Power electronics is the key technology to control the flow of electrical energy between source and load for a wide variety of applications from the GWs in energy transmission lines, the MWs in datacenters that power the internet to the mWs in mobile phones. Wide band gap semiconductors such as GaN use their capability to operate at higher voltages, temperatures, and switching frequencies with greater efficiencies. The GaNonCMOS project aims to bring GaN power electronic materials, devices and systems to the next level of maturity by providing the most densely integrated materials to date. This development will drive a new generation of densely integrated power electronics and pave the way toward low cost, highly reliable systems for energy intensive applications. This will be realized by integrating GaN power switches with CMOS drivers densely together using different integration schemes from the package level up to the chip level including wafer bonding between GaN on Si(111) and CMOS on Si (100) wafers. This requires the optimization of the GaN materials stack and device layout to enable fabrication of normally-off devices for such low temperature integration processes (max 400oC). In addition, new soft magnetic core materials reaching switching frequencies up to 200 Mhz with ultralow power losses will be developed. This will be assembled with new materials and methods for miniaturised packages to allow GaN devices, modules and systems to operate under maximum speed and energy efficiency. A special focus is on the long term reliability improvements over the full value chain of materials, devices, modules and systems. This is enabled by the choice of consortium partners that cover the entire value chain from universities, research centers, SME’s, large industries and vendors that incorporate the developed technology into practical systems such as datacenters, automotive, aviation and e-mobility bikes

The FIREFLY project rises to the sustainable evolution of the catalyst-based chemical industry, towards its electrification and reduced third-party dependence on metals and fossil energy. The controversial sustainability challenges and opportunities in catalysts recycling/production and catalyzed chemical processes motivated the synergy of 16 partners proposing the FIREFLY concept, relying on the development of: i) Electro-driven technologies for metal recycling from spent, waste, and off-specification catalysts available in Europeincluding a modelling, optimization, and engineering approach; ii) Efficient integration of renewable electricity; iii) A digital tool for predictive decision-making; iv) Production of (electro)catalysts for innovative (electro)chemical processes that overcome traditional production associated with high operating conditions, greenhouse gas emissions, and lack of circularity. The 48-month project foresees 3 stages: i) The technologies involved in the concept will be developed to TRL4, accompanied by an integrated sustainability assessment that will support the selection of the most promising technology routes based on their environmental and techno-economic performance. ii) The selected flowsheets will form the FIREFLY process, in a small-scale pilot. They will be demonstrated at TRL6 in the predictive, RES powered, and flexible production of new metal-based (electro)catalysts from secondary resources as well as in the application of these outputs in innovative (electro)chemical processes of selected chemicals: ammonia and hydrogen peroxide (with current environmental and operational concerns), depolymerization of lignin and biomass processing for bio-based chemicals (in support of defossilization of the chemical industry). iii) The activities and results will be effectively communicated, disseminated, and exploited to a wide set of stakeholders.

Europe's ambitious energy and climate goals are heavily dependent on critical raw materials such as Rare Earth Elements (REEs). The largest end-user of REEs is the permanent magnet (PM) industry for electric mobility and renewable energy technologies. The growth in those strategic sectors till 2050 is expected to increase the demand of Neodymium (Nd) and Dysprosium (Dy) by ~4 and ~12 times, respectively. However, Europe depends 100% on REEs imports and there are no market-ready substitutes. Despite the fact that significant amounts of EoL products containing REE-based PMs are collected in Europe, the current recycling processes do not allow PMs recovery, and therefore they are lost downstream. To face this challenge, the REEPRODUCE project aims at setting up, for the first time, a resilient and complete European REEs-recycling value chain, at industrial scale for the recovery of REEs at competitive cost compared to REEs primary production in China (at least 25% cheaper) with environmentally friendly and socially sustainable technologies. REEPRODUCE will capitalize on the knowledge generated in previous projects and aim to solve all remaining technical challenges along the value chain to construct pilots able to produce 70 t of PMs per year from variety of EoL products bearing Nd-based PMs. Additionally it will demonstrate the conversion of PMs extracted from many different EoL products into high purity Rare Earth Elements Oxide (REO)-mixtures and Rare Earth Elements Alloy (REA) that will be used in the manufacturing of new PMs with performances similar to those manufactured with virgin REEs-intensive materials. This project is formed by key partners covering the whole value chain, including EoL products recyclers, metal recyclers, manufacturers of equipment for recycling, producers of REEs-intensive material and PMs, developers of technologies successfully proven in previous projects, and experts in dissemination, communication and exploitation.

SOURCE will develop, improve and demonstrate in an industrially relevant environment economically and environmentally viable routes for producing battery-grade synthetic graphite for high-performance anodes. SOURCE will first enable the production of carbon precursors from heterogeneous raw material sources, including alternative sustainable petroleum feedstocks, bio-waste and black mass from recycled batteries, to reduce the current dependence of synthetic graphite from petroleum-based coke. Sustainable technologies to transform these materials into carbon feedstock will be demonstrated at TRL6/7. Additionally, low-temperature graphitization techniques (30% potential reduction of the energy consumption and production cost. Innovative high-performance Carbon@graphite, Si@graphite, and graphene@graphite coatings and anode (capacity > 350 mAh/g) will be formulated, fabricated, tested and validated in 1Ah prototype pouch cells at TRL7. Recycling processes to recover graphite at low cost with >90% purity from LiB EoL batteries and >98% purity from anode production scrap will be demonstrated at TRL7. LCA and LCC analysis will be delivered to accurately assess the sustainability of SOURCE synthetic graphite and value chain defining the best routes to ensure economic and environmental sustainability. SOURCE brings together key EU industries with main businesses in graphite precursors and synthetic graphite production, and advanced anode formulation, supported by EU leading RTOs forming the complete value chain to produce high quality synthetic graphite in a sustainable and economic way. SOURCE achievements will increase EU competitiveness and independence from foreign graphite suppliers and anode manufacturers. SOURCE technologies and materials will be directly exploited by its top-level industrial partners with a direct market presence and already established commercial channels, ensuring SOURCE value chain sustainability.

VALUEMAG project aims to provide groundbreaking solutions for microalgae production and harvesting as well as scaling up biomass transformation systems in order to provide new technologies for aquatic/marine biomass integrated bio-refineries. Production-cultivation and harvesting objectives are achieved by using magnetic nanotechnologies: superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPAN) are introduced into microalgae protoplasm in order to confer them magnetic properties. Magnetic microalgae (MAGMA) are immobilized onto a soft magnetic conical surface (SOMAC) and covered with a thin layer of continuously circulating water. A greenhouse hosts SOMAC system to exposure MAGMA to sunlight, minimize contamination and temperature-humidity uncertainties. Quantity of water is minimized and harvesting will be fast and inexpensive. These innovations permit optimum cultivation, enhance biomass productivity and dramatically lower costs of biomass production. Biomass is directly utilized by VALUEMAG multi-facilities bio-refinery for the production molecules for pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals, food additives and cosmetics. Using selected microalgae strains, natural products will be extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction, while a new selective magnetic separation method for precise selection of value-added products will be also developed. To reduce the amount of greenhouse gases realized in the environment and further lower costs of biomass, CO2 produced by transformation processes as well as water are recycled and used to enhance microalgae growth rate. All together VALUEMAG achievements will perfectly meet the demand of capturing the potential of aquatic biomass. The project outputs will bring to the market a broad variety of value-added products in sustainable way. Finally, competitiveness of the European industry will be improved since there are not pilot installations or state-of-the-art bio-refineries utilizing magnetic nanotechnology to cultivate microalgae.