SusChem-Spain Stakeholder Event celebrates Sustainable Circular Economy

The SusChem-Spain Stakeholders Event took place on 14 March in Madrid and concluded that the chemical sector is key to the sustainable and circular productive model that both Europe and Spain are seeking.

The event was attended by a wide range of experts, coming from both public and private entities, such as the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, the Centre for Industrial Technology Development (CDTI), the Spanish Chemical Industry Association (FEIQUE), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), SusChem-Europe, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Lawyers and Linknovate.

During the official opening, SusChem-Spain’s chair, Javier Brañas, highlighted the importance of public-private collaboration in Sustainable Chemistry, as the way to multiply the existing opportunities that innovation in science and technology offer to move towards a circular economy model.

In this context, the Chemical Industry plays, and will play, a key role as an example of productive and economic development. FEIQUE’s General Director, Juan Antonio Labat, highlighted the effort the Chemical Industry is making in order to position themselves as the 1st industrial R&D&I investor in Spain (25%), bearing in mind that 57% of the Chemical companies are innovative, twice the industrial average, and the sector’s clear support for talent and quality employment, since 23% of researchers working in industry are employed by a chemical company.

Director General of R&D&I of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Clara Eugenia García, emphasised the job of the Chemical sector as a strategic one, that contributes in a direct way to sustainable development and competitiveness, since its activity has a clear impact in other sectors, making it a key player when developing the next EU Framework Programme (FP9), under discussion already in Europe, as the roadmap to reach a sustainable future. She also wanted to highlight that the future will inevitably need to move towards circular economy, “Or the future is circular or there will be no future”, as she expressed it.

During the presentation of the recently approved National Scientific & Technical Research and Innovation Plan (2017-2020), García stressed the need for public – private collaboration and the enhancement role that relies on the Administration since “industrial policy goes hand on hand with research policy and vice-versa”. This was the reason why both parameters need to be considered globally as well as promoting the elimination of the sectorial barriers. Following this statement, CDTI representatives, Francisco Marín, Director General, and Cecilia Hernández, Manager of Health, Bioeconomy, Climate and Natural Resources, announced some of the new funding instruments of CDTI within the new Plan

Pictured below are (from left to right): Javier Brañas (SusChem España), Clara Eugenia García (MINECO), Francisco Marín (CDTI) and Juan Antonio Labat (Feique).

The new Framework Programme: FP9
Following the publication of the Horizon 2020 Work programme 2018-2020, work is already being done to prepare for the next European Framework Programme, also known as FP9, that will cover the period 2021-2027. This was one of the key topics of the Stakeholders’ event, in which priority areas for the Spanish Chemical sector were debated with participants.

Juan Antonio Tébar, Head of European Programmes Division (Horizon 2020) from CDTI, made a call for collaboration between public and private entities working in the field of sustainable chemistry, so that all interests can be collected, either through CDTI or through SusChem-Spain.

In a more sectorial approach, José Manuel García, Chemistry and Chemical Technologies Coordinator from CSIC, underlined the relevance of both national and international basic Research in the different areas of chemistry as a sample of talent to generate economic and social impact.

Anne Chloé Devic (pictured above on the left), Materials and National Technology Platforms Manager from CEFIC/SusChem Europe, encouraged all participants to send success stories showing the impact of European funding, to acknowledge the results of European funded projects carried out in the country and to contribute to the future “missions” of FP9.

About SusChem-Spain 
Spanish Technology Platform of Sustainable Chemistry, SusChem-Spain, is an Industry led public-private initiative, with the participation of all agents, that promote Research, development and innovation in Chemistry and Industrial Biotechnology. It promotes collaborative activities, knowledge and information Exchange and Technology transfer to provide solutions to future challenges.

SusChem Greece Kicks Off

SusChem Greece, the Greek National Technological Platform (NTP) for Sustainable Chemistry, will hold its kick-off event in Athens on 16 December 2016. The event, which will be held at NJV Athens Plaza Hotel will introduce this brand new initiative that aspires to steer Greek sustainable chemistry stakeholders towards a collective journey to innovation for the benefit of industry and society.

SusChem Greece looks to tap into the valuable and pragmatic insights, experience and knowledge of the Greek sustainable chemical community and explore the strategic expectations for a prosperous Greek industry endowed with prowess and social responsibility through sustainable chemistry.

Prior to the kick-off event a board meeting of SusChem Greece will be held. The launch event itself will start at 15:00 with presentations from SusChem Greece representatives Dr. Stelios Bikos and Prof. Antonis Kokossis both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Anne-Chloe Devic, CEFIC Innovation Manager for Materials and SusChem NTPs, and Cristina Gonzalez Alonso of SusChem Spain.

This will be followed by a round table discussion on Sustainable Chemistry in Greece with representatives from SusChem Industrial Associations and a session on Funded Innovation in Sustainable Chemistry with speakers including Leda Ampatzi, an EU Co-Funding Specialist and representatives of the European Investment Bank and Pireaus Bank.

If you wish to attend the event please notify the SusChem Greece secretariat, Dr Stelios Bikos, by 14 December at the latest. More information on the event and the SusChem Greece can be found here: www.suschem-gr.org.

SusChem 2016 Brokerage in Seville breaks records!

The SusChem 2016 Brokerage event took place in Seville on 13 September and was attended by some 100 participants including SusChem Board Member Fernando Moreno who presented the introduction to the event and Soren Bowadt Programme Officer at DG Research and Innovation who is SusChem’s primary contact in the Commission. At the start of the Project Ideas Session Anne Chloe Devic, the Coordinator for SusChem National Technology Platforms, welcomed the speakers to the first SusChem European brokerage event ever organised outside of Brussels. 

The Brokerage event was hosted in Spain thanks to SusChem Spain, in conjunction with one of the biggest events of the year for the chemical community: the Sixth European Chemistry Congress. Our thanks to Cristina Gonzalez, the secretary of SusChem Spain, who was the prime mover in organising the event and acted as the chair of the meeting.

In the opening presentation, Fernando Moreno stressed the importance of such brokerage events and recalled the essential role that SMEs are playing in the formation of new projects. Soren Bowadt reviewed the policy context for the Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology (NMBP) programme in Horizon 2020 and stressed the importance of the SPIRE and BBI PPPs, with which SusChem is very much aligned.

He made an overview of those projects that succeeded in obtaining grants in the 2014-2015 calls, gave an indicative overview of funding by the Commission for the last remaining years of Horizon 2020 and then detailed the 2017 calls, which were the main subject of the event. Soren also gave some hints on how to prepare a good project proposal.

Record-breaking

The event continued with the presentation of 22 proposals, out of which 19 were from companies - including from 13 SMEs. This is a record in terms of the proportion of industrial participation and specifically participation by SMEs.

Another record that was broken at the event was the number of bilateral meetings requested on the Connexme application, which reached 100!

And last but not least, a lively speed-dating session took place that continued right up to the closing of the event. We hope that the event will lead to the birth of many new and successful projects!

You can now download all the authorised presentations from the event, including the ideas presentations, here.

Register now for the SusChem Brokerage Event

More details are now available for the recently announced SusChem 2016 Brokerage event which will take place on Tuesday, 13 September 2016, in Seville, Spain. And registration is now open! The SusChem Brokerage event will take place at the FIBES - Seville Conference Centre during the Sixth European Chemistry Congress organised by EuCheMS and the Asociación Nacional de Químicos de España, ANQUE. The Congress itself runs from 11 to 15 September. The SusChem Brokerage event is a unique opportunity for industry, academia, SMEs and other sustainable chemistry research and innovation actors to get ready to develop consortia and submit funding proposals targeting the more than 70 SusChem-relevant Horizon 2020-2017 call topics with deadlines falling in the period Q4 2016 and Q1 2017.  The identified call topics include potential projects in research areas such as Raw Materials, Energy Sources, Process Technologies, Material Technologies and Horizontal Issues. A dedicated registration website has been established for the SusChem Brokerage event and registration is open now. Participation in the event is free to all stakeholders.  During the SusChem Brokerage event participants will be able to:

Present project ideas to large chemical companies and  the SusChem stakeholder community Meet consortias looking for partners Interact with other stakeholders during the speed dating session

The draft agenda for the event is available here. Get involved! Project ideas for the Horizon 2020-2017 can be submitted on the GRANT-IT portal. All submitted project ideas will be made available to the SusChem community and will allow interested partners to contact you for meeting requests when the SusChem Brokerage event 'speed dating' tool is open. For additional information on the event and for questions related to accommodation or how to access the venue, please visit the SusChem 2016 Brokerage event registration portal at suschembrokerage.com. The SusChem 2016 Brokerage event is jointly organized with SusChem Spain.

Introducing Anne Chloe Devic

Cefic Research and Innovation has recently recruited two new Innovation Managers who will be heavily involved with SusChem activities over the next few years. Some members of the SusChem community will have met Anne Chloe Devic and Henk Pool prior to their secondment to Cefic and as they took up their duties for SusChem over the past few months. All stakeholders will have the opportunity to meet them at the 2016 SusChem Stakeholder event.

In this and a subsequent article we introduce both managers and ask them about what they are expecting to achieve for Sustainable Chemistry in Europe during their time with the platform. Today we talk to Anne Chloe Devic.

Career highlights
Following two years of “Classes Preparatoires” in France, Anne Chloe got a Master’s degree in Chemistry and Chemical engineering specialising in Polymers from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie in Montpellier, France. She then started a professional ‘tour of Europe’ with a job at ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) in the UK working as a research engineer in acrylic composites. Anne Chloe then moved to France where she managed a laboratory and process support team for the production of alkoxylates for surfactants before moving to a plant producing PMMA cast sheets where she was deputy site manager looking after quality, SHE and process. Her next country was Belgium and, still with ICI, she managed a team looking after all scale-up activities for their Polyurethane business which was subsequently purchased by Huntsman. She continued her tour of Europe with a move to Spain in 2002 were she worked as technology advisor in research and innovation for materials at Repsol based in Madrid. In that job, Anne Chloe got involved with the SusChem Spain board and the materials working group of SusChem Europe. She also got the chance to sit on the IRIAG (Industry Research and Innovation Advisory Group) and the partnership board of the SPIRE association – experiences that means she has absolutely the right profile for the job of Innovation Manager at CEFIC!

In her free time Anne Chloe is a keen sportswoman, enjoys travelling every year to visit her family in India, and she has a special interest in innovation in politics – for example new governance systems.

What is your view on Sustainable Chemistry?
Sustainability in developing chemistry solutions for societal challenges is not only about assessing and reducing the environmental impact of a process or a product. It is also about developing in parallel an added value for the customer. Sustainability is also about the life of a chemical product which needs to further reduce its different footprints in its use and its ability to be recycled. Sustainability of chemicals is also about positive impact on people’s health and well-being. For example, I see 3D printable prosthetics as the solution and best example of sustainable chemistry for easy access of these devices to a much larger number of disabled people – more than we could ever dream off just 10 years ago. Here there is triple sustainability: it is about the renewable biopolymer used for 3D printing, it is the lower price enabling increasing access, and the added value by enabling full adaptation to the individual human body.

What challenges do you foresee?
We will not win the battle for competitiveness, which is crucial for the European Chemical industry, if we don’t offer Sustainable Chemicals which have significantly enhanced properties compared to existing products. The market needs to see sustainability and added value together, which is a very big technological challenge for the years to come. The answer will be the use of eco-design of materials. However the methodology of eco-design needs to be standardised and systematised in all research and innovation organizations.

Another challenge is to get the messages through to the public that sustainability is not only about use of alternative feedstocks for products, like biomass for “bio-products”. It is also about, for example, using CO₂ and by-products from effluents to convert to useful products.

How do you see your new role contributing to your view on Sustainable Chemistry?
My new role will hopefully enable companies that we (CEFIC) represent to do more Research and Innovation, helping the Horizon 2020 programme and other instruments to better respond to the industrial challenges we face and to find the right multi-disciplinary collaborations across countries, academics and companies that will enable customers and society in general to have a better life, in a more reasonable world run under a sharing and more resource, energy and CO₂ efficient economy - the circular economy.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of your three years at Cefic?
I hope I will have contributed, together with my colleagues in the innovation team at CEFIC, to spread the innovation challenges messages of the chemical industry, as an intermediate and coordinator, so that the public, the companies, the Research and Technology Organisations, and the European Institutions have a better understanding of how Innovation in sustainable chemicals and materials can be placed in the right context in terms of policy and technology. And how they can be potential game changers for Europe. To be more precise I hope that the achievement will be: Compared to three years before, we can seeing more involvement in collaborative projects with a measurable impact and more innovative products close to the market from the European chemical industry.

What areas are you looking to collaborate with others and how do you prefer to be contacted?
I will be dealing with the area of Sustainable Materials and I am looking to gather experts from industry and research organisations in order to draw together the research and innovation challenges of the future – specifically Materials in the Circular Economy and Energy Union issues. We will also establish and confirm the current priorities within the review of the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). I can be contacted for any proposed contribution you may have.

I am also coordinating the SusChem National Technology Platforms (NTPs) and will be looking to increase the number of NTPs - any organisation interested I setting up a new NTP can contact me - and how we can improve the existing network of 13 countries, exchanging real value between the European and national platforms.

You can contact Anne Chloe by email.

WALEVA transforms residues into high-value chemicals

SusChem Spain via the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) is collaborating with the Industrial Engineering Group Técnicas Reunidas and the Scientific and Technological Research Centre of Extremadura (CICYTEX) in the WALEVA project. The initiative has the objective of valorising rice straw residue by converting it into levulinic acid – a biobased chemical building block in high demand.  This solution provides a sustainable alternative to burning of this agricultural residue, a common practice in rice growing areas with a high environmental impact. WALEVA started in June 2014 and run until September 2017 and is financed by the European Commission’s LIFE Programme that targets environmental projects. 

The WALEVA project integrates the development of a pilot plant, currently in the design phase, in the José Lladó Technological Centre in Madrid that will apply technology developed by Técnicas Reunidas for the production of levulinic acid that starts from any agricultural residue or lignocellulosic material. This demonstration plant, which will integrate an innovative chemical process, will demonstrate that this conversion technology can solve a known environmental problem. In a final phase, the project will show that this technology is easily transferable to other European regions with the same environmental problems.

SusChem Spain is one of SusChem's network of national technology platforms (NTPs) that connect SusChem thinking with national and regional programmes, facilitate trans-national collaboration and to advise SusChem on collective national priorities that need to be considered at European level. They are key to the involvement of national stakeholders including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large companies and academic groups, in European initiatives.

Straw problem
Valorising rice straw residue will generate high-value added products and introduce a new value chain. The product - Levulinic acid - is a chemical monomer in high demanded by industry for use in many applications including pharmaceuticals, biodiesels, polymers, food and other chemistries.

The initiative will contribute to a sustainable alternative to the burning of a troublesome residue that affects the rice industry in several Spanish regions such as Extremadura, Andalucía, the Ebro river basin and Albufera in Valencia. WALEVA is supported by the Extremadura region, one of Spain’s main rice production areas, through the rice farmers association.  Although alternatives to burning rice residues have been researched, no economically viable and useful chemical technology has yet been found.

The burning of the residues created by this crop generates uncontrolled carbon dioxide emissions. Rice production in the European Union surpassed three million tonnes in 2012. It is estimated that every tonne of rice produces 0.8 tonnes of straw residue meaning some 2.4-1.2 million tonnes of residues are generated annually potentially that could emit over four million tonnes of C02 if burnt.  In Spain alone, there are around 105 000 hectares of land used for rice crops yielding 577 000 tonnes of rice straw meaning potential emissions of 985.000 tonnes of CO2 from burning.

Process details
The proposed project includes six major development actions:

• Collection and treatment of the residue
• Design and construction of a storage module
• Pilot plant design
• Pilot plant procurement and construction
• Pilot plant demonstration of an innovative levulinic acid production technology
• Viability studies

The project could estimates that production of levulinic could reach 40 500 tonnes/year in the first three years after the end of the project, rising to 63 000 tonnes/year in the next five years thanks to the project’s dissemination plan. At European level, the project expects production to reach 156 000 tonnes/year within five years of the project end.

The technologies demonstrated in the LIFE + WALEVA project will be positioned as the leading technology used to produce biobased levulinic acid at European level.

The LIFE Programme
The LIFE programme is the European Union’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. Since its beginning in 1992, LIFE has co-financed some 4 000 projects across the EU, contributing approximately €3.1 billion to the protection of the environment and climate.

The LIFE programme contributes to sustainable development and to the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, as well as other relevant EU environment and climate strategies and plans linked to environmental and climate change issues.

The ‘Environment’ theme of the new programme covers three priority areas: environment and resource efficiency; nature and biodiversity; and environmental governance and information. The ‘Climate Action’ theme covers climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; and climate governance and information.

Making it happen for Chemical SMEs

On 24 February the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) organised a workshop in Brussels on “Small and Medium- sized enterprises, the engine of the European Industry”. The workshop took place at the Committee of the Regions and SusChem was there to present its activities in support of SMEs in the chemical industry across Europe.

The event was hosted by the Committee of the Regions and was opened by Mr. Hartmut Moellring, ECRN President and Minister of Science and Economic Affairs, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and Karl-Uwe Buetof, ECRN Vice President and Director, Ministry of Economic Affairs, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Both ECRN spokesmen stressed the importance of SMEs in Europe, which represent more than 95% of the total industry with slightly differences depending on the specific sectors.

SusChem supports SMEs
Cristina Gonzalez (pictured below) from Feique (the Spanish Federation of Chemical Industries) and the Secretariat of SusChem Spain presented on behalf of SusChem and talked about “Chemical SMEs, making it happen”. The percentage of SMEs in the European chemical industry is more than 95%, with a similar figure for Spain itself.

She presented Cefic and Feique, and explained the role of SusChem, the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry and its network of National Technology Platforms. She highlighted how Feique and SusChem Spain can help Spanish SMEs in addressing regulation and other aspects having an impact in their daily business activities, such as raising awareness and training them in aspects of the REACH legislation; and the open innovation portal (SusChem innova) to facilitate consortia building.

Finally she presented the SusChem project “Skills needed for Innovation”, a survey run among larger chemical companies to identify skill gaps and requirements. The results of this survey had also been validated with SMEs. She described the SusChem programme “Educate to Innovate” that is focused on exploiting innovation results from R&I projects, enhancing innovation skills and engaging industry and higher education institutions. You can download her presentation here.

Regions for SMEs
Earlier Thomas Wobben, Director of Horizontal Networks and Studies, Committee of the Regions talked about the key role of regional authorities in supporting SMEs. He announced the adoption of the Energy package for Europe to be approved in the Spring Council which will have a significant impact on the Chemical Industry as one of Europe’s major energy users.

The Committee of the Regions interact very closely with the EU regions to promote entrepreneurship in SMEs and to develop fitness assessments on how regulations affect the activities of small and medium companies.

The Small Business Act (SBA) adopted by the EU Commission aims to address the needs of Europe SMEs by establishing 10 principles to guide the implementation of EU policies. Skills and innovation, together with public support for their needs and facilitating information provision are amongst the key principles included.

The Committee of the Regions launched the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) Award label to facilitate the implementation of the “Small Business Act for Europe” at regional and local levels. This project identifies and rewards European regions with excellent entrepreneurial visions with the label of “Entrepreneurial region of the year”. Some recent winners include the regions of County Kerry (Ireland, EER 2011); Murcia (Spain, EER 2011); State of Brandenburg (Germany, EER 2011) and Southern Denmark (Denmark, EER 2013).

Commission view
Joanna Drake, Director of Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission DG Growth highlighted the importance of SMEs for the European economy with more than 20 Million companies. She argued that complicity is the key to success; complicity with EU Institutions, National and Regional authorities, all working together to facilitate the existence of small companies, through information and helping them overcome barriers.

The burden of regulation has been identified as one of the major problems for SMEs. REACH has been highlighted as the most unfriendly regulation for small and medium enterprises. As a result, ECHA is now revising the process to help SMEs.

To support/encourage SMEs in Europe, some actions need to be taken into account, including cutting the time and cost for setting up a company; cooperation with authorities at all levels; facilitating access to finance; networking; internationalization; and giving SMEs more visibility. A lack of appropriate skills was also mentioned as a weaknesses for SMEs.

To conclude the workshop, some good practice examples from European chemical regions were presented: the Chemi-Cluster in Bayern; the Competitiveness & Innovation Unit in Wallonia; and KV consulting Services BVBA from Flanders.

SusChem at Expoquimia 2014!

Barcelona will be hosting the seventeenth Expoquimia International Chemical Show from 30 September until 3 October and both SusChem Europe and SusChem Espana are organizing activities throughout the conference and exhibition.

On 30 September SusChem Spain will hold its annual General Assembly. Among the topics to be discussed are the use of CO2 as a raw material for the chemical industry, process intensification and the added value that the SusChem network brings to the industry, the wider chemical and process community and society as a whole. In the evening, there will also be a session dedicated to new opportunities to finance research and innovation activities including combining funds for maximum effect.

October 1 sees a session entitled ‘Smart cities: Chemicals inside’. The meeting will be chaired by Prof. Carlos Negro, President of the forum “Chemistry and Society” and will include presentations by Elisa Martin Garijo, Director of Innovation and Technology at IBM, and Antonia Morales from Cefic.

SusChem project workshops
Also on 1 October SusChem FP7 project E4Water is hosting a workshop on ‘Industrial Water Management: New Ways to Improve Efficiency.’ E4Water addresses crucial process industry needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers for an integrated and energy-efficient water management. Its main objective is to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in the chemical industry, with cross-fertilization possibilities for other industrial sectors.

SusChem Europe and the SPIRE PPP will be presenting on 2 October and SusChem FP7 projects BIO-TIC and R4R (Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency) will be holding workshops on 3 October. See you there!

Smart Chemistry
Expoquimia takes place at Barcelona's Gran Via Exhibition Centre and will be attended by the leading companies and organizations from the international chemical industry. A major feature of the event is the Smart Chemistry, Smart Future initiative headed by the Spanish Federation of Chemical Industries (FEIQUE) that showcases the sector's capacity to generate wealth and employment and its contribution to improving the well-being of society as a whole.

The Smart Chemistry, Smart Future zone at Expoquimia is based around four main themes where, both now and in the future, the contribution of the chemical sector is absolutely fundamental:

• Smart Cities (how we can make the cities in which we live more sustainable)
• Energy & Water (how to improve the management of our natural resources)
• Life: Health and Food
• New Technologies4U (new technologies and their impact on our daily lives).

Expoquimia is being held in conjunction with Eurosurfas and Equiplast, two benchmark events in the surface treatments and plastics sectors respectively effectively making Barcelona the industrial and scientific capital of the chemical industry in Spain and southern Europe during the event.

For more information contact the conference organisers.

Enabling the Circular Economy: an essential role for Chemistry

On 28 and 29 May in Tarragona, Spain the III ForumSusChem - Sustainable Chemistry, innovative and competitive companies (3SCICC) presented industry trends and advances showing the essential role of chemistry as a driving force for the circular economy. The circular economy is an economic model based on eco-efficient product design that enables end-of-life component separation and maximises reuse to minimise waste.

Organized by SusChem España, the Spanish SusChem NTP, 3SCICC was an official satellite event for the European Union Green Week 2014 that also focused on the circular economy.

The circular economy champions a major change from a ‘take-make-dispose’ linear economy to a circular – more natural – model and has an increasing number of supporters as the model needed to face the needs and challenges of the 21st century such as reduced availability of resources and an increasing global population.

Sustainable Chemistry innovation provides the fundamentals for a circular economy such as new materials, new production systems (including use of CO2 as a feedstock), and sustainable water management and SusChem and 'SusChem thinking' was well represented in the presentations made at the event.

SusChem commitment

The forum opened with speeches from the Mayor of Tarragona, Josep Fèlix Ballesteros; the Chancellor of the Rovira i Virgili University, Josep Antón Ferré; the President of the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE), Luis Serrano; Mª Ángeles Ferre from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; and SusChem España president, Javier Brañas (see below).

“SusChem España and the 300 companies and organizations that participate in the Sustainable Chemistry Technology Platform, as well as this SusChem Forum, prove that the chemical sector is convinced that in a situation as intensively competitive as the present one, its future depends on being ever more efficient and sustainable, on keeping to provide solutions to all productive activities” remarked FEIQUE president Luis Serrano at the opening. “Our commitment is not only on ever improving, but on contributing to global improvement”.

“Circular Economy is an economic model based on eco-design and by products valorisation, making use of them and creating auto-regenerative systems that allow for obtaining high added-value products” said SusChem España president Javier Brañas. “Circular Economy also aims to improve energy and resource efficiency, these changes having an impact on all industrial sectors, so the real achievement is the multiplier effect generated. Chemical industry is the main supplier of many industrial sectors, so its embracing circular economy will favour change in other sectors as well.”

SPIRE and SusChem

In the opening plenary session Gernot Klotz, Executive Director of Research & Innovation at the European Council for Chemical Industry (CEFIC) presented the role of the chemical industry as the basis for sustainable growth.

He was followed by Jose Lorenzo Vallés from DG Research and Innovation Area at the European Commission who outlined the role that the SusChem inspired SPIRE Public Private Partnership will be playing to deliver increased energy efficiency and sustainable resources.

Closing remarks at the event were made by Dr. Klaus Sommer, Chairman of the Board of SusChem. He praised the work done by SusChem España in its nearly 10 years of operation and stressed that the areas addressed in the Forum 3SCICC underline SusChem’s approach and the Horizon 2020 strategy of the European Union.

Working groups show the way

Forum 3SCICC was structured around four areas representing the different approaches from which chemistry can contribute to the new economic model and that significantly coincide with the working groups that form SusChem España.

The four areas were: Efficiency and Design; Resource Efficiency; Energy Efficiency and Process Intensification; and By-Products Valorisation.

Efficiency and Design included presentations by Ignasi Cubiñá of Eco Intelligence Growth; Juan Miguel Moreno from Repsol; Rinske van Hainingen at Akzo Nobel; and Juan Ruiz, of Plastics Europe. They addressed issues such as the significance of acquiring a global vision of the whole life cycle when designing a product, the use of biotechnology and nanotechnology in the development of more eco-efficient and sustainable products, and the use of plastics in housing rehabilitation and progress towards Smart Cities.

The Resource Efficiency session included the participation of Vincent Jamblin from Tractebel Engineering; Claudia Niewersch of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland; Veronica Garcia of Dow Chemical Ibérica and Prof. Frank Hollmann of TU Delft. Aspects such as the development of processes and recent progress in implementing phosphorus recovery were addressed. Possible uses of water in chemical reactions, the various options open to close the water cycle; and the promotion and support of resource efficiency for industrial development, were also approached.

Energy Efficiency and Process Intensification included presentations by David Velázquez of DVA Global Energy Services; Peter Cox from Emerson Process Management; and Amalio Garrido of the Federation of High Energy Products Industries (FIPAE). The way automation can enable new ways of operating chemical plants in future markets with limited resources, higher energy costs and limited available expertise; advanced energy management; and the use of chemical reactions for clean energy generation and storage, were addressed.

By-Products Valorisation addressed aspects such as value creative combination applications to the end of life PVC recycling value chain; CO2 based polymer production; reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol and methanol-derived products; or obtaining glycerol from biodiesel.

#useCO2

Participating in the By-products valorisation area was Christoph Gürtler from Bayer Material Science who is currently investing in the construction of a production line that will use CO2 as raw material for producing polyurethane foams. Also participating were José Ramón Ochoa-Gómez of Tecnalia who presented the great potential of glycerol as platform molecule for obtaining commercially valuable compounds. Atsushi Urakawa from the Institute of Chemical research in Catalonia (ICIQ), presented the state of the art in CO2 reduction to methanol and methanol-derived products. Finally Joan Martí of Sita SPE Ibérica spoke on value creation from plastics recycling.

SusChem-Spain launches its Young Chemists Awards 2014!

For the sixth consecutive year SusChem-Spain has launched its prestigious Young Chemists Awards. With four different categories, the SusChem Young Chemists Awards 2014 aims to publicly acknowledge research activity carried out by Younger Chemists in Spain. To take part entries must be received by 6 May 2014. 

The Spanish Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, SusChem-Spain, launched its SusChem-Young Chemists Awards this week in Madrid. The main objectives of the awards are to recognize, encourage and promote scientific activity among young researchers in Spain. And entrants for the awards must submit the required documents through the SusChem-Spain website by 6 May.

These awards, divided into four categories (Innova, Predoc, Postdoc and Futura - see below), are promoted by  SusChem – Spain , Foro Química y Sociedad, the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), specialized RSEQ Young Researchers in Chemistry (JIQ), National Chemists Association (ANQUE), General Counsel of Chemists, Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) and Tecnalia.

For 2014 the awards are sponsored by the companies Bruker and BSH.

Prize categories
SusChem Awards, aimed at young chemists aged under 40, are divided in four different categories –Innova, Predoc, Postdoc and Futura- and the winners of each category will be rewarded with a € 1 000 cash prize.

The categories are:

• INNOVA: This award recognises the best work (patent, scientific publication and/or final degree or master’s Project) developed after collaboration between one or more companies and any agent of the technology system (Public Research Institutes, Universities or RTOs). The candidate’s work must have been developed in the last two years in one or several of the following areas related to sustainable chemistry: Industrial Biotechnology, Reaction and Process Design, New Materials & Nanotechnologies and Waste Valorisation.
• PREDOC:  This award is for the author of the best scientific publication, published during 2013, in any area of chemistry and who had not finished their PhD studies before 31st December 2013.
• POSTDOC: This award is for the author of the best scientific publication, published during 2013, in any area of chemistry and who had finished the PhD studies before 1st January 2013.
• FUTURA: This award recognises the best academic record in Chemistry, or related Sciences, obtained in 2013.

The awards will be judged by a jury comprising six recognized members from each of the promoting organizations. The Jury’s decision will be announced no later than 16 June 2014 personally to the winners and via the SusChem-Spain website and the websites of the other promoting organisations.

The full Terms and Conditions of the competitions are available here (in Spanish).

SusChem Spain enabling the Circular Economy

Under the motto ‘Enabling circular economy’, the SusChem España national technology platform is organising the third edition of the Forum Sustainable Chemistry, innovative and competitive companies (3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry), an international meeting aimed to debate and share information on new chemical products and processes that are more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. This major event takes place in Tarragona, Spain on May 28 and 29. Tarragona is home to the largest chemical cluster in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry is sponsored by the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) and Expoquimia – the International Chemistry Event of Fira de Barcelona together with industrial sponsors Dow Chemicals and Emerson Process Management.

SusChem chairman Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer and board member Gernot Klotz of Cefic will be presenting at the meeting. More details of the programme can be accessed here.

Circular
The Circular Economy is an economic model that finds ways to reuse products and components and restore their material and energy inputs. And sustainable chemistry innovation provides the fundamentals for making it possible.

A Circular Economy is an industrial system replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept with restoration and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products and systems, facilitating component separation and making it feasible for manufacturers to collect, re-manufacture and re-distribute their products, thus generating a circular, cradle-to-cradle system.

Circular Economy has an increasing number of supporters as the essential model needed to face the economic, social and resource challenges of the 21st century. The European Commission has chosen to move to this restorative economic system as part of its strategy for Europe 2020, as it drives substantial and lasting improvements in resource productivity. Sustainable chemistry and engineering innovation provides the fundamental basis that can enable the circular economy (new materials, new production systems, sustainable water management etc.).

Raw materials
Critical Raw Materials reducing, reusing, recycling or substitution; state-of-art and new trends in biobased products and biorefineries; new trends and challenges in process optimization or different ways for by-product valorization, are among the topics to be discussed at the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry. Cities and industry symbiosis and the solutions chemistry provides to make this possible will also be addressed.

The day before the conference, May 27, will see the opportunity to visit a variety of industrial facilities and research centres in the Tarragona area to see the exciting sustainable chemistry taking place there.

For more information and registration details visit the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry website.

National Platforms get ready for Horizon 2020

With the SusChem Europe’s forthcoming Brokerage event fast approaching two SusChem National Platforms, in the UK and Spain, are organising events in early October to ensure their industrial and academic stakeholders are ready to get the most out of the new EU Research and Innovation Framework programme when it launches on 1 January 2014.

On 1 October SusChem’s coordinating partner in the UK, Chemistry Innovation, is organising a Horizon 2020 Brokerage event on nanotechnologies, advanced materials, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing and processing (NMBP). Chemistry Innovation is coordinating the event on behalf of the Technology Strategy Board – the UK’s lead Innovation Strategy body - and the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

This all day event takes place at the National Composites Centre in Bristol and is free, but places are limited. The main objectives of the event are to:

• Hear first-hand from the European Commission the content and detail of the first NMBP related calls within Horizon 2020
• Formulate partnerships with attendees for proposals that will be submitted to Horizon 2020

In order to encourage the formation of partnerships, attendees will have the opportunity to pre-book 1:1 meetings with attendees in addition to the option of attending parallel workshops in the afternoon.

For more information on this event, please visit the event web page or contact Tracy McCarroll by email.

Spanish preparations

The next day, 2 October, sees SusChem Espana starting its campaign to facilitate the participation of Spanish chemical industry stakeholders in the new Horizon 2020 programme by promoting and stimulating dialogue on innovation and project ideas.

The brokerage event takes place in the ACCIO Building in Barcelona and will be the first step in building highly innovative and competitive projects in cooperation with other stakeholders both within Spain and at European level including via the SusChem Europe brokerage event in Brussels on 23 October.

The active participation of the audience will be encouraged through the presentation of project ideas and through bilateral meetings between potential project partners.

More details (in Spanish) on the Barcelona event can be accessed here and you can download the event programme, which also includes a link to on-line registration.

The event is free if you are presenting a project proposal or if you have attended the preceding seminar on ‘Successful Preparation for Horizon 2020’ that also takes place in Barcelona at the Instituto de Química on 1 October. Otherwise registration costs €90 (VAT inc).

More information on the 1 October seminar on Strategies for Horizon 2020 ‘Cómo prepararse con éxito para el Horizonte 2020?’ can be found here.