The presence of mycotoxins in food and feed may affect human and animal health as they may cause different adverse health effects such as induction of cancer and mutagenicity, as well as gastrointestinal disorders. EC Regulation 1881/2006 concerning foodstuff, one of the strictest in the world, is causing a major increase of agricultural rejects of almost 20 million tonnes due to the concentration limits imposed for certain mycotoxins in food products. On average 10-30% of total corn stored for our annual production is not able to comply with these limits, representing economic losses up to €1M. In addition, in corn by-products mycotoxins concentration is up to 20 times more of than in the final product. This is causing a reduction in competiveness of EU agro-companies like Corn Valley, which currently have to direct fractions with high peaks of mycotoxins to animal feed or for biogas production, lowering the potential incomes from these by-products (over 30% of our total production). CORNposite wants to use the parts of the corn with the highest levels of mycotoxins to produce a new sustainable and stabilised material, as the thermal process to manufacture our corn-based plastic composite has proved to destroy the toxins. CORNposite will bring a revolutionary system for agro-waste valorisation, which can be applied by a huge number of agriculture companies (as technology can be replicated thanks to state-of-the-art machinery), at the time that a new line of green products will be put in the plastics market. We Corn Valley and NaturePlast are working together with the aim of developing our process prototype (currently at TRL6) to establish a new model for sustainable supply chain of raw materials for bioplastics production, through the valorisation of corn processing rejects into a novel range of bio-based composite plastics for 3 different applications: construction (decking and fencing), automobile interior parts and packaging.

BIOCOMPLACK is a biobased, biodegradable and compostable food packaging with enhances barrier properties. BIOCOMPLACK is a food biopackaging with three main points of innovation: the use of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), the multilayer structure and the PLA biopolymer reinforced with organoclays which contain natural food preservatives. These three innovations will enhance the barrier properties to oxygen (more than 100 times compared with common biopackaging) and water vapour as well as will improve the shelf-life of food. BIOCOMPLACK is an alternative to common bio-packaging products that enhances 300% the shelf-life of food. This international project is born in a consortium integrated by two large enterprises (Sapici and Goglio), two small-medium enterprises (SMEs) (NaturePlast and Tecnopackaging) and a research institution (Packlab, University of Milan) from four different countries which together cover the supply chain of the food packaging industry. BIOCOMPLACK will have strong impact in the society and in the environment. BIOCOMPLACK will be an eco-friendly packaging from natural renewable sources instead of fossil fuels, will reduce the plastic packaging waste thanks to its biodegradability in the nature and will generate at the end of its useful life an added value product, the compost (to improve the quality of soils and provide nutrients). Our BIOCOMPLACK solution will provide a loop cycle of sustainability. European Union will be also impacted by BIOCOMPLACK because it will make a substantial contribution to innovation in the European economy, will reduce the import of biopackaging from outside the EU and we will export at international level. This consortium will also be benefited by bringing into the market the BIOCOMPLACK food packaging in 36 months. The profitability of the project presents for the first 5 years a ROI of 2.47 and the pay-back of the project will be achieved after 2 years and 9 months after the beginning of the commercialization

One of the specific impacts of CBE JU programme is to replace at least 30% of fossil-based raw materials with bio-based and biodegradable ones by 2030, potential scope for bioplastics manufacturing processes is foreseen in the coming decade. The urgent need of increasing sustainability has also affected flame retardants. During the last decades, the number of studies based on developing bio-based flame retardants has increased considerably together with their incorporation in formulations based on bio-based polymers. However, the use of bio-based flame retardants with bio-based polymers has not been properly covered. The THERMOFIRE project aims to be a pioneer in this field, consequently, the flame retardancy of the 100% bio-based composites will be deeply developed and investigated. Fire retardancy is a key property of materials used for applications in the automotive, aerospace and textile sectors due to the need to minimize fire risk and meet safety requirements. In the THERMOFIRE project up to 100% bio-based polymers will be reinforced with different natural fibers (e.g., regenerated cellulose from wood and commercial flax) and bio-based flame retardants aiming at giving excellent flame retardancy to the final bio-based thermoplastic (TP) composites. The innovation of THERMOFIRE relies on the development of high-performance composites with a 20% reduction in weight and 15% in cost while maintaining the required levels of safety suitable for applications under stringent operating conditions. THERMOFIRE project represents a genuine opportunity to remove Europe’s dependence on imports of fossil-based polymers for stringent operating conditions in the aerospace, automotive and textile sectors.

DEEP PURPLE creates a holistic consortium to transform diluted urban bio-wastes, including mixed waste streams, organicfraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), wastewater (WW) and sewage sludge (SS), into feedstock for bio-industry toobtain sustainable bio-products. This revolutionary concept will be implemented in a novel Single-Site Multi-Platform Concept (Biomass, Cellulose and Biogas) to replace current polluting destructive practices with new value added concepts. The beneficial use of bio-waste is obtained by an innovative combination of optimized recovery technologies and novel solutions: the Purple Phototrophic Bacteria (PPB) PhotoBiorefinery. The use of PPB -the most versatile metabolismreported- ensures the adaption to fluctuating and diluted waste streams to support a stable and profitable production chain. Thefirst PPB PhotoBiorefinery in the EU (the biggest worldwide) will be validated in different environmental, economic, logisticand social scenarios. The concept will be implemented by end-users from four municipalities, namely Madrid (ES), Toledo (ES), and the Moravia-Silesia Region(CZ) to transform bio-wastes (OFMSW: 422 t/y, mixed waste: 438,000 m3/y) into high-added value bioproducts:fine chemicals (bio-cosmetics), fertilizers, bio-packaging and self-repairing construction materials. The marketuptake of DEEP PURPLE is facilitated by optimal logistics of bio-wastes conversion (reduction of landfilled OFMSW: 60%, WWTP, solids recovery: 71%), and bio-products quality to favor their commercialization (440 t/y). The integration of valuechains is boosted by relevant stakeholder’s participation and innovative business models, minimizing waste and maximizingbenefits (85 M€ benefits, GHG emissions savings: 11,300 tCO2eq/y in 2025). Key communities (social engagementstrategies) will participate in the new value creation, calibrating the returns of the project like social innovation promotion and creation of new opportunities along the urban value cycle.

European materials industry is considered a key enabler for industrial development and the EU has a historically strategic position in this sector. However, there is a low uptake in European materials industry for digital technologies. Hereby, it is crucial to provide all stakeholders of the EU with advanced digital technologies to evolve towards an agile European materials industry with intelligent enterprises that maximise and integrate the utility of digital materials sciences knowledge. DiMAT will develop Open Digital Tools with a set of advanced technologies for offering European SMEs and Mid-Caps an affordable (in terms of cost, implementation and usability) full modelling, simulation and optimisation system in each stage of the material value chain (design, processing and manufacturing) for improving quality, sustainability, effectiveness, and competitiveness of materials. DiMAT will deploy 3 integrated Suites: 1) DiMAT Data and Assessment Suite: digital technologies for storing, sharing, representing and assessing materials data; 2) DiMAT DiMAT Modelling and Design Suite: digital technologies for material design, in terms of their internal structure, properties and performance, in order to predict the material behaviour before manufacturing; 3) DiMAT Simulation and Optimisation Suite: digital technologies for creating efficient materials manufacturing simulation processes and determining the behaviour of the material mechanical characterization models to be used in the AI training and prediction. The DiMAT Suites will be demonstrated in 4 Pilots of European designers and producers of different materials: textile, composite, glass and graphite.