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NANOINSULATE will develop durable, robust, cost-effective opaque and transparent vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) incorporating new nanotechnology-based core materials (nanofoams, aerogels, aerogel composites) and high-barrier films that are up to four times more energy efficient than current solutions. These new systems will provide product lifetimes in excess of 50 years suitable for a variety of new-build and retrofit building applications. Initial building simulations based on the anticipated final properties of the VIPs indicate reductions in heating demand of up to 74Prozent and CO2 emissions of up to 46Prozent for Madrid, Spain and up to 61Prozent and 55Prozent respectively for Stuttgart, Germany for a building renovation which reduces the U-value of the walls and roof from 2.0 W m-2 K-1 to 0.2 W m-2 K-1. This reduction could be achieved with NANOINSULATE products that are only 25 mm thick, giving a cost-effective renovation without the need of changing all the reveals and ledges. Similarly, significant reductions in U-values of transparent VIPs (3 W m-2 K-1 to 0.5 W m-2 K-1) are shown by substituting double glazed units in existing building stock. Six industrial & four research based partners from seven EU countries will come together to engineer novel solutions capable of being mass produced. Target final manufacturing costs for insulation board (production rates above 5 million m2/year) are less than 7 m-2 for a U-value of 0.2 W m-2 K-1. NANOINSULATE will demonstrate its developments at construction sites across Europe. A Lifecycle Assessment, together with a safety and service-life costing analysis, will be undertaken to prove economic viability. NANOINSULATE demonstrates strong relevance to the objectives and expected impacts of both the specific call text of the Public-Private Partnership Energy-efficient Buildings topic New nanotechnology-based high performance insulation systems for energy efficiency within the 2010 NMP Work Programme and the wider NMP & Energy Thematic Priorities. Prime Contractor: Kingsplan Research and Developments Ltd.; Kingscourt; Irland.
Objective: A major limitation on the application of the unique properties of carbon nanotubes has been their high cost and lack of availability. This IP brings together leading laboratories and companies within Europe to produce nanotubes on a bulk scale of ultimately tons per year. The large-scale growth of carbon nanotubes will be developed by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The applications in electronics as interconnects and vias for integrated circuits, for field effect transistors, and spin coherent transport will be developed. Field emission will be developed further for use in microwave amplifiers and micron scale x-ray sources. Electronic applications will be enabled by controlled growth in plasma enhanced CVD and thermal CVD. Multi-wall CNTs will be used as a catalyst in large-scale chemical reactions such as the dehydrogenation of ethyl benzene to styrene. Control of the nanotube internal orientation to give the herring bone microstructure is needed for catalysis, as plane edges are catalytically active. Fictionalisation of CNTs will be extended, in order to improve the performance of structural, electrically conducting and thermally conducting nanotube-polymer composites. Dispersion of nanotubes at high loading will be achieved in polymers to obtain high strength composites. Nanotubes are known to act as high energy density actuators, or 'artificial muscles'. Nanobiological devices will be fabricated based on self-assembly and molecular absorption. A toxicological study of CNTs particularly with respect to possible health hazards will be carried out, and nanotube/polymer composites will be tested for biocompatibility. Public acceptance of nanomaterials and nanotechnology will be encouraged by publicity and poling. Training, workshops and conferences will be held, and to promote technology transfer from universities and research institutes to companies. SMEs will be dominant in the CVD, catalysis and composite applications
SENSIndoor aims at the development of novel nanotechnology based intelligent sensor systems for selective monitoring of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) for demand controlled ventilation in indoor environments. Greatly reduced energy consumption without adverse health effects caused by the Sick Building Syndrome requires optimized ventilation schemes adapted to specific application scenarios like offices, hospitals, schools, nurseries or private homes. - SENSIndoor will measure the quality of indoor air. - SENSIndoor will develop smart, energy efficient ventilation systems. - SENSIndoor will bring forth demand controlled ventilation - the key for energy efficient buildings. - SENSIndoor will develop novel nanotechnology-based microsensor systems for room specific ventilation.
Objective: observatoryNANO brings together leading EU organizations who collectively have expertise in the technological; economic; societal/ethical; health, safety, and environmental analysis of nanotechnologies. Its primary aim is to develop appropriate methodologies to link scientific and technological development of nanotechnologies with socio-economic impacts. Both of these aspects will be enhanced by expert opinion, making this project unique in providing relevant web-based reports in a common format across all sectors, considered by all criteria, and widely publicized. observatoryNANO will become an industry leading and opinion forming catalyst for nanotechnology in the EU. The purpose is to avoid the exaggerated socio-economic impact of nanotechnologies and place developments in a realistic time-frame. It will present a reliable, complete, and responsible science-based and economic expert analysis of peer-reviewed literature, patents, national funding strategies, investment trends, and markets; in combination with information derived from questionnaires, interviews and workshops with academic and industry leaders, investors, and other key stakeholders.
Objective: The growing development, production and use of engineered nano-materials and associated products will increase exposure of both humans and ecosystems to these new materials. However, current knowledge is still incomplete and established test methods are as yet inappropriate to reliably assess the extent of exposure and risk of materials at the nano-scale. There is an urgent need to develop methods to overcome the current limitations of existing hazard and risk assessment schemes and to generate the body of reference data needed as the basis for regulative requirements and for measures to safeguard production, application and the disposal of nano-materials. The proposed project will mobilize the critical mass of international scientific knowledge and technical expertise required to address these questions. Current analytical and toxicity test methods and models will be put to test and subjected to rigorous intercalibration and validation. Where necessary, methods and test materials will be modified, adapted and validated, and new reliable reference methods developed, in cooperation with international standardisation bodies and the concerned industry, to support both pre and co-normative activities and to make the applicability of existing RA and LCA schemes to ENPs more reliable. The feasibility of validated measurement, characterization and test methods will be assessed by selected case studies to help the significant improvement of the performance of existing exposure monitoring systems as well as the development of new risk management and reduction strategies.
Objective: The prediction of biological (and in particular toxicological) impacts has, as its basic pre-requisite, the correct prediction of the sites of action and localization of the nano-particle in living organisms. We have identified the need for a paradigm shift in modelling these properties for nano-scale objects. The interactions between bare particles and organisms (cells, biological barriers) is radically different in the presence of proteins and lipids derived from the biological environment (the protein corona). The bare particle characteristic is therefore insufficient to describe the system. Similarly, nano-particles are trafficked and translocated between sites by active biological processes where traditional equilibrium principles for small molecules no longer apply. Nano-TransKinetics is firmly based on advanced high quality experimental data on the distribution of nano-particles in cells, across barriers, and (more limited) in vivo. We frame phenomenological models in a modular manner by abstracting the essential relevant principles of particle-protein (and matrix) interactions, cellular and barrier transport mechanisms of nano-particles, fitting them to experimental data. More detailed models allow for explicit checking of mechanisms and movements of individual particles into cells and across barriers. Enormous amounts of experimental data are now available to validate the models. A predictive capacity requires only simple input data on particle, corona and similar characteristics. The basis of these claims has been checked in preliminary studies, and a limited number of interactions, particles fluxes (and control parameters) between prescribed sites are sufficient to specify the system at each level of description. Resources (reaching far beyond the program itself) have been mobilised in experimental work in the Partners laboratories, and EU and US collaborations. The output will be predictive tools for use in nano-safety research and regulation and beyond.
The project addresses from one site the most critical and costly step to produce liquid fuel from natural gas using conventional routes, e.g. the stage of syngas production, and from the other side explores alternative routes to convert natural gas to liquid transportable products. The general objective is to explore novel and innovative (precompetitive) routes for transformation of natural gas to liquid products, particularly suited for remote areas to facilitate the transport. The aim is an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to develop in a long term vision the next-stage catalysts and related precompetitive technologies for gas to liquid conversion, in fully consistence with the indications of the call. For this reason, we have excluded to consider as part of the project catalytic technologies, such as FT synthesis and hydrocracking. In addition, we have excluded to investigate coal to liquid, both due to environmental impact of the use of coal, and to focus R&D. We have thus focused the project on three cluster lines: 1. new, not conventional routes for catalytic syngas formation from natural gas which include steps of separation by membrane and eventual reuse of byproducts; 2. direct catalytic conversion of methane to methanol/DME; 3. direct catalytic conversion of methane to aromatics under non-oxidative conditions followed by upgrading of the products by alkylation with ethane/propane. Prime Contractor: INSTM - Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali; Firenze; Italien (IT).
Due to their unique properties, engineered nanoparticles (ENP) are now used for a myriad of novel applications with great economic and technological importance. However, some of these properties, especially their surface reactivity, have raised health concerns, which have prompted scientists, regulators, and industry to seek consensus protocols for the safe production and use of the different forms of ENP. There is currently a shortage of field-worthy, cost-effective ways - especially in real time - for reliable assessment of exposure levels to ENP in workplace air. In addition to the problems with the size distribution, a major uncertainty in the safety assessment of airborne ENP arises from the lack of knowledge of their physical and chemical properties, and the levels of exposure. A special challenge of ENP monitoring is to separate ubiquitous background nanoparticles from different sources from the ENP. Here the main project goal is to develop innovative concepts and reliable methods for characterizing ENP in workplace air with novel, portable and easy-to-use devices suitable for workplaces. Additional research objectives are - identification of relevant physico-chemical properties and metrics of airborne ENP; establishment of reference materials; - exploring the association between physico-chemical and toxicological properties of ENP; - analyzing industrial processes as a source of ENP in workplace air; - developing methods for calibration and testing of the novel devices in real and simulated exposure situations; and - dissemination of the research results to promote the safe use of ENP through guidance, standards and education, implementing of safety objectives in ENP production and handling, and promotion of safety related collaborations through an international nanosafety platform. Prime Contractor: Tyoeterveyslaitos; Helsinki; Finland.
The objectives of the ProMine IP address the Commission s concerns over the annual 11 billion trade deficit in metal and mineral imports. Europe has to enhance the efficiency of its overall production chain putting higher quality and added value products on the market. ProMine focuses on two parts of this chain, targeting extractive and end-user industries. Upstream, the first ever Pan-EU GIS based mineral resource and advanced modeling system for the extractive industry will be created, showing known and predicted, metallic and non-metallic mineral occurrences across the EU. Detailed 4D computer models will be produced for four metalliferous regions. Upstream work will also include demonstrating the reliability of new (Bio) technologies for an eco-efficient production of strategic metals, driven by the creation of on-site added value and the identification of specific needs of potential end-users. Downstream, a new strategy will be developed for the European extractive industry which looks not only at increasing production but also at delivering high value, tailored nano-products which will form the new raw materials for the manufacturing industry. ProMine research will focus on five nano-products, (Conductive metal (Cu, Ag, Au) fibres, rhenium and rhenium alloy powders, nano-silica, iron oxyhydroxysulphate and new nano-particle based coatings for printing paper), which will have a major impact on the economic viability of the extractive industry. They will be tested at bench scale, and a number selected for development to pilot scale where larger samples can be provided for characterisation and testing by end-user industries. It will include production, testing and evaluation of these materials, with economic evaluation, life cycle cost analysis, and environmental sustainability. ProMine with 26 partners from 11 EU member states, has a strong industrial involvement while knowledge exploitation will transfer ProMine results to the industrial community.
Objective: We combine state-of-the-art techniques, methodologies, skills and instrumentation from several scientific arenas to create discipline-independent platforms to address key questions in nanotoxicology. Thus, we identify the routes via which nanoparticles enter and accumulate in living organisms, and connect this to representative cell-nanoparticle systems. Then using the most advanced methods of chemical, physical, biological and toxicological sciences we connect nanoparticle properties (in physiological conditions) to the mechanisms via which they interact with, and disrupt, cellular processes. We establish means and protocols via which every step of the program will be controlled, eliminating the factors that currently cause irreproducibilities. We emphasize novel unbiased assessments of intra- and inter-cellular processes after exposure to nanoparticles, enabling us to explore known, and unknown, processes. Key companies, large and small from several end-user groups, that are currently facing the challenge of applying nanotechnology in their products are built into the program in a substantial manner, and other key stake-holders are also incorporated into the overall consortium via the Advisory Board. This will ensure maximum uptake of the knowledge generated by NanoInteract, and enable development of Standards for nanoparticle risk assessment.
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