Biomass is the primary energy source in African countries, used mostly as wood fuel and charcoal for home cooking, lighting and heating. Liquid fuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel, and straight vegetable oil) account for a small share of total energy supplies, but have been used for almost three dec-ades, and production is increasing. Biofuels offer the prospect of increased employment, a new cash crop for farmers, reduced fuel import costs, and increased foreign exchange earnings. Rapid increase in the biofuels’ global demand over the next decade or more will provide opportunities for African exporters, as neither the EU nor the US are expected to be able to meet their consumption completely from domestic production. African countries are well placed to benefit from the in-creased biofuels demand, as many have large areas of land suitable for producing biofuels, as well as abundant labour. The domestic biofuels market is also expected to be attractive in many African countries due to high fuel prices and rapid demand growth, and offers better opportunities for smallholder participation in producing biofuel crops. Biomass pyrolysis is a thermal process con-verting solid biomass, in absence of air/oxygen, at elevated temperatures, into a gaseous stream, a liquid stream (biooil) and a solid product (biochar). Although subject to significant research in the recent years, the biofuels production from biomass pyrolysis is not yet fully developed with respect to its commercial applications. PyroBioFuel aims, thus, to create a unique knowledge infrastructure that supports decentralised, sustainable, and cost-efficient conversion of biomass to sustainable fuels, and is relevant to both Europe and Africa. The consortium involves five partners from Africa (Egypt, Morocco, South Africa) and Europe (Germany, France). The project targets development of new technologies that overcome technological barriers, increase process efficiency, and reduce marginal costs in the biomass to fuel conversion process. The proposed project focuses on the sustainable biomass waste conversion into useful liquid fuels and biochar through pyrolysis. The biomass feedstock varies according to participating countries and season, ranging from virgin biomass, waste biomass and energy crops, e.g., agricultural waste, sugarcane bagasse, corn stover, wheat husks, wood wastes, rice straws, sawmill, paper mill dis-cards, etc. Fast pyrolysis optimisation, development of processes to convert pyrolysis’ products to fuels, and model-based decision-making tools to support process development and performance validation are representing the main objectives of the proposal. This will be achieved through robust pyrolysis technologies delivering constant product quality, and unique catalytic units based on integrated Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) and hydrocracking reactor (HCR) microreactors (MCRs) that can be flexibly implemented for compact and efficient biofuel processing. Process modelling will be per-formed to fully understand the chemical kinetics, flow dynamics along with heat and mass transfer throughout the process. This will be followed by process optimisation and integration to achieve the highest process efficiency. Profitability of the integrated process will be assessed, and the envi-ronmental impact will be evaluated. The programme involves 5 working packages (WPs) integrated together to enhance the biomass to fuel conversion pathway using novel conversion technologies and innovative digital tools. They include pyrolysis and pyrolysis product conditioning, upgrading and valorisation of pyrolysis prod-ucts, mathematical modelling, optimisation, and analysis of the pyrolysis to fuel conversion pro-cess, techno-economic and environmental (LCA) studies, and a validation demonstrator.

Sepsis and COVID-19 are both placing a major burden on societies and populations worldwide. Deregulated host response to infection is the hallmark supporting the routine use of corticosteroids (CS), a low-cost and highly efficient class of immuno-modulators, in sepsis/COVID-19. Stratifying patients based on individual immune response may improve the balance of benefit to risk of CS treatment. This proposal will integrate different approaches to define the CS sensitivity/resistance of individual patients. The partners will elaborate signatures from different characterizations of biological systems in patients with sepsis/COVID-19. Targeted approaches will define whether characteristics at the level of DNA, RNA, proteins such as cytokines and hormones, or metabolite compounds, support predicting individual patient’s CS responsiveness. Methods of artificial intelligence will integrate the high dimensional multi-level data from previous studies of this consortium and from data to be newly generated. An exploratory adaptive trial will include patients with sepsis/COVID-19 in multiple arms based on novel CS responsiveness signatures to be tested. Within each biomarker-defined cohort, patients will be randomized to receive corticosteroids or placebo allowing the evaluation of the efficiency of signatures elaborated by the partners. Signatures of CS responsiveness will be integrated for predictive enrichment of CS sensitivity and resistance of each individual patient defining personalized treatment rules, and thereby improving their chance to survive in good health. We will test the robustness of the personalized corticotherapy across subsets of patients based on gender, social categories and ethnicity. We will also ensure that the proposed personalized corticotherapy for sepsis/COVID-19 can be accessed for routine care of patients in low- and middle-income countries.

Population growth drives up local demand for food and energy resources and induce a negative impact on the ecosystems due to waste accumulation and greenhouse gas emissions. Slaughterhouses produce large amounts of solid and liquid waste, containing a high organic load, which constitutes a threat to ecosystems and a risk to human health. Their management is even more challenging as it is complicated by the overconsumption of water. The blood, stomach contents, urine and faeces of the animals and possibly other organic constituents are drained with the cleaning water to the sewage system. Because the slaughterhouse waste (SHW) contains large amounts of fats, proteins, lipids, and organic matter, it becomes a potential source for producing biogas (methane), biohydrogen and other value-added products. The bioenergy produced can support addressing rural population energy needs in rural areas, and energy self-sufficiency for slaughterhouses. In this context, an integrated approach will be developed to overcome these environmental and socio-economic problems and to develop effective strategies to recover and valorize effluent streams for applications mainly in energy production. The BIOTHEREP project which is mainly within topic 1 and 5 of the call, aims to develop an integrated strategy to produce bioenergy from slaughterhouses wastes, and to implement solutions responding concretely to the global and regional objectives of sustainable development in a circular economy aspect. The BIOTHEREP approach combines biochemical (BCC) and thermochemical conversion (TCC) (pyrolysis, gasification) processes to produce renewable energies. The obtained solid digestate from BCC will be processed by a TCC to produce biochar by pyrolysis, and syngas by gasification. The biochar will be used as a precursor for improving CH4 and H2 production, and for in-situ CO2 removal. Syngas (mainly H2 and CO) could be used as a fuel to produce thermal energy. This hybrid system outputs are contributing to the bioenergy production, and they are good local and regional alternatives to imported activated carbons and conventional energy sources. The use of the proposed approach will be justified in the context of ensuring economically and environmentally sustainable development both at the regional and international levels. The mechanism for such an assessment will be based on an integrated approach, including a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the internal and external sustainability of the proposed project. The integrated approach will be developed in collaboration between the eleven R&D institutions from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Germany and France, including two private companies from Germany and South Africa. It will be implemented under eight Work Packages (WP) for 24 months. Each partner will be responsible for its own WP or task and could be involved in other WPs led by other partners to ensure synergy between the teams.

The project BIOGASMENA follows an innovative, integrated and multi-disciplinary approach for the development of biogas technology and know-how in the ERA and the MENA region, combining technology transfer and laboratory research with academic exchanges, communication and training activities directed to both the general public, especially small farmers from the MENA region, and the academic community, with a particular focus on young researchers. The project includes the following tasks: (1) building dry fermentation biogas plant at pilot scale, (2) building a hybrid energy system at pilot scale, combining biogas, solar and wind energies for autonomous electricity supply, (3) equipping biogas laboratories in Algeria and Tunisia, (4) investigating biogas production in the MENA region, in particular via dry fermentation in lab-scale and bench-scale experiments, (5) including results into an online database for modeling of bioconversion kinetics, (6) optimizing digestate treatment, characterization and utilization, (7) investigating the combination of biogas production with microalgae cultivation, (8) LCA and techno-economic analyzes of designs for biogas production in the MENA region, (9) training young researchers from the MENA region in EU, in particular by following CIHEAM courses (10) informing of the research community, farmers, and the general public about biogas technology. A small-scale pilot plant of 5m3, with a planned electrical power of 500W will be built in Tunisia with concerted efforts from the partners. A thermal solar heating system will be implemented to maintain the temperature of the reactors. The biogas plant will be integrated into a hybrid system with solar photovoltaic and wind energy for grid-independent (island) electricity production, and serve as a demonstration platform for future research in the MENA region. Research laboratories in the MENA region will be equipped. In Tunisia as well, dry fermentation reactors will be built at the laboratory and coupled with a module for dewatering and ultrafiltration, which will be connected to microalgae cultures. In Algeria, a highly efficient, patented methane potential assay developed previously at the University of Hohenheim, will be installed. In the MENA region and EU, concerted research efforts will be carried out to optimize the biogas process, in particular with dry fermentation, focusing on temperature level, structure of the feedstocks, nutrient balance, as well as trace metals supply and supplementation. The quality and maturity of digestates from dry fermentation will be analyzed, and tested for plant growth in pot experiments. Furthermore, innovative digestate treatment methods will be tested, including a system for ammonia recovery during drying of digestate, and the cultivation of saline microalgae and mixotrophic microalgae fed with the liquid fraction of digestate. Young Researchers from the MENA region will move to EU to work on practical topics of the project. Promising young students will be sent to CIHEAM-IAMB in Bari to follow the International Master course in Land and Water Engineering, with second-year secondments on the project. Finally, experiences of rural communities in Egypt with household biogas production based on Indian-type digesters will be analyzed, and the techno-economic potential for the implementation of dry fermentation for electricity production will be studied.

The pursuit of wide-scale unrestricted wastewater effluent reuse still faces significant challenges in its successful implementation at the local level. Energy and resource efficiency of wastewater treatment are universal requirements due to the potential for greenhouse gas emissions and costs associated with energy and chemical input. Further, the presence of persistent and emerging contaminants in wastewater sources is a hindrance to the necessary role that wastewater reclamation must play in the Mediterranean region. Based on the outstanding issues facing the successful widespread implementation of wastewater reuse and preservation of surface water quality, the development, advancement, and application of the emerging technology known as the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) for direct and unrestricted wastewater reuse is proposed. To achieve this, the objectives of the proposed work is to address and overcome the remaining challenges facing AnMBR technology which have thus far prevented its implementation at the full-scale for wastewater treatment. In addition to achieving availability of safe wastewater reuse for unrestricted irrigation, this research will also serve to improve surface water quality by mitigating poorly treated waste sources and reducing contaminant loading. This will be accomplished by performing the experiments necessary for AnMBR process optimization, scale-up, and thorough assessment of contaminant fates for the purpose of ensuring chemical and microbial safety during effluent reuse practices.