Today 2.5 million tonnes of composite material are in use in the wind energy sector globally. Wind turbine blades are made up of composite materials that allow lighter and longer blades with optimised aerodynamic shape, which boost the performance of wind energy. However, current wind blade composites exhibit relatively short life spans, are problematic to repair and are notoriously difficult to recycle. As we continue to build more wind farms these issues pose a major problem to achieving a truly sustainable European wind energy sector. The EOLIAN project will develop an innovative new smart wind turbine blade, manufactured from an infinitely recyclable circular platform chemistry, with in-mould electronics (recyclable sensors and heating actuators) that detect damage early before it becomes a major issue. EOLIAN is the breakthrough that will make obsolete single-use engineering resins in wind blade manufacture. Our unique blade is made using vitrimers, a new class of polymer combining the performance of thermosets with the processability and logistical benefits of thermoplastics. Vitrimer resins enable circularly recyclable composite structures (1), and the option of post-cure processing provides unprecedented manufacturing flexibility (2), but also repairability (3). These three features will provide a truly sustainable and step-change approach in how wind turbine blades are maintained, re-shaped for new applications and/or recycled in a circular economy. In the project we will validate these performance claims through the manufacture, testing and benchmarking of a smart sensor-assisted vitrimer-based composite 14m prototyped wind blade. Additionally, we will prove circular recyclability through the manufacture of 2nd generation composites with (i) recycled fibers and recycled vitrimer obtained after the chemical recycling by vacuum infusion; (ii) with composite parts produced by SMC (Sheet Mould Compound) following mechanical recycling.

To achieve climate neutrality in aviation by 2050, hydrogen powered aircraft propulsion can be key. For this, several challenges need to be tackled such as thermal management and heat rejection of fuel cells in the aircraft. For each watt of electricity produced by a fuel cell, one watt of waste heat is generated. Recuperating it to further use would be indeed an asset. The exFan project will target such innovation by including a ducted heat exchanger in the nacelle of the propulsion system. It will use the ram jet effect, called also "Meredith effect" (ME) to generate thrust from waste heat. The design of a lightweight heat exchanger and the recovery of waste heat using the ME are promising topics further investigated in detail here. The exFan system will be included in a geared electric fan propulsion system of mega-watt class powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology. The heat exchanger will be a bionic design duly surface finished to hinder particle accumulation, corrosion, and erosion. Additionally, novel thermal management system will be designed, to optimize the heat quality of the waste heat and control the heat flux of the propulsion system. Optimal operation conditions will also be investigated. A simulation model will be set up for operation parameter optimization. First functional lab scale tests of exFan will serve to verify such model. The breakthrough innovations proposed in exFan will i) allow European aircraft producers to offer savings in cost operation ii) enable European aeronautics industry to maintain global competitiveness and leadership, and iii) create significant contribution in the path towards CO2 and NOX emission free aircrafts. exFan brings together multidisciplinary experts from academia, aeronautical associations and industry, supported by a selected technical advisory board. exFan will be in close contact with Clean Aviation and Clean Hydrogen to create synergies and speed up the development.

The project is directed at addressing challenges for developing next-generation high-entropy-alloy-based multi-component green (free of toxic substances) and sustainable (rare earth free & minimum critical metal elements) coatings with predictable functionalities, performance and life - aiming at increasing wear resistance by 100%, corrosion/oxidation reThe project is directed at addressing challenges for developing next generation high entropy alloy-based multi-component green (free of toxic substances) and sustainable (rare earth free & minimum critical metal elements) coatings with predictable functionalities, performance and life (hardness & wear resistance increased by 50-100%, corrosion resistance increased by 20-40%, and thermal stability & oxidation resistance increased by 30-60%) and effectively reduced use of CRMs by 30-40% by integrating AI/ML underpinned Computational Modelling with Safe and Sustainability by Design framework facilitated by high-throughput characterisation & evaluation. These developments together will lead to a much efficient approach and tool to support the co-design of coating materials and substrate systems, optimisation of PVD processes, and reduced overall new coating system development cycle time by 50-100%, and material savings and waste reductions for developing the new coating systems by at least by 4-5 folds, comparing to traditional experimental trials and error approaches. The advancement of M2DESCO will contribute to combating the loss in EU region caused by corrosion and wear, excellently increase the global profile and competitive edge of EU modelling community and significantly strengthen the competitiveness of EU coating research and business with an European market size of €196 mill in 2020 and €421M in 2026 for anti-corrosion coatings and anti-wear hard coatings respectively thus greatly benefiting the wider manufacturing chain and effectively increasing the global competitiveness and the resilience of EU industry.

The overarching objective of DigiPass is to enhance the digital maturity of the European communities that develop materials and intermediate products. The project will develop recommendations and clear routes toward digitalized circular business models. The overarching key result of DigiPass is to create a sustainable platform which includes support for Digital Materials & Product Passport and for collaborative innovation-by-design processes in a circular economy served by advanced materials. A business model for operating such a platform completes the overarching objective. DigiPass is harmonizing and synergizing collected materials data sources and digital infrastructures. This will enable interoperability of data exchange, and standardization of advanced materials knowledge representation at all maturity levels. Accelerating the design, development, and production of advanced, safe, and sustainable chemicals and materials, as they are necessary for innovative products, calls for a collaborative approach involving different stakeholders to support durability, repair and overhaul, reuse, and recyclability of products. DigiPass project impacts all materials development communities over the whole circular value chain.

BIOGEMSE aims to develop and manufacture bio-intelligent, sustainable, circular, and safe modular construction products to pioneer a new way of building in modern architecture. To achieve that, the project is built on 3 working fields: i) Circular and sustainable bio-based materials for Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes, expanding their opportunities in the construction sector, ii) production "biologisation" through highly flexible digital and robotised AM; and iii) manufacturing-enabled bio-intelligent product performance. In BIOGEMSE, green and circular mortars will be fine-tuned for the AM processes and generative AI tools will be employed to explore novel bio-mimicking structures. AM will provide the high level of flexibility and customization required, and BIOGEMSE will work on extending 3D printing systems capabilities (at HW and SW levels) targeting bio-intelligent performance. At HW level, a novel robot printing head incorporating kinetics redundancy will be developed. At SW level, advanced monitoring and control tools will be integrated. Manufacturing will be further supported by process and products Digital Twins, simulation workflows, and AI-based decision support tools for Zero Defect Manufacturing. Moreover, a standardized and interoperable digital framework will be deployed, together with a Digital Product Passport, and environmental impact, circularity and safety will be considered through sound SSbD methodologies. The bio-intelligent modular structures will be deployed in 3 Smart Living Labs with different functional requirements and climatic conditions to validate the new products and boost their replication potential at EU-wide level. Technology-driven strategies will be complemented with the most adequate sustainable business models at global scale, and with a training strategy for professional skilling. To address this, BIOGEMSE gathers a competitive, industry-driven, multi-disciplinar, balanced and value-chain oriented consortium.