Projects funded under FP7
TREES4FUTURE (Designing Trees for the Future) - major European forest research infrastructures opening up to researchers from the public and private sectors across Europe.
TREES4FUTURE
http://www.orleans.inra.fr/toute_l_actu/trees4future
AquaFit4Use - to contribute to a more sustainable use of water in the main water-consuming industries.
http://www.aquafit4use.eu/
Becoteps - The bio-economy technology platforms join forces to address synergies and gaps between their strategic research agendas.
http://www.plantetp.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89&Itemid=140
Novel Tree - research project focussing on improved tree breeding strategies.
http://www.noveltree.eu/index.php
Sort It – aims at improving the sorting of recovered paper.
SurfUnCell (Surface functionalisation of cellulose matrices using coatings of functionalized polysaccharides with embedded nano-particles) – develops new biomass-based materials.
SustainComp –looks at sustainable wood-based composite materials.
http://www.sustaincomp.com/
For a summary of all projects please see below
TREES4FUTURE (Designing Trees for the Future)
PRESS RELEASE 20 January 2012
Major European forest research infrastructures opening up thanks to the newly started project ‘Designing trees for the Future’ (Trees4Future)
Major forest infrastructures will be opened up to researchers from the public and private sectors across Europe. For the first time key infrastructures within the European forest-based sector, including databases, state-of-the-art analytical tools and predictive models will be integrated and made available via a user-friendly, central access portal.
The four-year Trees4Future project aims to integrate major forestry resources and infrastructures, to provide the European forest-based and wider research community with easy and comprehensive access to currently scattered sources of information and expertise. This will make a significant contribution to helping the European forest-based sector respond, in a sustainable manner, to increasing demands for wood products and services in a context of changing climatic conditions and addressing the grand societal challenges.
The project will create a centralized access point via its web portal to major European databases in the area of forest genetics and forest ecology, and start to develop common protocols and reference standards for traits and species. Calls for transnational access will be made, so that researchers can take advantage of the joint expertise, services and data of the 28 partners in the project.
The first meeting of the project partners was held in Orléans, France on 17-19 January 2012. The coordinator Luc Pâques said: “This project is a great opportunity. We need to be ambitious as well as courageous – we are aiming to provide access to research infrastructures and services, and work together to share expertise, build new innovative tools, and integrate resources into a long-term framework. This will be a great benefit to the scientific community , and - through improved research e.g. on adaptation of forests to the effects of climate change – to the whole society.”
The total budget of the Trees4Future project is approximately 9 million EUR and it is co-funded by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
For more information please contact:
Luc E. Pâques Gert-Jan Nabuurs
Coordinator of Trees4Future Vice-Coordinator of Trees4Future
INRA-Orléans European Forest Institute
Tel. +33 (0) 2 38417821 Tel: +358 10 7734321
Email: luc.paques@inra.fr Email:gert-jan.nabuurs@efi.int
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AquaFit4Use prepares company investigations in four related sectors
A European project which aims to contribute to a more sustainable use of water in the main water consuming industries. The collaborative large-scale project ‘Sustainable Water Use in Paper, Chemical, Food and Textile Industry' (AquaFit4Use) involves 36 partners representing 11 countries. It is co-funded by the EU's 7th Framework Programme. Through development and implementation of new, reliable and cost-effective technologies, tools and methods, a far-going closure of the water cycle in these industries is foreseen. Consequently, the intake of fresh water and the disposal of wastewater will be reduced significantly, as will the burden imposed by this on the environment.
So far there has been limited cooperation between the paper, chemical, food and textile sectors. Joining forces can generate additional creativity, and thereby new insights and knowledge, as well as resulting tools and technologies which offer interesting opportunities. The project's cross-sectorial approach facilitates innovation by applying knowledge from one sector to another. Ongoing comprehensive research activities are covering the development of methodologies, tools and - above all - technologies. In parallel, first company investigations are under preparation. Based on these, further attention will be paid to all the other aspects concerning sustainable water use, like waste(s), energy, process, product and the relation with the environment. Ultimately the knowledge obtained will be tested in practice in pilot cases. For further information contact Dieter Pauly or visit the project's website.
Project summary
Industries want to:
- be independent of the supply and further treatment of this critical factor,
- and demand water qualities up to their specifications, which are carefully tailored to suit product demands and quality standards.
AquaFit4Use tries to give clear answers to the following questions:
- What are the right water qualities in the various processes in the target industries?
- How can these water qualities be produced and maintained?
- How can these water qualities be monitored and controlled?
- What are the effects of using a different water quality?
Project details
Project Partners 32
Start Date 1 June 2008
Duration 48 Months
Total Budget 14.8 M€
Total EC Funding 9.7 M€
BECOTEPS - The bio-economy technology platforms join forces to address synergies and gaps between their strategic research agendas
Project description
The nine European Technology Platforms (ETPs) that focus on the Knowledge-based Bio-Economy (KBBE) joined forces in the support action 'BECOTEPS', which was completed in February 2011.
The main objectives and the respective activities were to:
- Achieve closer and more coordinated collaboration between the KBBE ETPs.
- Develop recommendations for better interaction between KBBE ETP stakeholders along the product chains and the sustainability issues regarding multidisciplinary research, application and policy issues. BECOTEPS helps to link science and application by addressing synergies and gaps, i) between the SRAs of the ETPs and, ii) with respect to the research preparedness of the scientific community by topical workshops on cross-cutting KBBE issues. The first workshop addressed trust and collaboration in the food and feed chain, the second the integration of the non-food chains and the third, cross-cutting sustainability issues. The workshop recommendations on research and policy have been been summarised in a White Paper.
- Encourage discussions between public research initiatives - European and national and between the public and the private research initiatives to foster implementation of the Strategic Research Agendas based on the recommendations developed between the ETPs.
In addition, BECOTEPS' aim was to promote the KBBE concept with the European Commission, European Parliament and national ministries in the member states including the relevant ERA-NETs. A small number of dissemination events were held to discuss the KBBE, recommendations from the workshops on implementing cross-cutting issues from the ETPs Strategic Research Agendas (including Lead Markets, SMEs, education and training), as well as future collaboration.
Project details
- Start Date: 2009-03-01
- Duration: 24 months
- Project Cost: € 852,977.00
- Contract Type: Support actions
- End Date: 2011-02-28
- Project Status: Completed
- Project Funding: € 713,899.00
Participants
EUROPABIO - The European Association of Bioindustries - Belgium
FTP - Forest-based Sector Technology Platform - Belgium
CEI-Bois - European Confederation of Woodworking Industries - Belgium
Fédération Européenne des Producteurs Aquacoles - France
TUD - Technische Universitaet Dresden - Germany
FNR - Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe E.V. - Germany
European Forum of Farm Animals - Netherlands
EFI - European Forest Institute - Finland
PTS - Papiertechnische Stiftung - Germany
University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne – UK
An important outcome of this project was a White Paper entitled ' The European Bioeconomy in 2030 - Delivering Sustainable Growth by addressing the Grand Societal Challenges' which was launched at an event in the European Parliament on 22 March 2011. For the complete version of the White Paper please click here
NovelTree research project focuses on improved tree breeding strategies
By focusing on improved/novel breeding strategies related to, for example, resistance breeding, flowering stimulation and genetically designing trees with enhanced physiological characteristics, NovelTree addresses increasing societal needs, such as sustainable biomass production from forests as a replacement for fossil fuels and other petrochemical products as well as improved raw material quality and quantity for forest-based products. The project aims to reduce the vulnerability of trees towards the impact of biotic hazards, pests, diseases and improve adaptation to changing environmental conditions due to climate change, as well as the potential impacts of enhanced biomass utilisation on sustainability.
This project will help the European forest-based sector to adapt production strategies to already shifting, and in the future more rapidly changing, market and environmental conditions. Consequently it will strengthen the sector’s global competitiveness by demonstrating novel/improved methods to breed trees with improved quality and quantity parameters.
NovelTree is designed to enable significant genetic improvement of the composition and characteristics of forest products to satisfy the needs (quality, quantity, sustainability, vulnerability) of consumers and of the forest-based sector. The research of NovelTree focusses on model tree species of high economic importance which are representative of the four main European regions:
- Maritime pine - Atlantic and Mediterranean Areas
- Scots pine - Northern and Central Europe
- Spruce - Scandinavia and UK
- Poplar - Western Europe
Fourteen European partners are involved in the project, which has an overall budget of 6.3 million EUR (of which 4.1 million EUR provided by the European Commission). This project, started on 1st May 2008, and will last for 4 years.
For further information about NovelTree, contact project coordinator Catherine Bastien of INRA Orléans.
Project details
- Start Date: 2008-05-01
- Duration: 48 months
- Project Cost: 6.67 million euro
- Contract Type: Large-scale integrating project
- End Date: 2012-04-30
- Project Status: Execution
- Project Funding: 4.15 million euro
SORT IT project aims at improving sorting of recovered paper
The EU-Research project "Recovered Paper Sorting with Innovative Technologies" (SORT IT) started in May 2008. The project, funded under the EU's 7th Framework Programme, has 14 partners from EU member states. PTS from Germany acts as the project coordinator.
SORT IT aims at developing new technologies for a more efficient and profitable sorting of recovered paper and board from various collection systems. These include the development of new sensors, new physical separation devices such as robots and new sorting concepts. Extensive life cycle studies will be carried out to assess the environmental, economic and social benefits. The new sorting devices will be implemented into an industrial sorting chain. Full scale trials will be undertaken including sorting of recovered paper from different sources and investigation on paper machines. The project's dissemination and communication plan encompasses conventional dissemination activities, introduction of new findings to the market and production of foreground for the development of the European environmental policy.
Project Partners:
Research organizations and universities
- Papiertechnische Stiftung (DE)
- Centre Technique de l'Industrie des Papiers, Cartons et Celluloses (FR)
- STFI-Packforsk AB (SE)
- Universitatea Tehnica “Gheorghe Asachi” Iasi (RO)
- Instituto Tecnológico del Embalaje Transporte y Logística (ES)
- Bumaga BV (NL), Leader WP4
Industrial partners
- Bollegraaf Recycling Machinery (NL)
- EVK DI Kerschhaggl GmbH (AT)
- Rauch Recycling Dienstleistungs GmbH (AT)
- Vrancart S.A. Adjud (RO)
- Norske Skog AS (NO), Leader WP5
- RTT Systemtechnik GmbH (DE)
- Papeles y Cartones de Europa S.A. (ES)
Project details
- Start Date: 2008-05-01
- Duration: 42 months
- Project Cost: 4.16 million euro
- Contract Type: Small or medium-scale focused research project
- End Date: 2011-10-31
- Project Status: Execution
- Project Funding: 2.87 million euro
Contact Person: ESCABASSE Jean-Yves (PTS)
Tel: +49-8912146228
Fax: +49-8912146560
SurFunCell develops new biomass-based materials
The research and development project ‘Surfuncell' has been granted funding on the EU's FP7, under the topic ‘Nanostructured polymer-matrix composites'. Full title of the project is: ‘Surface functionalisation of cellulose matrices using coatings of functionalized polysaccharides with embedded nano-particles'.
Its main objective is the development of new, innovative biomass-based materials based on nanostructured biopolymer surface composites made of polysaccharide - coated cellulose with embedded nano-particles. These new materials will be composed of nano-scaled polysaccharide layers with embedded nano-particles, coating different cellulose matrices. The compounding is restricted to the biopolymer surface and outer layers, providing the ‘filler' to the area where it is required and avoiding the deterioration of the matrix materials mechanical properties.
The project will investigate these new effects (cellulose dissolution, structuration with nano-particles and irreversible coating) and will develop their understanding and mastering and exploit their applicability. Several routes will be opened to prepare a completely new class of high-value biobased materials with tailored functions and properties applicable in many different fields:
- Separation technologies: providing selective interaction properties tuneable by environmental properties
- Technical fibres and foils: Specific surface modifications (strength, abrasion, thermal and chemical stability, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, etc.)
- Improved properties as flame resistance, conductivity, antimicrobial activity, barrier properties
- Medical and hygienic devices: Formation of depots for humidity, drugs (controlled release), antimicrobial compounds
- Sensors, displays, electronic devices: performing structural changes under the influence of an external field
The project will impact nanoscience by the development of knowledge and new strategies to handle nanoparticles and to design multifunctional nanostructured composite materials based on renewable resources. Contributed to nanotechnology concern the development of technologies to design new materials based on the elaborated scientific knowledge.
For more information about the SurFunCell project, contact project coordinator Volker Ribitsch at the University of Graz.
Project details
- Start Date: 2008-12-01
- Duration: 48 months
- Project Cost: 8 million euro
- Contract Type: Large-scale integrating project
- End Date: 2012-11-30
- Project Status: Execution
- Project Funding: 5.47 million euro
SustainComp looks at sustainable wood-based composite materials
The SustainComp project aims to develop of a series of completely new wood-based sustainable composite materials for use in a wide array of market sectors, ranging from the medical, transportation and packaging to the construction sector. A primary goal is to substitute fossil-based materials used in these sectors. The performance of today's biocomposite materials is not sufficient for a range of applications. The approach is to better utilize the inherent properties of cellulosic fibres and nanocellulose fibrils in such materials.
The project encompasses the whole chain from production of modified fibres and nanocellulose through compounding and moulding to the final ecodesigned product for a number of product families. These new materials will integrate today s large enterprises on the raw material and end-use sides (e.g. pulp mills and packaging manufacturers) and small and medium sized enterprises on the composite processing side (e.g. compounders and composite manufacturers). It is envisioned that this will help the transformation of the traditional Forest Products Industry to more highly value added materials through the adaption of a set of advanced technologies such as the production of nanocellulose in larger scale, tailoring of fibres and nanocellulose, wet commingling, nanostructuring, layer by layer deposition and fibre spinning using nanocellulose fibrils.
More specifically the objective is to demonstrate new products within the following product families:
- Nano-reinforced foams (to replace styrofoams in the packaging and construction sector)
- Moulded type of compounds, to introduce cellulose reinforced renewable biocomposites in the transportation and construction sectors
- High throughput nanostructured membranes with designed selectivity for small-scale liquid applications in the medical field to large scale municipal applications
This project conforms to the envisioned composite program in the Forest Technology Platform.
Project details
- Start Date: 2008-09-01
- Duration: 48 months
- Project Cost: 9.37 million euro
- Contract Type: Large-scale integrating project
- End Date: 2012-08-31
- Project Status: Execution
- Project Funding: 6.5 million euro
Contact Person: ANKERFORS Mikael (INNVENTIA AB)
Tel: +46-86767261
Fax: +46-8214235