In the wind power generation, aerospace and other industry sectors there is an emerging need to operate in the low temperature and highly erosive environments of extreme weather conditions. Such conditions mean current materials either have a very short operational lifetime or demand such significant maintenance as to render many applications either very expensive to operate or in some cases non-viable. EIROS will develop self-renewing, erosion resistant and anti-icing materials for composite aerofoils and composite structures that can be adapted by different industrial applications: wind turbine blades and aerospace wing leading edges, cryogenic tanks and automotive facia. The addition of novel multi-functional additives to the bulk resin of fibre reinforced composites will allow the achievement of these advanced functionalities. Multi-scale numerical modelling methods will be adopted to enable a materials by design approach to the development of materials with novel structural hierarchies. These are capable of operating in severe operating environments. The technologies developed in this project will provide the partners with a significant competitive advantage. The modification of thermosets resins for use in fibre composite resins represents both a chemically appropriate and highly flexible route to the development of related materials with different applications. It also builds onto existing supply chains which are represented within the partnership and provides for European materials and technological leadership and which can assess and demonstrate scalability. The partnership provides for an industry led project with four specific end users providing both market pull and commercial drive to further progress the materials technology beyond the lifetime of the project.

The CO-PILOT project addresses the field of nanocomposites which has witnessed remarkable progress (compound annual growth rate of 18%) in recent years with many different types of nanocomposites exhibiting radically enhanced properties for a wide range of industrial applications. The CO-PILOT project aims to develop an open access infrastructure for SMEs interested in the production of high quality (multi-)functional nanocomposites on a pilot scale. In CO-PILOT this infrastructure will be prepared for access (‘open acess’) by SME’s beyond the project. It will be able to produce typically 20 to 100 kg nanocomposite product, characterize it and validate its performance. This is sufficient to make management decisions to progress to the next step of new nanocomposite product development. CO-PILOT aims to set new standards for high-quality nanoparticle production with the assistance of in-line nanoparticle dispersion quality monitoring. CO-PILOT chooses to develop a centrifuge module to address the adequate and automated down-stream processing of the nanoparticle dispersions. CO-PILOT will test and validate the pilot line infrastructure. Based on the consultation of SME nanocomposite producers, CO-PILOT has chosen the following range of industrial nanocomposite applications : - flame and smoke inhibiting polymer materials (layered double hydroxides) - acid scavenging used as anti-corrosion and in polymer stabilisation (layered hydroxides) - heat isolating plastics (hollow/porous silica) - light-weight flame inhibiting composites (layered hydroxides combined with hollow/porous silica) - UV protective polymer coatings (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) - high refractive index, visually transparent polymer (titanium dioxide) - low-refractive index polymer (hollow/porous silica) - anti-glare polymer coatings (hollow/porous silica) - magnetic recoverable catalyst nano-composite beads (magnetite).

AUTOLOOP’s primary ambition is to become a transformative force in the European Textile and Clothing Industry, supporting its transition towards a sustainable circular economy by effectively addressing its current critical challenges. Its overall objective is to develop cutting-edge and scalable technology to build the next generation system for intelligent automated sorting and advanced chemical recycling of non-rewearable textiles (NRT), science-based additive tracing and digitalisation of the textile value chain. Technology development is at the core of the project bringing artificial intelligence powered automated sorting, advanced chemical recycling and additive tracing technologies from their current Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL 5. The textile Data Hub will collect and process data from each recycling step in a Digital Product Passport-compatible format, facilitating transparency, data accessibility and interoperability. The AUTOLOOP chemical recycling technologies are pollutant-resistant and can extract pollutants from the NRT feedstock to deliver a clean and safe fibre product stream through the value chain to the customers. Preliminary modelling suggests that 96% of the net input post-consumer textile can be re-used or recycled by the AUTOLOOP system. According preliminary estimations, a total of 33 AUTOLOOP systems with individual capacity of 11.25 t/h post-consumer textile input can process the total current available NRT potential (1.24 Mt/a) producing: about i) 350,000 t/a of pure NRT fractions, ii) 372,000 t/a Lyocell-fibres, iii) 300,000 t/a virgin quality polyester fibres, iv) 114,000 t/a polyamide and other synthetic fibres. A preliminary estimate suggests that by processing the mentioned NRT potential, the resource savings account to approx. 12,500 million m3 of water, 4.5 TWh of energy and 450,000 ha arable land, relieving pressure from land use change issues and making water available for food and feed production.

The core vision of the BATMACHINE project is centred on strengthening Europe’s battery cell industrial manufacturing value chain by developing new battery cell manufacturing machinery. This is done whilst giving priority to minimising the energy energy for cells production, enhancing plant efficiency rates and integrating intelligent control processes to reduce scrap. BATMACHINE will develop and implement an optimised and energy-efficient process chain considering: • Slurry mixing (automated modular process set-up including monitoring techniques); • Exclusive slot-die coating and drying novel machinery (with one side coating, a coating speed of 1m/min up to 20m/min and a web-width of 300 mm); • Together with a calendaring tool to be integrated in a battery manufacturer for process optimisation. Moreover, intelligent control processes and Industry 4.0 will be intensively integrated through the creation of a collaborative and FAIR data space for battery production. Digital interfaces between battery manufacturing equipment, control system, and engineers will be developed with the aim of building universal digitalisation tools to enhance the battery production and create a battery passport. The environmental and economic impact of different machinery, production line configurations and factory designs will be deeply studied to reduce the cost and energy consumption of manufacturing processes.