The European Green Week – How INCITE plays a role in protecting biodiversity ?
Every Year EU Green Week, one of the main European event dedicated to environmental policy, takes place. From 19th to the 22th of October 2020, various virtual events are organized including a launching Event in Lisbon, 3 days of conferences and various virtual stands hosted by prestigious groups and institutions. The following article is describing how the INCITE project and its associated public-private partnership, the SPIRE program, are contributing to a green recovery.
The European Green Week initiative
This year, the European Green week will highlight nature and biodiversity in close link to Europe’s recovery after the COVID-19 crisis. During the whole week, discussions will focus on the role of EU policies, such as the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, in creating jobs and sustainable growth, while protecting and restoring nature. The 2020 Edition of the European Green Week will also act as a milestone on the path to COP 15, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, due to take place next year in Kunming, Yunnan Province (China), where world leaders will gather and adopt a new global deal for people and nature.
How INCITE aims to demonstrate a cleaner industrial approach by using enzymes & flow chemistry
INCITE is aiming to accelerate a transition to a more flexible and sustainable chemistry by taking novel integrated upstream and downstream processing. The project involves flow chemistry and membrane technology in two chemo-enzymatic demonstration cases at an industrial level. Globally, the project is expected to positively impact the environment by drastically reducing the energy and raw materials requirements (including organic solvents) alongside cutting down waste production, compared to traditional chemical synthesis.
Additionally, INCITE will demonstrate the possibility to use closed-loop processes at an industrial scale thus drastically increasing process safety by removing possible contacts with the environment. Such demonstration will be extremely important for our two industrial partners Oleon and ENDURA. Indeed, both have a strong company focus on environmental protection by having production facilities in respectively Oelegem, Belgium and Ravenna, Italy, in the direct neighborhood of Natura 2000 protected areas. INCITE’s technologies are therefore highly compatible with such protected sites, aiming to create area “[…] largely centered on people working with nature rather than against it”.
Source : Adapted from the web portal “Natura 2000 Viewer”
Finally, the project includes a dedicated work-package lead by Ghent University and involving all the partners investigates the sustainability of the novel integrated upstream and downstream processing in chemo-enzymatic processes regarding social-environmental impact and techno-economic assessment. The results will be integrated to ensure that future strategic developments following the demonstration will be designed with respect to the environment as well as societal impacts.
Process4Planet: the future of process industries and the green recovery
Following the significant impacts of the current SPIRE2030 Roadmap, SPIRE founding partners, the A.SPIRE European Association and the European Commission published the “Processes4Planet Partnership Guidance document – Transforming the European Process Industry for a sustainable society”. The initiative notably ambitions circularity of European process industries by a cross-sectorial approach to achieve the EU Green Deal targets by 2050. They will act to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels while increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Most importantly, they will aim for the ultimate goal of zero landfilling and water discharge, circular models will be implemented across industrial sectors, value chains and with regions and cities.
More information on the Process industries and the green recovery: https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-europe-next-research-and-innovation-framework-programme/european-partnerships-horizon-europe/candidates-digital-industry-and-space_en
