Last November 16th, the 1st Biorefine Congress. Agricultural and industrial solution took place in the La Nave Complex, in Madrid.
In the first Biorefine Congress participated representatives of the Ministries of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) and for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), as well as organisations such as Vertex Bioenergy, CIDAUT, Novozymes and the MaízSostenible Operational Group, among other institutions and companies. The Spanish Bioethanol Association (Bio-E) organised this first edition, which brought together “around two hundred professionals and experts” who followed it “in person and via streaming”, Bio-E sources said in a press release.
On this occasion, Alfonso Horrillo introduced and moderated the business round table on Biofuels and state-of-the-art biorefineries. Also, Elena Castilla presented in this round tables on “Bioetanol, una fuente continua de hidrógeno renovable”.
On November 22, 2022, the event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Spanish Hydrogen Association took place. Around 250 participants from 200 affiliated companies attended the talks and project generation sessions that took place throughout the day, where the partners had the opportunity to share the growth, progress and concerns that the sector.
In the morning, Mr. Javier Brey, president of the AeH2 and Mr. Galo Gutiérrez, General Director of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, reviewed the milestones of both the association and the administration, to promote the development of hydrogen in Spain.
Two presentations were also given by Mr. Daniel Esteban, Technician of the Department of Energy, Manufacturing and Transportation Technologies, Directorate of Evaluation and Technological Cooperation of the CDTI and Mrs. María Ángeles Ferre, Head of the Scientific-Technical Programs subdivision of the State Agency for Research, which offered a general image of the financing mechanisms available in the field of hydrogen and evidenced the growth of innovation projects linked to hydrogen.
To close the first part of the event, Ms. Marina Holgado, Coordinator of the technical secretariat of the Technological Collaboration Program on hydrogen of the International Energy Agency and representative of “Women in Green Hydrogen”, presented both initiatives.
The second part of the event consisted of two project generation sessions, in which our partners had the opportunity to share opinions on topics of common interest within the hydrogen sector.
The CIDAUT Foundation, as a founding partner and member of the Board of Directors of the AeH2 actively participated in these sessions, supporting and promoting R&D in the hydrogen sector in Spain.
The AeH2 20th anniversary event ended with a cocktail-dinner where you could establish ties and create opportunities for collaboration to continue advancing together in the hydrogen sector in our country.
On the 27th of September, the Circular Economy Forum: Challenge of plastic recycling organized by the Institute for the Business Competitiveness of Castilla y León (ICE) in collaboration with the Cidaut Foundation was celebratedin the facilities of the Cidaut Foundation. This Forum was inaugurated by the Councillor for Economy and Finance of the Region of Castilla y León (Spain), Mr. Carlos Javier Fernández Carriedo, and the president of Cidaut Foundation, Mr. José Oliveri Gandarillas, who highlighted the importance of the transition towards a productive model of circular economy in the plastic sector.
With the aim of incorporating the circular economy as a key element to promote the change towards a model of sustainable development and focused on plastic materials in particular, the Forum addressed this aspect from a double point of view: first, trends in R&D related to the recycling of plastics was analyzed, and on the other hand, the latest developments in the regulatory context were addressed. This Circular Economy Forum had the following talks:
– ‘Future trends and challenges to optimize the quality of plastic recycling and its circularity’ presented by researchers from CIB-CSIC and ICTP-CSIC.
– ‘Panel Discussion: R&D as a key in the transition to the circular economy’ moderated by CyLTV and composed of the four partners of the Osiris Network -GAIKER, AIMPLAS, AITEX and CIDAUT- and the University of Valladolid (CELLMAT laboratory).
– ‘The new regulations: Challenges and solutions for the Circular Economy’ presented by CICLOPLAST.
– ‘Panel Discussion: Challenges and Opportunities for the different sectors in the new scenario of the recycling and circularity’ moderated by ECOEMBES and composed by the representatives of the following companies: Viscofan, SABIC, SOSTENPLAS and Grupo Antolin.
– ‘Case of successes’ presented by Mr. Antón Fernández, CEO of PolyNext-Naeco.
– ‘Roadmap for the Circular Economy in Castilla y León’ presented by the Natural Heritage Foundation of Castilla y León.
Finally, the event was closed by the Director of Cidaut Foundation, Mr. Juan Carlos Merino Senovilla, and after that the attendees were able to visit the facilities of Cidaut Foundation.
Last July 5th, the ESTELLA consortium met in Brussels to kick-off the project. All partners presented their role and they discussed the details of the implementation of the work plan for the following 42 months of research.
The ESTELLA is an ambitious initiative that proposes an innovative solution to improve the recyclability of poorly recyclable materials, specifically thermoset composites. This will involve the design of novel thermosetting biocomposites (epoxy and natural fibres) with inherent recyclability. This will be achieved thanks to the introduction of the Covalent Adaptive Network (CAN) that will allow the resin (reprocessed or repolymerised into new products) and fibres to be recycled. The recyclability of the composites developed will be evaluated by means of current mechanical, chemical and biological processes adapted to these new materials. And they will be validated through the manufacture of prototypes for the construction and leisure/mobility sectors.
The ESTELLA consortium has 13 partners from 9 European countries as well as Slovenia, Poland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Germany and Norway. Soon our project website will be up and running!
The CREATOR consortium, consisting of 17 partners, met in Belgium last September with the Project Officer to analyze the progress of the project. CREATOR focuses on the development and demonstration of processes to remove hazardous bromine-containing flame retardants, which are already banned, from waste streams by means of so-called continuous extraction.
A lot of efforts have been devoted in the CREATOR project to the recycling and reuse of thermoplastic waste. And the review meeting was a good occasion to show the current status of all tasks performed during the project and to present the next steps until the end of the project in May 2022.
In the CREATOR project, much effort has been devoted to the recycling and reuse of these hazardous thermoplastic wastes. And the review meeting was a good occasion to show all the achievements made during the project and to present the next steps until the end of the project in May 2022.
This meeting has also served to present different events that are being prepared in the framework of the project: such as the Boot Camp in Sustainability & Plastic Recycling for students that will be held from 5-7 October in Hamburg (Germany) (more info: https://www.the-klu.org/event-pages/boot-camp-in-sustainability-plastic-recycling/), or the Innovation Forum 4 Plastics that will take place from 13-14 October in Mallorca (Spain) (more info: https://h2020innovationforum.com/).
