START

START Kick-off meeting, Lisbon, 20-21 June 2022

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We are very proud to announce the official beginning of the START project, which took place on June 1st, 2022, with the Kick-off meeting held on June 20 and 21 in LNEG, Lisbon, Portugal. START, which stands for “Sustainable Energy Harvesting Systems Based on Innovative Mine Waste Recycling”, with the concept of transforming mining waste into materials for waste heat recovery, will create a sustainable supply chain and a corresponding business-innovation ecosystem for tellurium-free thermoelectric green energy harvesting products based on secondary raw materials responsibly sourced from within the European Union (EU).

START is an Innovation Action project supported by the EU and its Horizon Europe programme (HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-07). The Consortium comprises 15 multidisciplinary institutions with large experience in international innovation projects: LNEG (coordinator), 3drivers, ASGMI, BGR, EPMA, GeniCore, GEO-U, GBA, LPRC, MBN, RGS, SGUDS, SINTEF, TEGnology and IGME-CSIC. The START project have a total duration of 48 months and 9 194 441.25 € of total eligible costs.

The project partners – including LPRC represented by Luís Lopes – discussed the implementation of the seven Work Packages throughout the meeting days. The Work packages are:

  1. Coordination and management
  2. Selection of mine waste sites; physical minerals separation and concentration
  3. Materials modelling and processing
  4. Materials characterization
  5. Device production, validation and demonstration
  6. Dissemination and communication
  7. Innovation and exploitation strategy

LPRC is the leader of Work Package 7 and all its four tasks. In this part of the project, LPRC will implement a foresight exercise for the development of a flexible, scalable and adaptable business case design for the START value chain, document industrial viability and economics, develop a business focused roadmap and develop sustainability plans. LPRC also participates in Work Packages 2, 5 and 6.

START started in June 2022 and will end in May 2026 (48-month project duration). There is a long way to go, full of work ahead.

Keep informed by following the project website and social media channels.

La Palma Research Centre

LPRC representing CROWDTHERMAL at GeoTHEM expo

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On June 1-3 2022 the Messe Offenburg-Ortenau GmbH held the GeoTHERM expo & congress, in Offenburg – Germany. The event gathered relevant experts in the Geothermal sector in Germany and Europe, including academic, research, industry, and stakeholders from other sectors. These experts and companies had the opportunity to deliver formal presentations, set up and showcase their products and developments in their booths, as well as to engage with stakeholders and network during coffee breaks and the social dinner.

The agenda of the formal presentations was organized in two parallel sections: Deep and Shallow Geothermal Energy. In this opportunity, CROWDTHERMAL was selected to be presented in the first day of event (2 June 2022) as part of the Deep Geothermal Energy section – presented by Marcio Tameirao (La Palma Research Centre). The purpose of the presentation was to introduce the upcoming CROWDTHERMAL Core Services that are planned to be launched in June 2022, and how they will be implemented and made available on the project website.

The audience topic raised the audience’s attention, and the Q&A session included questions related to the meta-database of geothermal projects in Europe and alternative finance.

GeoTHERM conference

In the upcoming days the CROWDTHERMAL Core Services will be launched on the website, stay tuned!

La Palma Research Centre

LPRC co-organised the recent ROBOMINERS workshop

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The most recent ROBOMINERS-related workshop entitled “Innovation in Selective Mining: new trends and technological advances to reduce the environmental footprint of mineral extraction“ was co-organised by the  Geological Survey of Belgium (GSB), European Federation of Geoligists (EFG) and La Palma Research Centre (LPRC) on the 8th June 2022, in a physical event in Brussels, Belgium. The main goal of this workshop was to bring together internal and external partners working on selective mining to discuss the current and future research on the field.

The Workshop was inaugurated by Giorgia Stasi (GSB), with a welcome speech made by Vanessa Heyvaert (GSB). Then, a series of presentations on the topic followed: Patrick Nadoll (EIT RawMaterials) presented the overall raw materials panorama and the work of EIT RawMaterials; Christian Burlet (GSB) presented the ROBOMINERS project; Sophie Decree (GSB) and Nolwenn Coint (Geological Survey of Norway) discussed the phosphate exploration in Europe; Pablo Sobron (Impossible Sensing) mentioned how precision mining can be used from deep sea to deep space applications; Christophe Germay (EPSLog) presented their transdisciplinary multi sensor core logging technology. After the presentations, authors participated in a Panel Discussion on raw materials, mining and other related topics.

In the afternoon, two sessions were held. The first focused a laboratory demonstration LIBS and Fluorescence, techniques used in mining exploration and was presented by GSB. The visioning exercise that followed was led by LPRC. The event finished with a few remarks and conclusions made by the organisers.

A total of 25 participants on site and 10 participants online from different fields including technology development, policy and journalism were present to learn more and discuss the development of selective mining, topic especially important for the ROBOMINERS project.

EMPORIA4KT

LPRC organised an international bootcamp in La Palma

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On May 26th, 2022, the Emporia 4KT international bootcamp was held in La Palma. This event, organized by La Palma Research Centre together with Campus de Excelencia Internacional Global del Mar (CEIMAR) and Centro de Nuevas Tecnologías del Agua (CENTA), is part of the Emporia 4KT project, and is funded by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund. Its objective is to foster cooperation between universities, companies and government for knowledge transfer, as well as the promotion of the Blue Economy.

The Bootcamp was inaugurated by Mr. Francisco Raúl Camacho Sosa, delegate in charge of Tourism and Sports of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mr. Carlos Andrés Navarro Martínez, director of the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI), Mr. Ernesto Pereda de Pablo, Vice Rector for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Campus Santa Cruz y Sur of the University of La Laguna, Mr. Aridane González González, director of Research and Technological Development, on behalf of the Vice Rector of Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Ms. Mónica Quesada Peña, Project Manager of the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster and Mr. Alfonso Montes de Oca Acosta, president of the La Palma Isla Azul Association.

Representatives from 15 organizations from the Canary Islands in the field of blue economy worked together to identify barriers and solutions, sharing their experience in innovation and knowledge transfer with Emporia4kt partners, who represented 14 institutions and 5 countries of the Atlantic area. The aim is to bring members of the triple helix together and promote the sustainable growth of the Blue Economy. Furthermore, the event was streamed, allowing the participation of 30 attendants online.

During the event, the potential of the Canary Islands as a hub for this type of economy, related to the oceans, seas, and encompassing activities such as fishing, shipyards, tourism and tidal energy, was highlighted.

As a result of this project, a joint action plan will be created. In addition, the Innovation Enhancer Tool Academy, a learning program that has already been tested in other countries, will be implemented in the Canary Islands as of September of this year.

EMPORIA4KT Logo and Funding