PNO

FIREFLY Online Consortium Meeting (June 2023)

/in /by

After the FIREFLY Kick-off meeting back in January 2023, the FIREFLY team got together online to discuss the mid-year status of the different project tasks. The 16 partners joined online on the 19th and 20th of June to present and discuss the 9 Work Packages that range from technical to administrative topics. La Palma Research Centre as leader of WP2 was represented with two members.

The FIREFLY project aims to electrify a large part of the chemicals value chain in a sustainable way (environmental, economic and social): power-to-catalyst and chemicals fostered via electrochemical catalyst recycling.

Work Package 2 – Supply of waste catalyst and mapping of relevant resources, which is led by LPRC, has two main tasks: 1) Detailed characterization, supply and pre-conditioning of samples  and 2) Material flow analysis and GIS inventory of relevant resources. LPRC is also the leader of Task 2.2. The presentation of WP2 focused on non-technical (risks, milestones, reports) and technical aspects of the work done. As part of the technical aspects, the presentation covered the selection and characterisation of catalyst samples and the Material Flow Analysis for the catalyst-related resources (metals).

LPRC will now continue its work on Task 2.2 with the development and implementation of the Material Flow Analysis for the selected elements (including gold, silver and other metals) and on the creation of Geographical Information System to map the identified catalyst-related resources.

La Palma Research Centre

CRM-Geothermal 1st Progress Meeting, Falmouth, UK (June 2023)

/in /by

The recent CRM-Geothermal event brought together consortium members in Falmouth, UK, to conduct the 1st Progress Meeting of the project, from 13 to 15 June 2023.

The agenda included Work Package presentations, strategic breakout sessions to discuss several topics, pilot site visits, and a remarkable geological field trip in Cornwall:

  • Experts presented the achievements and future plans of various Work Packages, providing insights into research advancements and exciting prospects.
  • Partners engaged in productive discussions during breakout sessions, aligning thoughts and developing coordinated plans to address challenges and leverage collective expertise.
  • Pilot site visit led by Geothermal Engineering Ltd and Cornish Lithium, showcasing the local potential for research in a pilot plant.
  • A geological field trip in Cornwall that revealed valuable observations, including granite-sediment contact, mineralization processes (Cu & Sn), and fracture zones, enhancing understanding of the geological features in the region.

In this opportunity, LPRC took part in the presentations related to Work Package 6 on communication and dissemination of CRM-geothermal. LPRC leads Task 6.6 – Clustering, in which it was highlighted the recent efforts to cluster with projects with common topics and challenges, fostering collaboration and accelerating progress.

La Palma Research Centre

Futures Conference 2023 – Empowering Futures, 14-16 June 2023, Turku, Finland

/in , /by

The La Palma Research Centre team joined a community of futures academics and researchers in Turku, Finland, for the Futures Conference 2023, entitled “Empowering Futures – Long-term Governance, Democracy and Futures Research”. This edition was dedicated to discussions on the use of foresight and futures thinking to drive future aspects of our world, especially on ESG topics – Environmental, Social and Governance.

LPRC submitted an abstract (see page 13) based on the foresight and strategic work done for the ROBOMINERS project and it was granted a presentation slot on the 14th June 2023 for the session “Foresight and Futures Research for Sustainable Transitions”, where there were around 20 people attending. The title of the LPRC presentation was “Application of Foresight Tools in Research of a Low-Impact Mining Ecosystem” and intended to show to the session participants the work done towards the creation and development of a future strategic plan for further development of the ROBOMINERS technology for the years 2030 and 2050, based on a series of foresight methodologies: Horizon Scanning, Focus Groups, Delphi Survey, Visioning, Preparation for Pilots and Roadmapping. The presentation was well received and got a few questions regarding the methodology and the results of these exercises.

For the remaining of the conference, the LPRC team attended other sessions and presentations to learn more about the implementation of foresight methodologies and engaged in discussions and networking with the other participants.

This was a fruitful experience by the LPRC team, following a previous participation in 2019 to present the results of the implementation of foresight methodologies on the CHPM 2030 project. Hopefully, we will be back to the Futures Conference in the upcoming years to present the results from other projects.

EPMA

START Project Annual Meeting, Madrid, May & June 2023

/in /by

The LPRC team joined its counterparts in the START project for the Project Annual Meeting, hosted in Madrid by IGME-CSIC. This meeting was held on the 30th, 31st May and 1st June 2023.

This was the first time that the START consortium met in person after last year’s Kick-off meeting. The meeting agenda for this 2023 event involved discussions on the status of the project (by Work Package), a Focus Group session on the future of thermoelectics and the hosting of the 3rd START webinar. The main topics of discussion during these 3 days were the selection and preparation of tetrahedrites (an abundant mine waste mineral that will be used in the project), materials modelling, processing and characterisation, and the sustainable device production, validation and demonstration.

LPRC was responsible for the Work Package 7 presentation on Innovation and exploitation strategy where the team discussed the current and future efforts for designing a new thermoelectrics value chain adapted to the START technological developments, as well as for hosting the Focus Groups session that counted with project technological leaders and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board – Doug Crane (DTP Thermoelectrics).

During the Focus Groups sessions, the LPRC team asked questions related to the current and future possibilities of the START project and of the scientific fields of relevance – thermoelectrics, materials and mining. Each participant answered to the questions with their own views. Data was collected by the moderators and will now be used to further define the future START value chain.