The Advanced Solutions for Asphalt Pavements (ASAP) project involves the development of a unique road paving technology which will use a bio-bitumen rejuvenator to rejuvenate aged asphalt bitumen. This technology will help to extend the lifespan of asphalt pavements (roads) and will reduce the environmental and economic impact of roads and road maintenance processes. Recycling and self-healing processes will replace fossil fuel dependent technology. Self-healing will involve rejuvenating aged asphalt bitumen using a bio-rejuvenator developed using microalgae oils (rejuvenating bio-oil). Microalgae has been selected because of its fast growth, versatility and ability to survive within hostile environments, such as wastewater. ASAP will utilise microalgae, cultivated within the wastewater treatment process, as a source of the rejuvenating bio-oil. The solvent (Soxhlet) processes will be used to extract the oil from the microalgae. To ensure the efficiency of the oil extraction process, an ultrasonication process will be used to pre-treat the microalgae. The suitability of rejuvenating bio-oil as a replacement for the bitumen rejuvenator (fossil fuel based) will be ascertained via a series of standard bituminous and accelerated tests. A rejuvenator-binder diffusion numerical model will be developed, based on the Delft Lattice concrete diffusion model, to determine the conditions required for rejuvenation to occur and to ascertain the healing rate of the asphalt binder. These parameters will facilitate the selection and optimisation of the asphalt self-healing systems (specifically the amount of bio-oil rejuvenator and time required) to achieve full rejuvenation. This novel approach will benchmark the effectiveness of this intervention against existing asphalt design and maintenance processes and assess feasibility. The ASAP project presents an opportunity to revolutionise road design and maintenance processes and reduce its environmental and financial costs.

Data on our cultural heritage hold enormous potential for Europe’s economic growth, for the construction of a more inclusive narrative of its past, and for the future collective identity of its citizens. The biggest obstacle to unlocking that potential is the current lack of integration and interoperability among the countless datasets describing the holdings of European heritage institutions. ManuscriptAI will help remove that obstacle for the data on Europe’s medieval written heritage, manuscripts. Premodern handwritten books are a pivotal category of our heritage, yet they are currently underrepresented in large research infrastructures and their catalog data locked in digital silos. ManuscriptAI will employ machine learning algorithms to construct a model capable of facilitating the automatic integration of distinct data sources describing medieval manuscripts, under a predefined set of machine-understandable vocabulary terms. The model will be made accessible through a human engagement interface and tested during a pilot in a real-world setting. The project will fill two important desiderata: (1) a user-friendly AI-tool to allow heritage professionals to convert their metadata on manuscripts to Linked Open Data, and (2) a dedicated ontology for the description of medieval manuscripts to complete CIDOC-CRM extensions for the cultural heritage domain. The project, building on the achievements of the ERC-2018-stg PASSIM, is supported by a strong consortium of domain experts, heritage professionals and institutes, and (inter)national research infrastructures. ManuscriptAI will advance the EU’s agenda for digital heritage. The tool will help democratise datafication, making Linked Open Data accessible to small heritage institutions and actively involving them in its development. This integration tool for data on medieval manuscripts will be a huge step forward for the digital preservation and usability of Europe’s unique handwritten heritage.

ELIOT aims to provide new innovative and green technologies for EoL of commonly used natural fibres and biobased resins with increased resource efficiency and fully align these biomaterials with the circular economy principles (Figure 1). To this end, the project will propose and develop innovative solutions for the EoL of the new generation of biocomposites by: (1) reviewing the current treatment technologies for conventional FRP composite waste; (2) evaluating their potential suitability to be applied to the biocomposite waste and selecting those treatment alternatives that appear as the most feasible; (4) tailoring the selected treatment technologies to the characteristics of biocomposites and testing them at laboratory scale; and (5) demonstrating their technical feasibility and life-cycle sustainability under pre-industrial scale. Different EoL approaches will be evaluated, including mechanical, thermal, chemical and biological methods for waste recovery and recycling. A comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the EoL methods in terms of cost and environmental sustainability will be conducted. ELIOT will set the basis for a wider uptake of biocomposite materials in the aircraft industry (and other industrial sectors using composite materials) by providing cost-effective methods for their EoL treatment. Main technical objective to be achieved by the consortium in this project is the full-scale demonstration of the most promising EoL methods for biocomposite waste. Full-scale demonstration will be provided for at least 2 EoL methods for 2 target biocomposites, respectively, including their technical validation at pre-industrial scale and their validation in terms ng, flooring and sidewall panels in cabin interiors) leads to net environmental benefits and cost savings throughout their whole life cycle; i.e., not only during production and use of the materials but also by means of sustainable EoL alternatives suitable to close the loop of biomaterials.