A sustentabilidade, um objetivo central da visão a longo prazo da UE e dos programas Horizonte Europa, é parte integrante da missão do CICECO, servindo como força orientadora para todos os seus grupos de trabalho. Esta Linha Temática visa responder às exigências sociais de matérias-primas renováveis, eficiência de recursos e redução do impacto ambiental, através de investigação sobre materiais, processos e produtos verdes eficazes.
Objetivos
BIOREFINERY
Development of biorefineries aimed at using biomass, from agroforest to marine origin, as a source of raw materials through novel approaches for biomass fractionation and processing using benign solvents and processes. Integration of these technologies into a unified multi-biorefinery, allowing processing a broad range of biomass raw materials and by-products to yield a large portfolio of products.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Materials reuse and waste valorization within the circular economy framework. It includes new methods to produce ceramics from (in)organic industrial waste, the recovery and recycling of noble metals and rare-earth elements from electronic waste, the chemical recycling of polymers and the assessment of the toxicity and environmental impact of new materials and solvents used in these processes.
MATERIALS FOR POLLUTION CONTROL
Pollution remediation by reducing process emissions and tackling the decontamination of air and water through the development of new catalysts for oxidative desulfurization of diesel and removing pollutants such as NOx, CO, VOC through lean combustion. It explores materials for CO2-lean processes, including CO2 separation, capture, and conversion; porous materials for gas adsorption and separation; (nano)sorbents for removing contaminants like heavy metals and drugs from water; and photo-assisted methods for water purification and assessing their impact on aquatic ecosystems.
This Thematic Line effectively takes advantage of the inter- and multi-disciplinary structure of our research groups for fundamental and applied collaborative research, highlighted by several large ongoing projects addressing scientific challenges and industrial needs, such as the design of solvents for tailored metal separation and recycling (DESignSX, ERC Starting grant, G4 and G6), the development of sustainable surface treatments for trans-sectorial industrial innovation (SURE2COAT, EU project, Group 3), and the development of biomass-based materials to replace fossil-based plastics (FF2F and Blue Bioeconomy Innovation Pacts, Group 4).