Decarbonization of processes, scarcity of raw materials and Europe independence on key resources, valorisation of industrial waste are all key and strong challenges the EU metallurgy industry is facing and will have to deal with in the next decades to remain sustainable while keeping its economic competitiveness. This is particularly true for the manganese (Mn) & Mn ferroalloys industries. HAlMan represents a game changer in the metallurgical industry in view of developing sustainable processes with low carbon footprint, low energy consumption, no solid waste generation, valorisation of secondary raw materials from mining and metallurgical industry. HAlMan will demonstrate at TRL 7 an integrated process to produce Mn metal and Mn alloys from Mn ores and Mn-containing waste by using hydrogen and secondary aluminum (Al) sources as reductants. As metallurgical processes have large share in CO2 emission, decarbonization in metallurgical industry is essential to operate metal production in Europe. The benefits of the HAlMan innovative process will go beyond Mn and Mn Ferroalloys industries, and it presents a unique intersectoral approach in circular economy where: • Al-containing dross/scrap, and waste from ferromanganese industry are valorised to produce directly new Al-Mn master alloys for Al and Steel industries • metallurgical grade alumina (the feedstock for Al production, produced almost exclusively from Bauxite which is a CRM for EU) is produced via a zero-carbon footprint process • the extraction of critical raw materials, including REEs, from the alumina production process by-products will be demonstrated • the production of manganese oxide and cell fabrication for lithium-ion battery applications will be demonstrated. Additionally, HAlMan project studies heat and hydrogen recovery from process gas to improve process economy and yield. Significant activities on Life cycle assessment, Business development, dissemination and communication will be carried.

Global alumina production capacity is forecast to grow by 30% over the next ten years. Unfortunately, Europe cannot keep the competition and is highly dependent on imported alumina and bauxite. ENSUREAL project’s main objective is to decrease this dependence and characterise all the streams of the alumina industry in order to valorise them and make the European aluminium industry more competitive at a global scale. In order to do so, ENSUREAL addresses the production of alumina of the aluminium production sector, through the introduction of a new technology (Pedersen process) that improves the process’ yield and its energy and environmental performance. Moreover, ENSUREAL’s consortium proposes a new value chain that takes into account all the streams as valorisable products across the aluminium supply chain and introduces the foundry and the agricultural sector. A call for transparency (no-more-black-boxes) and thus a deeply cross-sectorial initiative. More specifically, ENSUREAL brings together the aluminium sector (Aluminium of Greece), the foundry sector (Odlewnie Polskie S.A., Poland), the agricultural sector (Luvena S.A., Poland) and lime producers (CaO Hellas, Belgium), in order to demonstrate the new technologies and approaches proposed. The innovative character of the project is brought by major players in R&D, such as SINTEF, NTUA and NTNU. Outotec and SMS group bring outstanding engineering and process expertise. Furthermore, 3 SMEs will help define and optimise the bauxite scenario in Europe (AdMiRIS), develop ENSUREAL's business case (ITRB) and study the upscaling of the process for future commercial prospects (KON Chem). Last but not least, clustering with other EU initiatives, including other SPIRE projects, will be paid special attention in order to promote a transparent approach of development that show the aluminium producers in Europe all the benefits of implementing the ENSUREAL process once it is demonstrated.

HORSE aims to bring a leap forward in the manufacturing industry proposing a new flexible model of smart factory involving collaboration of humans, robots, AGV’s (Autonomous Guided Vehicles) and machinery to realize industrial tasks in an efficient manner. HORSE proposes to foster technology deployment towards SMEs by developing a methodological and technical framework for easy adaptation of robotic solutions and by setting up infrastructures and environments that will act as clustering points for selected application areas in manufacturing and for product life cycle management (production and/or maintenance and/or product end of life). The main strategy builds on existing technology and research results in robotics and smart factories and integrates them in a coherent framework. The suitability of the resulting framework is not only driven by but will be validated with end-users - manufacturing companies- in two steps: In the first, the joint iterative development of the framework together with selected end-users will take place (Pilot Experiments). In the second, its suitability and transferability to further applications will be validated with new end users, which are recruited by an Open Call mechanism. The novel approaches of HORSE are the integration of concepts such as (physical) human-robot interaction, intuitive human-machine interfaces, and interaction between different robots and machines into an integrated environment with pre-existing machines and workflows. Safety of the human worker as well as reduction of health risks through physical support by the robotized equipment will contribute to better overall manufacturing processes. In these, pre-defined workflows to be customized are the basis for servitisation, for the entire value chain that allow rapid reconfiguration of the robots based collaborative production processes. HORSE aims to foster advanced manufacturing technology deployment by industries and especially SMEs.