as unsafe if it is injurious to health (due to pathogenic bacteria or mycotoxins) or unfit for human consumption (due to spoilage bacteria). Moreover, PROTECT will use this new knowledge to create a science based decision support tool and develop policy guidance through a white paper. The consortium will support specialist job creation in an area central to human and environmental health while ensuring continued growth and public confidence in Europe’s agri-food sector.
- Beneficiaries: University College Dublin (Coordinator) (Prof. Enda Cummins), University of Malta (Prof. Vasilis Valdramidis) KU Leuven (Prof. Jan Van Impe) ONIRIS (Dr. Jeanne-Marie Membré) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Prof. Kostas Koutsoumanis) University of Nottingham (Prof. Serafim Bakalis) Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Prof. Almudena Hospido) CREME (Mr. Cronan McNamara)
- Organisations: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Danone, Feiraco, NIZO Food Research, Nestlé, ARLA Foods
Website: http://www.protect-itn.eu/
Twitter: @PROTECT-ITN
Facebook: PROTECT-ITN-MARIE-CURIE
"Joint PhD Laboratory for New Materials and Inventive Water Treatment Technologies. Harnessing resources effectively through innovation (NOWELTIES)" is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Action European Joint Doctorate (EJD) project (programme Innovative Training Networks ,ITN) funded by the European Commission (Horizon 2020).
Its primary objective is to organize a European Joint Doctorate platform that will provide cutting edge training opportunities for the education of tomorrow`s water treatment experts. NOWELTIES aims to train 14 Early Stage Researchers in state-of-the-art technologies for wastewater treatment. Some of its specific research objectives are: Understanding elimination of OMPs in WWTPs, Synthesis of novel nanomaterials and nanocomposites, Development of novel hybrid processes for WW (physico-chemical and biological), Optimisation of processes based on AOPs.
The Consortium of NOWELTIES gathers 9 project partners from Spain, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Serbia and 7 partner organizations.
ICRA (Girona, Spain): M. Petrovic, W. Gernjak, J. Radjenovic, G. Buttiglieri, M.J. Farre
USC (Santiago de Compostela, Spain): F. Omil, M.T. Moreira, S. Suárez, J.M. Lema, G. Feijoo
RWTH Aachen University (Germany): A. Schäffer, K. Smith
TUM (Munich, Germany): J.E. Drewes, U. Hübner
FKIT (F. Chem. Eng. Technol., U. Zagreb, Croatia): S. Babic, H. Kusic, D. Mutavdzic, A. Loncaric-Bozic, M. Cizmic FSB (F. Mechanical Eng & Naval Arquitecture, U. Zagreb, Croatia): L.Curkovic, D. Ljubas
TMF (F. Technology & Metalurgy, U. Belgrade, Serbia): N. Rajic, D. Povrenovic
IPB (Institute of Physics, U. Belgrade): N. Puac, N. Skoro, Z. Petrovic, G. Malovic
Partner organisations-Academic: IdG (U. Girona, Spain): A. Romani, FHNW (School Life Sci, Switzerland): P.F.X. Corvini, P. Shahgaldian, CETAQUA (Santiago, Spain): A. Sánchez
Partner organisations-Non academic FCC Aqualia (Madrid, Spain): F. Rogalla, HERA (Emilia-Romagna, Italy): E. Caporossi, Comprehensive Water Technology (CWT, Zagreb, Croatia): T. Bolanca
iFermenter project aims to recover high value compounds from sugar residuals, and to turn fermentation processes converting these residual to antimicrobials cost effective. The project has a potential to contribute to the global bio-based market by exploiting residual sugars (€0.5 / kg) to recover their high value compounds (€40-200 /kg) and, with the remaining sugars, produce several high value antimicrobials (€50- 150 /kg) by intelligent fermentation. These products have substantial economical and social impact. Our strains and technology will solve some of the major difficulties in up-scaling.
The WooBAdh project aims to study the feasibility of replacing formaldehyde in wood adhesives by natural components derived from wood or other vegetable matter. New bioadhesives, able to provide a holistic solution to the current emissions challenges facing the wood-based composites industry, will be developed by a consortium composed by research groups from France (University of Lorraine), Germany (Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg & Fraunhofer ICT), Slovenia (University of Ljubljana) and Spain (University of Santiago de Compostela, USC). The project is coordinated by the USC.
The proposed solution is focused on different modifications of polyphenols, namely lignin and tannins, for producing bioadhesives that do not contain formaldehyde in its formulation, eliminating in this way the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The substrates will be Kraft lignin, from the pulp and paper industry, hardwood organosolv lignin, as well as mimosa, quebracho and chesnut tannins. Depending on the nature of the raw material, some substrates may need to be modified at different levels for increasing their reactivity. Chemical and enzymatic approaches will be applied to modify the substrates. Then, on the modified and unmodified materials novel reactions to produce the bioadhesives will be evaluated. The key aspect to obtain suchbioadhesives is the system of hardening, without which any modification will be of no use.
To select the logo of the project a contest open to personnel and researchers from the partners institutions was carried out. Three design proposals were presented. The design presented by Beatriz Gullón, postdoc researcher from the University of Santiago de Compostela, was selected as the project logo by the Project Management Committee.
Winner design for the WooBAdh logo
After the kick-off meeting the first workshop of the project was carried out at the School of Engineering of the University of Santiago de Compostela. The event counted with the participation of personel from ENCE, FORESA, Betanzos-HB, ACOUGA and COEQGa. First, Prof. María T Moreira, from the USC, presented the project to all the participants, and then, the representative of the different institutions explained their points of view about the project, and the use of bioadhesives in general. After the meeting, there was a lunch with the representatives of the institutions and the partners.
The kick-off meeting of the project was celebrated last 16-17 of July at the School of Engineering of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). It counted with the participation of all project partners and also with a representative of the stakeholder SilvaTeam. In this meeting, the partners presented the planification of the activities of their respective work packages. Different management and general aspects of the project were also discussed. At the end of the first day of the meeting, the representatives had a dinner at a tradicional Galician restaurant.
The coordinated project TREASURE has as main objective the development and evaluation of a modular treatment train comprising two lines operated in parallel to valorise and treat the wastewater (WW) produced in the fish-canning industry.
Biogroup will be responsable of the Sub-Project 1 TECHNOSALT "Unravelling salt and temperature effects on the performance of an integral modular system for fish canning wastewater treatment and valorisation" Its objective is the development and evaluation of a modular treatment train comprising two lines which operate in parallel, to valorise and treat the fish-canning wastewater. TECHNOSALT will contribute to achieve this objective by means of the following particular objectives:
i) to evaluate the effect of salinity (5-35 g NaCl/L) and temperature (10-25 ºC) on the activity of different bacterial populations;
ii) to optimise the removal and valorisation (to obtain biopolymers) of the organic matter;
iii) to optimise the nitrogen removal (via nitrite);
iv) to optimise an integral modular treatment comprising two lines of valorisation, of the fats, oils and grease fraction (FOG), and treatment of the remaining fraction; and
v) to evaluate the treatment train by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
These particular objectives will provide information regarding the operation of the reaction systems that will be evaluated by the group of the Universidad de Granada (UGR) from the point of view of the microbial population dynamics in the subproject 2 MICROSALT.
Only combining the results of the reactors operation (TECHNOSALT) and the microbiological information (MICROSALT) the optimal operational conditions, to avoid destabilization issues and to promote optimal performance, will be defined; and as a consequence the environmental impact will be diminished.
BioSos (Sustainable Biorefineries) is a network of research groups working in different areas related to biomass biorefinery such as: fractionation processes, valorization of compounds, thermochemical biorefinery, catalyst design, simulation and optimization processes and life cycle assessment.
Partners:
Domestic wastewater (WW) is an important carrier of nutrients usually wasted away by current decentralised WW treatments (WWT). Run4Life proposes an alternative strategy for improving nutrient recovery rates and material qualities, based on a decentralised treatment of segregated black water (BW), kitchen waste and grey water combining existing WWT with innovative ultra-low water flushing vacuum toilets for concentrating BW, hyper-thermophilic anaerobic digestion as one-step process for fertilisers production and bio-electrochemical systems for nitrogen recovery. It is foreseen up to 100% nutrient (NPK) recovery (2 and >15 times current P and N recovery rates) and >90% water reuse. Obtained products will be >90% reused thanks to prospective end-users in the consortium and a new Business model based on a cooperative financial scheme. Run4Life impacts will be evaluated on safety and security (Risk Assessment), from an environmental point of view (Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Technical Verification), on the economy (Benefit Cost Analysis) and considering Social Risk Perception. Active measures will be developed with the support of a Stakeholders and Exploitation Panel for achieving institutional, legal and social acceptance. Different parts of Run4Life will be large scale demonstrated at 4 demo-sites in Belgium, Spain, Netherlands and Sweden, adapting the concept to different scenarios (market, society, legislation). Performance tests will be carried out with obtained products (compared to commercial fertilisers) with close collaboration with fertiliser companies. Process will be optimised by on-line monitoring key performance indicators (nutrient concentration, pathogens, micropollutants). The information obtained in the 4 demo-sites will be used for process simulation to conceive a unified Run4Life model which will be applied in a fifth demo-site in Czech Republic, allowing new business opportunities and providing data for critical raw material policies.
More info at website run4life-project
STAR-ProBio constitutes a multidisciplinary project that will: (i) Meet environmental, social and economic challenges, paving the way for a much-needed sustainability transition towards a bio-based economy; (ii) Promote a more efficient and harmonized policy regulation framework; (iii) Boost the market-pull of bio-based products within the context on a sustainable 21st Century.
The overall objective of the project is to promote a more efficient and harmonized policy regulation framework for the market-pull of bio-based products. This will be achieved by developing a fit-for-purpose sustainability scheme, including standards, labels and certifications. An integral part of STAR-ProBio is the adoption of life-cycle methodologies to measure Environmental, techno-economic and social impacts, and comprehensively assess the roll-out of bio-based products. The analysis of selected case studies on construction materials, bio-based polymers, and fine chemicals, will ensure that the approach is not too broad and theoretic, allowing the benchmarking against non-bio-based products.
More information at website: www.star-probio.eu
AquaVal is framed in the subtopic in Challenge I the "water reuse and water recycling technologies in the agriculture and freshwater aquaculture sectors", with clear relation to other challenges and subtopics and the European Strategy on Bioeconomy. AquaVal aims to the development of technological solutions for the treatment of water used in freshwater aquaculture facilities. The technological solutions will be combined to comprise a full treatment system, to remove pollutants and valorise effluents following the circular economy precepts. Treated water will be obtained with quality for recycling/reuse to the producing facility or discharge into natural water sources. This system will include the application of biological treatment technologies where biomass is grown in the form of granules and enriched in microbial populations able to remove nutrients and micropollutants. Application of new processes, which are less energy requiring, will be evaluated like: a) anammox, which takes place in nature in large extension, or b) microalgae in association to bacteria. In this way nitrogen will be removed from the water in systems different from biofilters used nowadays, with the advantage that carrier material is not required for biomass support, and that less energy is required. With the output water from the previous described technology, a bivalve filtration unit will be kept, in order to test bivalves growth capacity improving the efficiency of proposed system, thus taking advantage from their filtration ability. This water depuration step will be accomplished using adults bivalves from the wild but, eventually could also be used for rearing endangered species of freshwater mussels in Spain, promoting biodiversity protection and endangered species conservation. Validation of the pilot plant will be performed to evaluate the economic, environmental and production performance of the proposed system.
The expected general benefits for aquaculture systems coming from this proposal are:
The proposal involves as beneficiary participants 3 universities (Universidade Católica Portuguesa-UCP, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela-USC, University of Torino-DVS) and 1 company (Grupo TresMares-GTM) which will cooperate closely with stakeholders to achieve the project main objective.
Revalorización de residuos agroindustriales para la obtención de compuestos de valor añadido
