Sustainable Energy Europe Awards - Deadline Extended

The EU Sustainable Energy Week 2015 (EUSEW2015) will take place on 15-19 June and as part of this continent-wide array of events the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards are back. Launched by the European Commission in 2006, every year since the Awards have highlighted the very best sustainable energy projects taking place across Europe. And there is still time for you to take part! The closing date is 16 March.

The Sustainable Energy Europe Awards show where you -  private companies, public authorities, energy agencies, NGO’s, cooperatives, chambers of commerce, industry and consumers associations, media, academic institutions and research and technological centres - can make a difference. The awards are the EU's reference prize for sustainable energy projects in Europe. Are you proud of your company’s efforts in reducing its carbon footprint? Does your city deserve further recognition and visibility for its achievements in sustainable energy? If so - don’t hesitate. The Awards are made for you.

If you are involved in a sustainable energy project take part in the Awards competition and get the recognition and visibility you deserve! The winners will be announced in a ceremony to take place in Brussels during EUSEW2015.

Apply now!
The deadline for applications is now 16 March 2015. And applying is easy. Just submit a draft description of your project that you can then adjust after receiving our personalised eligibility feedback.

For the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2015 there are three entry categories:

• Renewable energy
• Energy efficiency
• Cities, communitites and regions

Don't delay apply today!

What is EUSEW?

The EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is an initiative of the European Commission that first took place in 2006. Today, it is coordinated by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), in close cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy.

The EU Sustainable Energy Week showcases activities dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. It is designed to spread best practices, inspire new ideas and build alliances to help meet the EU’s energy and climate goals.

Our aim is to form a bigger picture out of multiple individual efforts to motivate change through a varied programme of events.

For more information please contact the EUSEW Secretariat. You can also follow EUSEW activity on twitter (@euenergyweek) and the hashtag for EUSEW2015 is #eusew15.

Evaluating Sustainability in the Process Sectors

Every year Europe invests millions of Euros to develop new technologies and modify processes and products to bring resource and energy efficiency improvements. However, in order for EU stakeholders and industry to see the true value of these new technologies and modifications, and make informed decisions surrounding their adoption, a consistent approach is needed to assess the sustainability impact across the full value chain. This is particularly challenging when it comes to assessing sustainability across sector boundaries, or in a data lean environment.

The European process industries recognise that assessment of sustainability is an essential component of their business management. As such, many sustainability indicators, tools and methodologies already exist. However, these vary widely in their sophistication, applicability, maturity and usability thereby limiting broad cross-sectoral implementation.

Consequently, three projects have recently been funded through the Horizon 2020 SPIRE Public-Private-Partnership to coordinate studies of current approaches. The projects resulted from the SPIRE-4 call 'Methodologies, tools and indicators for cross-sectorial sustainability assessment of energy and resource efficient solutions in the process industry'. The three projects are:

• STYLE - Sustainability Toolkit for easy Life-cycle Evaluation
• SAMT - Sustainability Assessment methods and tools to support decision-making in the process industries
• MEASURE - Metrics for Sustainability Assessment in European Process Industries

Collectively they have the aim of delivering:

• Recommendations for the current use of sustainability indicators, tools and methodologies for the SPIRE sectors. These can be used for future SPIRE and other H2020 funded projects to determine the overall sustainability benefits and impacts of the projects.
• Identification of gaps in the available tools
• Recommendations for future research needs and standardisation
• A harmonised roadmap summarising the recommendations across the three projects (available at the end of December 2016)

The three projects
In order to look at certain aspects of sustainability evaluation in more detail, the three projects have specific focus areas:

MEASURE focus: in-depth cross-sectorial life cycle based evaluation approaches supporting sustainable supply chain management.

MEASURE partners: Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (coordinator: Dana Kralisch), Evonik Industries, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, the Technische Universität Berlin as well as the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Ghent.

Project Website: www.spire2030.eu/measure/

SAMT focus: industrial best-practice and opportunities for cross-sector assessment of energy and resource efficiency.

SAMT partners: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (coordinator: Tiina Pajula), Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy, CEMEX Research Group AG, Suez Environment, Neste Oil Corporation, Bayer Technology Services GmbH, BASF SE and Asociación Española de Normalización y Certficación.

Project Website: www.spire2030.eu/samt/

STYLE focus: pragmatic sustainability tools that can be used by non-specialists.

STYLE partners: Britest (coordinator: Amy Peace), Arcelor Mittal, Britest, Carmeuse, Holcim, IVL, RDC Environment, Solvay, Tata Steel, Utrecht University and Veolia.

Project Website: www.spire2030.eu/style/ 

Broad engagement, questionnaire

The projects will build on previous SusChem-inspired projects such as PROSUITE and will be engaging with the broad process sector community through stakeholder workshops, the development of industrial case studies, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, consultations and webinars. The projects are keen to get involvement from a wide range of stakeholders, including:

• Process sector industries (cement, ceramics, chemicals, engineering, non-ferrous metals, minerals, steel and water representing big and small companies)
• Sector representatives and trade associations
• Research organisations and academia
• Representatives from other Horizon 2020 projects that include sustainability evaluation
• Public sector bodies
• Finance and investment organisations 
• Non-Governmental Organisations 
• Standardisation bodies
• End users/ customers of the sectors

If you are interested in being a stakeholder in the projects, or just to be kept informed of progress, please complete this short questionnaire by 6 March 2015. The responses to the questionnaire will inform a joint project workshop to be held at the end of March.

Sustainable Chemistry, Smart Industry and #Digital4EU

Today (24 February) the #Digital4EU stakeholder forum is taking place in Brussels. This one-day event organised by the European Commission includes four main workshops including one on Smart Industry. Sustainable chemistry has a major role to play in supporting the digital agenda in Europe.

ICT and digital innovation is an important technology area for the chemical industry. For decades the chemical industry has made extensive use of ICT systems throughout its value chain, from logistics, to modelling, design, control, monitoring and repair. In addition, the chemical industry is a key provider of materials and technologies that form the basis for many ICT and digital solutions.

Smart Chemical Processes
Within the total chemical industry value chain from product design to delivery to the customer, ICT plays a key role. ICT is key to a successful, efficient and competitive industry.

As chemical products, process and plants become ever more complex and resource usage and performance requirements become tougher, ICT can deliver a large portion of the innovation needed to keep the European chemical industry competitive on the global stage.

Process Control is a critical factor for sustainability in the production process. Advanced process methods allow production units to run at optimal operating points under appropriate constraints. Monitoring is a related area of importance for the process industry where improved digital modelling can contribute to increased plant availability, reduced costs and improved product quality.

Modelling for innovation is also a key topic. ICT-enabled innovation can significantly reduce (20-40%) time lines for product and process developments and save costs. Overall ICT technologies can enable increased resource efficiency, will enable new process and product capabilities, and strengthen the chemical industry and European competitiveness.

Smart Materials for smart industry
Sustainable chemistry is all about developing ‘Smart materials’ – materials that will enable the development of important ICT such as nanoelectronics and haptic devices. Sustainable chemistry also provides the specialty polymers and other materials that will be required for new 3D printing technologies to produce components with demanding specifications.

Sustainable chemistry is looking to develop polymers that enable nano-structured self-organisation for use as templates to support advanced nano-lithography or other nanoelectronic fabrication techniques for the fast prototyping and production of complex electronic devices. Such advanced fabrication techniques can reduce development time for microelectronic devices and boost the capability and competitiveness of the European ICT sector.

Polymers and polymer-based ink formulations are also essential for printed fabrication techniques, such as roll-to-roll lithography that allow mass production of low-cost microelectronic circuits for a wide range of applications including RFID tags, flexible displays and OLED lighting.

Future chemical developments include improved conductive polymers, piezoelectric and electro-active polymers that can inspire new and emerging end-use applications including wearable electronics.

Additive manufacturing aka 3D printing
3D printing will change the way society manufactures and its development heralds an era of mass-customisation. 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing produces a three-dimensional object from an electronic data set through an additive process making material layers in successive steps under computer control – truly digital manufacturing.

The global market for materials and services for 3D printing (excluding printer equipment) was estimated to be US$ 1.8 billion in 2013 and is projected to grow to US$ 10.8 billion by 2018.

The ability to produce small lot sizes and highly specialised added value products makes 3D printing technology a key technology for the next generation of industry: Industry 4.0. Innovation and pre-industrialisation, competitive small series production, improved time-to-market, custom made parts for personalised products, manufacturing of complex structures and geometries are all drivers for the development of additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printing also contributes to lower energy and resource use.

Polymers with appropriate end-use performances and adapted to specific 3D printing technologies are needed along with suitable metallic or ceramic materials. The European chemical industry already delivers many of these materials, but research is needed to widen the range of materials and mechanical properties of polymers available for 3D printing. Development of new electrically and thermally conductive materials will provide new opportunities for the development of additive manufacturing. Solutions to improve the surface finish of manufactured parts are also required.

Sustainable chemistry is key
Additive manufacturing is a key technology for fostering the European innovation and manufacturing industries. And its full development requires key inputs from sustainable chemistry.

Digital technologies, such as 3D printing technologies, can reduce the gap between innovation and manufacturing, stimulate the renewal of European manufacturing industry and boost industrial research and design opportunities too.

LRI Innovative Science Award Video

A new video captures the importance of the LRI Innovative Science award to early-career scientists. The LRI Innovative Science award, the largest European health and environment research grant award, gives early career scientists complete freedom to develop their breakthrough ideas, find new approaches to tackle risk assessment and help reduce uncertainty in relation to chemicals safety.

In the new video the winners of the 2014 and 2013 LRI award talk about their winning proposals, the potential impact of their research, future plans and overall experience after receiving an LRI grant.



Dr. Alexandra Antunes of the Instituto Superior Técnico, winner of the 2014 LRI award, is investigating a novel way to detect chemically induced cancers and predict the carcinogenic potential of chemicals. Alexandra’s award-winning research idea was also featured on the Horizon 2020 Projects Publication, an online initiative that provides timely and invaluable information regarding the European Commission’s latest and largest ever research and innovation framework programme.

Dr. Sabine Langie of the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, winner of the 2013 LRI award, investigates respiratory allergies in childhood caused by environmental exposure.

More information
To find out more about the LRI Innovative Science award and past winners visit the LRI website. The competition for 2015 is now open and the deadline for applications is 17 March. Find out more, including how to enter the competition here.

Get involved with Innovation Fusion 2015 in Berlin

SusChem invites you to attend the INNOVATION FUSION event and be inspired by Europe’s best industrial innovators! The European Networking Group (ENG) is hosting the 11th annual INNOVATION FUSION event on 21 22 April 2015 in Berlin. The event will bring together leading experts in R&D and Innovation from the specialty chemical and consumer goods sectors. Cefic and SusChem have secured a 20% discount for all its members that wish to attend the conference.

Amongst the leading industry members that will be joining and leading the discussions in Berlin are BASF, DuPont, P&G, AkzoNobel, Evonik and Air Liquide.

By joining the event, you will be able to exchange best practices, engage in real business stories and discover new business models and emerging markets. The event will address a broad range of topics, from incremental and disruptive innovation to KPI’s in the chemical industry and sustainability throughout the value chain.

More information and registration
You can download the event programme here. SusChem members may use the CEFIC20 discount code when registering online or can contact Joanna Serweta at ENG events directly.

ECRN SME Workshop

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are of central importance to the European economy. They play a key role as providers of employment opportunities and serve an important function for the well-being and economies of local and regional communities. Moreover, they are often at the core of value networks and the creation of added value.

In this context European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) is organising a workshop: ‘Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – The Engine of the European Industry’ on 24 February from 14:00 to 17:00 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.

At the ECRN the workshop, the focus will focus on the important role of SMEs not only in the chemical industry but as an integral part of the overall European economic fabric. The event will bring together policy makers and practitioners to discuss how local authorities can design more efficient strategies to encourage the development of innovative SMEs. In particular, the workshop will provide substantive examples of how SMEs can be supported at the regional level and focus on the success factors and potentially transferable elements of such strategies or initiatives.

Cristina Gonzalez of SusChem Spain and Feique will be presenting at the workshop on behalf of SusChem. She will talk about “Chemical SMEs, making it happening” covering examples of innovative SMEs in Spain and how SusChem can help small enterprises to move forward, for example, by giving them support to get involved with European projects through information sessions, networking, etc.

Other presentations will include the ‘Key role of regional authorities in supporting SMEs’ from Thomas Wobben, Director of Horizontal Networks and Studies, Committee of the Regions and the ‘Importance of SME policy at all levels – European, national, regional’ by Joanna Drake, Director of Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission’s DG Growth.

Examples of good practise will be drawn from the regions of Bavaria, Wallonia, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Further information
ECRN is committed to enhancing cooperation and exchange of experiences across regions and wants to draw attention to what can be achieved by leveraging regional competences and bringing concrete examples and experiences into European policy discussions.

You can view the event programme here and an ECRN background briefing on SMEs here. For more information and to register for the workshop contact the ECRN Secretariat by 20 February.

EuroNanoForum 2015 in Riga!

The Latvian capital of Riga will host the European Commission's bi-annual EuroNanoForum Conference from 10 to 12 June. Organised under the Latvian EU Presidency EuroNanoForum 2015 is expected to attract more than 1200 visitors from over 50 countries during its three-day programme. And Sus Chem will be there of course.

The main focus for EuroNanoForum 2015 (ENF2015) is European re-industrialisation including demonstrations of how European SMEs can profit from applying advanced nanotechnologies and materials. The programme includes presentations from a range of exciting European SMEs, such as WaterSprint, with CEO Anders Ruland talking about nanotechnology based water purification systems, Graphenano's Professor Jose-Luis Valverde, discussing pilot lines for the construction industry, and Wendelin Stark of Turbobeads GmbH & Nanograde AG showcasing how to successfully commercialise nanomaterial-based solutions for industrial and medical markets.

Clara de la Torre, the European Commission's Director for the Key enabling Technologies Programme in DG Research & Innovation, describes the EuroNanoForum event as: "the most significant European forum in the field of nanotechnologies and advanced materials. The 2015 edition will focus on Europe's competitiveness and the renewal of its manufacturing industries."

ENF2015 will be the seventh EuroNanoForum. Organised biannually since 2003 it is a meeting point for industry, science and policy and has grown into the most significant European networking conference focusing on innovations across the full spectrum of nanotechnology fields and associated industrial sectors. SusChem's coordinator Jacques Komornicki is on the event's steering committee.

Programme, prizes, exhibition and more
The conference will feature industrial nanotechnologies and advanced materials in support of European re-industrialisation, look at socio-economic trends and innovation demands on nanotechnologies and advanced materials, and the infrastructures and framework conditions required for rapid deployment of nanotechnologies.

Three main conference tracks are envisaged:

• Nanotechnology in industrial applications
• Advances in enabling nanotechnologies, nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing
• Collaborations and policies for accelerating innovation and uptake of nanotechnologies and advanced materials based solutions

In addition there will be an extensive Nanotech Europe 2015 exhibition area, poster session and on June 12 a full day for project brokerage.

Two prizes are on offer at ENF2015 for Best Poster and FutureFlash! the Best Project Competition. But if you want to enter for these two competitions the deadlines for the Poster abstracts and FutureFlash! Best Project are very soon.

The best of the research posters submitted will be presented throughout the event and at the specific poster sessions, and one will be rewarded as the Best Poster 2015. But you need to submit your abstract by 20 February 2015!

Entries to The FutureFlash! Best Project competition will also be assessed and ten will be selected and provided with a mini stand to showcase their innovation at the Nanotech Europe 2015 exhibition. The most successful of the submitted projects launched under the EU Framework Programmes in the field of nanotechnologies and materials will receive the FutureFlash! Best Project award. But you need to apply by 27 February 2015.

More information

You will find full information about the conference, exhibition and much more at the dedicated ENF2015 website. You can also follow the event on twitter via @ENF2015 

Sustainability Assessment: Towards a Standardised Methodology?

SusChem projects and programmes aim to support the development of products and technologies that address societal needs while being environmentally sound and economically viable. They aim to enable a future in which chemical research and innovation brings new, safe, high performance products and technologies rapidly to market: enabling society to “do more with less”. The integration of all aspects of sustainability into the framework of SusChem-inspired projects at an early stage of the development of new processes and products is a key element for their success. However this requires a consistent sustainability framework for the objective assessments of projects. A FP7 project, PROspective SUstaİnability assessment of TEchnologies (PROSUİTE), looked at the issues involved.

Achieving sustainability requires a balance of economic, environmental and social goals. This triple bottom line, often referred to as ‘people, profit, planet’ (see below), is a key element for SusChem.

But how can we objectively assess sustainability? To do this requires the development of new tools that can analyse activities and their consequences upon the economy, the environment, and society. And these tools must be adequate for measuring these complex domains, as well as their interactions. Reliably performing sustainability assessments should help point us to better, more sustainable solutions to the challenges that society faces. They should be able to highlight where performance can be improved, where corrections can be made, and where wiser choices can lead to a preferred “triple bottom line” result.

The PROSUITE project was a four-year initiative funded under FP7 that started in 2009 and worked to provide such assessment tools in particular for use in assessing new technologies. SusChem board member Gernot Klotz was a member of the advisory board for the project.

Technologies, today and tomorrow
PROSUITE developed its tools through delivering a broad life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. The tools are freely accessible on the project website and are designed to support the sustainability decisions that product developers, policy makers and businesses are facing. The tools have been tested on four technology case studies:

• Biorefineries – producing energy from organic waste
• Nanotechnology - in new textiles
• Multifunctional mobile (telephone) devices - containing rare metals that should be recycled
• Carbon storage and sequestration - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and large-scale industrial sources.

Five pillar approach
The PROSUITE tools and concepts go beyond the traditional three pillars. In order to deliver even more detailed and meaningful results for decision makers the project adopted a five-pillar framework for assessment, which is supported by a freeware Decision Support System.

When sustainability is defined only on the traditional three ‘Ps’ approach, existing assessments may be flawed by overlapping issues. For instance, human health and income could be viewed as part of the social pillar, since both factors have a large influence on the quality of life of people. However, they also could be viewed as part of the economic pillar. To enable proper assessment, PROSUITE developed an innovative framework that limits such overlaps and ensures that each pillar has a unique set of indicators. To achieve this goal, the resulting framework proposed five pillars:

• Impact on human health: The impacts on human health of a new technology include all changes in morbidity and mortality that are caused by the introduction of new technologies, through all possible pathways, including environmental, occupational and consumer. These can be quantified using the ‘DALY-concept’ (Disability Adjusted Life Years). 
• Impact on social well-being: The social impact includes all impacts on human well-being that are related to inter-human relationships. Impact on human well-being includes everything that affects the quality of life of people both on an individual and collective basis (however, excluding human health and economics). These include impacts on autonomy, safety, security and tranquillity (SST), equal opportunities and participation and influence.
• Impact on prosperity: Technology development is often pursued to increase the quantity and quality of goods and services for consumption. Final consumption can be increased through changes in factor productivity or through the production of new products and services satisfying new consumer needs. Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the value of goods and services available for final consumption. 
• Impact on natural environment: The ‘natural environment’ encompasses the natural ecosystems around the world in terms of their function and structure. For this endpoint, the aim is to quantify the negative effects on the function and structure of natural ecosystems as a consequence of exposure to chemicals, biological or physical interventions. The impact on natural environment is then expressed in terms of ‘potentially disappeared fraction of species’. 
• Impact on exhaustible resources: Impact on exhaustible resources is concerned with the removal of resources from the environment (and their use) which results in a decrease in the availability of the total resource stock. This impact category comprises abiotic resources: fossil fuels and mineral ores.

Level assessment
Another important aspect of sustainability assessment is the level at which the assessment is conducted. In PROSUITE three different levels are explicitly differentiated and addressed:

• The first level corresponds to the assessment of a process chain per functional unit.
• The second level takes additional into consideration the market penetration of the technology in a given scenario (for example, expressed in the expected total number of functional units).
• The third level goes beyond the process itself and includes the effect of deploying a technology at the system level by taking into account not only the penetration of the technology but also the implications of such penetration on, for example, trade flows across sectors in the economy.

The work in PROSUITE has resulted in an increased understanding of the complex set of approaches and tools needed to assess the potential impacts of technologies at an early stage of development.

The three projects recently awarded funding under the Horizon 2020 / SPIRE call: SPIRE-4 Methodologies, tools and indicators for cross-sectorial sustainability assessment of energy and resource efficient solutions in the process industry will further address this important area of work.

More information
For more information on the PROSUITE approach visit the project website and download the PROSUITE Handbook.

Bioeconomy Alliance calls for EU action

Creating a world-leading bioeconomy in the European Union requires bold political moves. At its launch today (4 February) at the European Parliament the European Bioeconomy Alliance (EBA) called for more predictable policies leading to a long-term strategy for a competitive, dynamic and sustainable bioeconomy in Europe.

Successfully developing the European bioeconomy is only feasible if the European Union provides a holistic, coherent and harmonised framework in a range of policy fields including: agriculture, forestry, marine, industrial, climate, environment, energy, research, innovation and regional development. The EBA believes that the EU needs to act on four main fronts to help Europe become a leader in the bioeconomy:

• Implement priority recommendations from the Lead Market Initiative on bio-based products. This will not only create new markets and jobs but also stimulate economic recovery, focusing on: access to feedstock, research, development and innovation, access to markets, public procurement and communication. 
• Encourage member states to implement measures to i) increase agricultural and forestry productivity and soil fertility in a sustainable way and ii) facilitate mobilisation and access to renewable feedstock at competitive prices.
• Address barriers to investment in first commercial operations, such as biorefineries in Europe. The Public Private Partnership on Bio-based Industries is a first step in the right direction and should facilitate and catalyse other European and national and regional financing sources.
• Engage with civil society, together with farmers, forest owners and industry, to encourage the debate on shaping a more competitive, sustainable bioeconomy for Europe.

EBA Vision
EBA’s vision is to help establish a more competitive, innovative, energy-secure and sustainable Europe, separating economic growth from a reliance on imported fossil sources, resource depletion, and environmental impact. EBA fully supports both the European Commission’s work on developing an EU bioeconomy as well as on-going efforts at member state and regional level to implement local strategies. In addition, EBA entirely supports the recent establishment of the European Parliament intergroup on “climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development” and its subgroup on the bioeconomy.

Over the coming years, the bioeconomy will play an increasingly important role in boosting Europe’s economy by revitalising rural and coastal areas and disused industrialised sites while providing more growth and jobs. According to the European Commission, the European bioeconomy is worth nearly €2 trillion and provides more than 22 million jobs for EU citizens.

The bioeconomy is not a niche sector; it encompasses the sustainable production of renewable resources and their conversion into food, feed, fibres, materials, chemicals and bioenergy through efficient and/or innovative technologies, which provides widespread economic, environmental and societal benefits. Therefore, the EBA calls for the bioeconomy development to be set as a priority in the Commission’s new €315 billion investment plan as well as in national and regional measures, to help ensure Europe’s sustainable economic recovery

More about the EBA
The EBA is an informal alliance of leading European organisations active in the bioeconomy. Its members are:

• Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC)
• European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS)
• Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF)
• Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI)
• European Farmers and European agri-cooperatives (COPA-COGECA) 
• European Renewable Ethanol Producers Association (ePURE)
• The European Association for Bioindustries (EuropaBio)
• European Bioplastics (EUBP)
• The EU Vegetable Oil & Proteinmeal Industry (FEDIOL)
• Forest-based Sector Technology Platform (FTP)
• Primary Food Processors (PFP)
• European Starch Industry Association (Starch Europe)

For more information, please contact the EBA secretariat or visit the EBA website.

Plant-based Summit 2015: Innovation, Co-development for Biobased Products

On 8 – 10 April 2015, the Plant Based Summit (PBS) will launch its third edition in Lille, France. This year’s PBS will focus on the innovation, co-development and operational implementation necessary for the widespread market deployment of biobased products. And SusChem will be there to show how the platform is contributing to the evolution of plant-based, green and sustainable chemistry!

PBS is organized by the Association Chimie du Vegetal (ACDV) that represents the French plant-based chemistry sector working in partnership with publishing group Infopro Digital. The Plant Based Summit organisers’ strong position in the industrial landscape is key to allow the whole plant-based chemistry value chain to be gathered again in Lille including actors from the agro-industrials, chemical intermediates, chemists and end-users.

With a long-term approach and proven track record, PBS 2015 offers a high-quality programme looking at the future for biobased business. The previous two editions of this conference have been very well attended and the summit was one of the first European events dedicated to the bioeconomy.

PBS 2015 has a varied programme including four plenary sessions on the bioeconomy:

• International Development - How the US, Brazil and Malaysia foster industrial development and growth
• Open Innovation for market success - How brand owners or downstream users get involved in the value chain and manage the innovation processes
• European and National Strategies -How the European Commission and Member States foster cooperation and major development in value chains
• CEO’s Roundtable - How biobased solutions are integrated in the growth strategy of companies

SusChem session
SusChem is organising a session at PBS 2015 that will provide a vision of how biobased chemistry is part of the wider world of sustainable chemistry with a focus on the SusChem vision. SusChem is working to reinforce the links between the mainstream chemistry and the biobased sector.

The SusChem session in on April 8 from 11:15 to 12:45 and is entitled ‘Plant-based chemistry as a contribution to Sustainable Chemistry.’ The session is chaired by Ward Mosmuller of DSM.

In addition to a presentation from SusChem there will be contributions from three companies (BASF, SEKAB Biofuels and Chemicals, and Solvay) presenting examples of their experience in the area. You can find out more on the session here. SusChem will also participate in the trade exhibition at PBS 2015.

More information
You can find more information at the PBS 2015 website or register direct here.

Latest E4Water Newsletter out!

The fifth E4Water newsletter has just been published. The newsletter covers news and events from this important FP7 project including news on a prestigious award, results from one of the project's case studies and other news and events.

The main feature in the newsletter is on the success of the E4Water Solvic Case Study in Antwerp, Belgium which won one of the European Responsible Care Awards during a special ceremony at the Cefic annual general assembly in Paris on 17 October. Solvay SA won in the Environment category for their work in this E4Water project together with Evides and Vito. The case study project was praised for “Saving water through symbiosis” and “Looking at the bigger picture”.

A related feature describes the third pilot facility now installed at the Solvic site in Antwerp. This “Mobile Kit” is a transportable mini-electrolysis unit and aims to demonstrate the possibility for recycling the salty effluents from a neighbouring industry partner into one of the manufacturing loops at Solvic.

In other articles project partner Evides Industriewater in the Netherlands is profiled and their work within E4Water described and E4Water's activities at the annual conference of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water that took place in Barcelona, Spain on 5 and 6 November 2014 is outlined.

What is E4Water?
With the chemical industry providing the highest potential to demonstrate increased eco-efficiency in industrial water management, the FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) addresses a range of crucial process needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to a fully integrated and energy efficient water management system.

The project’s main objective is to develop and test integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies. There are six industrial case study sites at the core of E4Water that are expected to achieve a reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in waste water production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% in direct economic benefits. In addition to the chemical industry, the project is actively seeking opportunities for cross-fertilisation with other industrial sectors.

The project consortium brings together large chemical companies, leading European water sector companies and innovative research and technology development centres and universities. The partners are also involved in the Water supply and sanitation Platform (WssTP) and SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, and actively collaborate with water authorities in different European countries.

For more information about SusChem involvement with water issues, please contact Antonia Morales-Perez at Cefic, or visit the water priority page on the SusChem website.