SUSPENS will develop a holistic approach, from bio-sourced and recycled materials to faster and lesser energy demanding processes, to produce sustainable composite structural parts, ensuring their manufacturability from the design conceptualization. This ambition is basically achieved by the R&D of the coupling bio/circular-materials and processes. SUSPENS will develop up to 95% bio-sourced thermoset resins, with formulations allowing fast cured manufacturing processes and properties adapted to high performance lightweight composite applications. To produce the parts, these resins will be combined with sustainable continuous reinforcing fibre such as natural based cellulose fibres, lignin-based CF, recycled CF staple yarn and continuous GF made from recycled GF for producing well engineered sandwich and hollow parts for transport industries. Some of these parts will be functionalised for added value and reduced assembling times. SUSPENS will also develop an innovative approach for sustainable, optimized energy reduced pyrolysis, using waste stream from the carbonization of precursors, reducing environmental impact of carbon fibre production. For the bio-epoxy, a specific solvolysis will be developed to separate the matrix from the fibres. SUSPENS will assess the valorisation of oil and organic components in these two recycling approaches to transform them into by-products. LCA and LCC studies will show that SUSPENS approaches, combining sustainable materials and processes, can reduce the CO2eq emissions at expected levels of about 40-50%. These achievements will be validated by producing three demonstrators with their respective business models: (1) automotive battery pack for electric vehicle, (2) sailing boat hull/deck and (3) aero-structure winglet part. SUSPENS results will pay-back in terms of lesser energy consumption and environmentally friendly products that can be recycled and expects to bring its assets to the market end of 2028.

The Process Industries require a high degree of automation, monitoring, and advanced simulation and control for their often complex manufacturing processes and operations. Emphasis is on continuous or batch production, mixing, reaction and separation of materials of higher value. Indeed, increased globalisation and competition are drivers for process analytical technologies (PAT) that enable seamless process control, greater flexibility and cost efficiency. ProPAT aims to develop novel sensors and analysers for providing measurements on composition, particle size and local bulk properties, as well as more traditional but smart sensors for measuring other process parameters, such as temperature, flowrate, pressure, etc., and integrate them into a versatile global control platform for data acquisition, data processing & mining and User Interface in order to measure properties of process streams and products, accurately and in real-time. The platform also provides self-learning and predictive capabilities aimed for dramatically reducing overcosts derived from even slight deviations from the optimum process. Low cost MEMS-NIR spectroscopic and granulometric analysers, smart sensors for in batch and in continuous processes will be developed and integrated into the global control platform with the chemometric tools and the predictive software to deliver an integrated process control platform. ProPAT will enable near real time closed-loop process control to operate industrial processes at their optimum, both economically and environmentally, while ensuring high levels of quality. It will also allow the uptake of the Quality by Design for continuous process improvement. The project results will be validated in different processes and applications including milling of minerals, ceramics, metals, mixing and granulation of pharma products and polymerization of resins, and will represent a major step forward towards more efficient, reliable and sustainable industrial operation

ELOXYCHEM will establish a commercially relevant electrochemical oxidation process that will become a strategic development to replace existing chemical conversion processes that are heavily reliant on imported materials such as nitric acid and imported fossil-fuels such as natural gas. ELOXYCHEM will promote a credible pathway for Europe’s twin transition (green and digital) by demonstrating: (i) a new transformational electrochemical conversion platform process at a pilot scale (multiple tonnes per annum) consisting of reactors and downstream separation to final products with marketable specification to reliably achieve TRL6; (ii)drop-in replacement technology for chemical conversion. ELOXYCHEM will also optimise the process to demonstrate versatility of the process to multiple feedstocks ranging from current feedstocks and future bio-based and biogenic sources. Using AI strategies for optimisation the pilot plant will be targeted improve electrochemical performance, improve lifetime and reduce cost; prove viability of integrating with renewable energy sources considering intermittency and potential to offer demand-response flexibility; integrate process design, including materials, reactor/cell, and separation methods, from the process intensification and cost perspectives. ELOXYCHEM brings together a world-leading consortium consisting of chemical/bulk material producers, manufacturers, and universities from across Europe to addresses the expected outcomes and achieve energy consumption savings of ~60% compared with existing processes, ELOXYCHEM´s disruptive approach will help chemical industries transform their production process to reduce waste, use of harmful precursor chemicals, and become less energy intensive.