INNOMEM gathers some of the most recognised Membrane departments (>20) in Europe and acknowledged facilitators of technology transfer, corporate finance, funding and coaching, making available (i) the most promising and breakthrough manufacturing pilots and (ii) advanced characterization techniques and modelling together with (iii) non-technical services through this Test Bed: while relevant improvement metrics can be defined, the potential network of reachable stakeholders counts thousands of businesses on an international scale. Key facts are reported below. Within the scope of INNOMEM, main different types of membrane materials (polymeric, ceramic, metallic and nanocomposite), surface modification, membrane morphology and geometry and applications will be covered, providing for the first time a single entry point for industrial partners, mainly SMEs, aspiring to answer their concerns but with minimum investment costs and reduction of risks associated with technology transfer, while opening-up opportunities for demonstration of innovative nanomembranes in real life industrial problems (TRL7) and thus faster opening the market for these new products. The main KPIs for INNOMEM: Technical: 20% Membrane productivity improvement, 30% faster verification, >40% CO2 emissions and energy consumption reduction. Non-Technical: 10 Showcases, >15 Democases, >100 reachable SMEs and > 300 reachable investors. INNOMEM stems from the consideration that the development of products based on advanced membranes and nanomaterials require access to finance and an optimised business planning, relying on a sound prior analysis of the market, of the economic impacts and capacity of a company. The project aims at developing and organizing a sustainable Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for nano-enabled membranes for different applications. The OITB will also offer a network of facilities and services through a Single Entry Point (SEP) to companies (inside or outside Europe).

The MACBETH consortium provides a breakthrough technology for advanced downstream processing by combining catalytic synthesis with the corresponding separation units in a single highly efficient catalytic membrane reactor (CMR). This disruptive technology has the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of large volume industrial process by up to 45 %. Additionally, resource and energy efficiency will be increased by up to 70%. The revolutionary new reactor design will not only guarantee substantially smaller and safer production plants, but has also a tremendous competitive advantage since CAPEX is decreased by up to 50% and OPEX by up to 80%. The direct industrial applicabilty will be demonstrated by the long term operation of TRL 7 demo plants for the highly relevant and large scale processes: hydroformylation, hydrogen production, propane dehydrogenation. The confidence of the MACBETH consortium to reach its highly ambitious goals are underlined by two special extensions that go well beyond the ordinary scope of an EU project: 1) Transfer of CMR technology to biotechnology: Within MACBETH we will demonstrate that starting from building blocks of TRL 5 (not from a TRL 5 pilot plant), that fit the requirements of selective enzymatical cleavage of fatty acids with the combined support and system knowledge of the experienced CMR partners, a TRL 7 demo plant will be established and operated 2) Creation of the spin-off European “Lighthouse Catalytic Membrane Reactors” (LCMR) within MACBETH: A European competence center for CMR will be established already within the MACBETH project with an actual detailed business plan including partner commitment. These efforts will ultimately lead to the foundation of the “Lighthouse Catalytic Membrane Reactors” (LCMR) that will provide access to the combined knowledge of the MACBETH project .

BIONICO will develop, build and demonstrate at a real biogas plant (TRL6) a novel reactor concept integrating H2 production and separation in a single vessel. The hydrogen production capacity will be of 100 kg/day. By using the novel intensified reactor, direct conversion of biogas to pure hydrogen is achieved in a single step, which results in an increase of the overall efficiency and strong decrease of volumes and auxiliary heat management units. The BIONICO process will demonstrate to achieve an overall efficiency up to 72% thanks to the process intensification. In particular, by integrating the separation of hydrogen in situ during the reforming reaction, the methane in the biogas will be converted to hydrogen at a much lower temperature compared with a conventional system, due to the shifting effect on the equilibrium conversion. The fluidization of the catalyst makes also possible to (i) overcome problems with temperature control (formation of hotspots or too low temperature), (ii) to operate with smaller particles while still maintaining very low pressure drops and (iii) to overcome any concentration polarization issue associated with more conventional fixed bed membrane reactors. Dedicated tests with different biogas composition will be carried out to show the flexibility of the process with respect to the feedstock type. Compared with any other membrane reactor project in the past, BIONICO will demonstrate the membrane reactor at a much larger scale, so that more than 100 membranes will be implemented in a single fluidized bed membrane reactor, making BIONICO’s In this way a more easy operation can be carried out so that a stable pure hydrogen production can be achieved. BIONICO project is based upon knowledge and experience directly gained in three granted projects: ReforCELL, FERRET and FluidCELL.

Increased energy and resource efficiency in industrial sectors is paramount to build a resilient and sustainable future. In this context, the CUMERI project will develop and demonstrate at TRL7 advanced and customised membrane separation systems in two key industries: in the steel sector where H2 will be recovered and CO2 captured in one comprehensive system, and in the O&G industry where a two-step liquid filtration system will enable base oil and additives recovery from used lubricant oil. To reach these goals, CUMERI gathers 16 partners (7 RTOs and 9 companies including 4 SMEs) and will elaborate in 42 months three impactful membrane technologies: 1) Enhanced bio-based and recyclable polymer membranes for CO2 permeation; 2) Stable and selective SiC/SiCN membranes for H2 recovery, for a better H2 valorisation in the steel sector; 3) Grafted porous ceramic membranes for waste oil purification and additives recovery by ultra-filtration and liquid-liquid membrane contactors. All membrane systems will unlock greater energy efficiency and decreased emissions in their respective sectors. High separation performances together with increased chemical, mechanical and thermal stability will be demonstrated. Moreover, re-usage and recycling of membranes will be validated. Beyond these demonstrations, the project will generate novel insights on membrane separation including a variety of flexible solutions to help industry, the scientific community and policy makers accelerate the rollout of separation technologies. To maximise the impact of CUMERI, other promising separations will be screened and the transferability of results to other industries (refinery, pharmaceuticals, etc.) will be ensured. Through its activities, CUMERI will pave the way to decreased emissions in the industry, to the greater valorisation of valuable chemicals, and to more energy-efficient processes, promoting resilient and circular industrial value chains.