Portfolio

Spins for efficient photovoltaic devices based on organic molecules. The organic solar cells (OSCs) have the potential to become an environmental friendly and economically profitable photovoltaic technology. For this reason, it is necessary to improve their commercialisation capacity to compete with established power generation and to complement other renewable energy technologies. SEPOMO project aims to improve the performance and efficiency of OSCs by taking advantage of the so far unexplored degree of freedom of photogenerated species in organic materials and by understanding and exploiting the electronic spins interactions. The innovation proposed by SEPOMO offers a unified [...]

The European Union is facing a rapid increase in the elderly population, which together with the lack of effective caring solutions provokes having elders with physical and cognitive problems to be moved to nursery homes early. MoveCare project aims to develop and test an innovative multi-actor platform that supports the independent living of the elder at home by monitoring, assisting and promoting activities to counteract decline and social exclusion. The MoveCare platform will comprised of several services: an activity centre and virtual caregiver, evaluating the elder status and guiding him through a personalized mix of physical, [...]

eSCALED project is expected to generate breakthroughs in the development of artificial photosynthetic leaves as photoelectrochemical devices and educate highly trained researchers. eSCALED offers 14 Early Stage Researcher positions for ground-breaking research on artificial photosynthesis and photoelectrochemical devices. Each PhD student works under the supervision of an international and interdisciplinary team of supervisors towards solving a specific challenge related to the project. In parallel, eSCALED will offer the young researchers an enhanced and comprehensive training, tailored workshops, a summer school, and lectures to facilitate sharing of knowledge, acquisition of new skills and career development. Eurecat participates [...]

The Community of Industries of the Future, coordinated by Eurecat and composed of 28 reference entities in the Catalan manufacturing sector, aims to consolidate a leading innovation pole in Efficient and Sustainable  Manufacturing in Catalonia, by creating a network of capacities and local pilot plants that allow the cohesion of integral value chains around industrial R+D+i. The IdF community jointly proposes the realization of 5 strategic projects of applied research and industrial development during the 2018-2020 triennium, focused on the fields of industrial digitization, collaborative robots, advanced processes and functional products. These include the IGNITE project, [...]

OptiQPAP project addresses optimization of performance properties of the Q&P steels for their application in automotive industry. Commercialization of the Quenched and Partitioned (Q&P) steels to a large extent is currently limited by the lack of knowledge on their application related performance properties. This project aims to deliver tools to optimize performance properties of Q&P steels while retaining their high mechanical strength via intelligent microstructural design. The objectives of the OptiQPAP Project, that counts with the participation of Metal and Ceramic Material Unit of Eurecat, include: To gain fundamental knowledge of the principles of microstructural design [...]

Development of new Complex Phase Low Carbon Microalloyed Steels, by optimization of chemistry and thermomechanical processing, i.e. hot rolling and cooling, to simultaneously obtain refined microstructures and arrays of precipitate nanoparticles. The previously unexplored synergies between the elements Nb, Mo, V and Ti on precipitation before, during and after phase transformation from austenite during hot rolling and cooling will be also addressed. NANOFORM project will result in new product concepts optimized with respect to processing parameter windows to give robust mechanical properties, i.e. static and fatigue strength, bendability, hole expandability and toughness. The objectives of this [...]

Innovative technologies for reducing industrial saline wastewater streams and derived environmental impacts by recovering and reutilizing minerals and water from the brine. Zero Brine project proves that minerals, such as magnesium, and clean water can be recovered from industrial processes for their reuse in other industries, facilitating the implementation of the European Circular Economy Package and the SPIRE Roadmap by developing the technological solutions and business models for wastewater/brine resource recovery. To achieve this, technologies such as nanofiltration using regenerated membranes, eutectic freeze crystallization, forward feed evaporation and electrodialysis with bipolar membranes are being evaluated. Eurecat [...]

Circular economy applied to the treatment of table olives brines based on solar evaporation. The LIFE SOLIEVA project aims to solve environmental challenges of the table olives sector (TO) processing water and update the environmental legislation related to use of water. The project focuses to demonstrate the technical, environmental and economic feasibility of the technology for organic compounds recovery based on membrane, concentrator vacuum and spry dryer (OCR) and advanced solar evaporation (ASE). The innovation of the project, led by Eurecat, will allow to: recover valuable compounds, e.g. polyphenols, and water; intensify the natural evaporation without [...]

Valorisation of foundry sands and dust in the ceramic tile production process replacing natural raw materials, such a red and white clays. The Foundrytile project, ended in July 2018, promoted the concept of circular economy, key to sustainable development, because it reinforces the industrial symbiosis between companies in the foundry and ceramic sector. Specifically, the solution developed offers a better preservation of natural resources, an increasing valorisation of foundry waste, a reduction of the environmental footprint and an increase in the competitiveness of companies working in foundry and ceramics. Eurecat’s Sustainability Technology Unit coordinated technically the [...]

Development and understanding of new ion implantation processes of hard materials substrates and PVD AICrSiN-based hard coatings. The project, led by Eurecat through its Metal and Ceramic Materials Unit, aims to improve the properties of these materials, such as mechanical (hardness and fracture toughness), tribological (friction and wear resistance), chemical (corrosion resistance) and thermal (oxidation resistance) for its application in the metal-mechanical industry. DEMANDING is one of the four subprojects that make up the HARDPROTECT consortium project “Enhanced performance (corrosion and mechanical integrity) of hard material substrates by means of PVD AICrSiN coatings and ion implantation”, [...]

Software energy management tools to improve and optimize the energy efficiency of HVAC facilities in the tertiary sector. GDO2Clim project, ended in January 2018, has contributed to improving energy efficiency, energy demand management and to the promotion of the production of renewable energies. The tools developed also allow the supervision of the installation performance and offers an approximation of its lifetime. During the GDO2Clim project, two modules focused on climate generation units have been developed: a Module Energy Supervision of Facilities (of air conditioning) and Optimization of the Demand Curve (OpCD) and a Module of Analysis [...]

The ACTIV4.0 project researches and develops technologies for the digital management of utilities assets, processes and installations (service provider networks) to offer a better service to the user. The digitalization, sensorization and monitoring of assets and processes associated with utilities enable the optimization of the operation of plants and networks in terms of efficiency and cost, as well as the improvement of maintenance processes in order to minimize incidents and investment and asset renewal costs. The results are validated through pilot case studies for application in utilities environments, including water treatment plants, waste treatment plants, power [...]

Innovative technologies in the field of optical sensors and short, medium and long-range 3D devices to demonstrate their value in several key applications in the automotive, security, smart buildings, mobile robotics for smart cities and Industry 4.0 sectors. VIZTA project also focuses on multimodal 2D/3D imaging, proposing a monolithic integration that enables smaller, cheaper and more efficient systems. The innovation of VIZTA significantly improves the multimodal 2D/3D imaging current systems which use two separate sensors to capture the depth and the colour image. Aerial vehicles are becoming a relevant tool for the inspection of many infrastructures due [...]

Automated and smart water resource management and environmetal monitoring tools with the aim of transforming and digitalising the urban water sector. NAIADES project aims to provide multidimensional intelligence on the water ecosystem through the introduction of Artificial Intelligence technologies, achieving a high-level of water management services exploiting the efficient use of physical and digital components of the water ecosystem. NAIADES will promote digital services based on various types of big data collected from different water monitoring and control systems in Europe to establish more efficient water consumption in both retail and commercial environments; generate increased confidence [...]

Technological and digital innovative solutions for a better management of water resources based in Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things technologies over the FIWARE platform. In the water sector, the IT development of applications and management tools using Big Data has come late due to the highly-fragmentation and persisting problems regarding systems interoperability, data standardization, semantics and format exchanges that the sector faces. Fiware4Water project’s main objective is to promote innovative solutions and linking the water sector to the smart solution platform FIWARE, whose goal is to support SMEs and developers in creating the next generation [...]