R&D

Smart@Fire aims at regrouping several EU-procurers (and other stakeholders) active in the area of ICT enabled Smart PPE to establish and execute an agreed PCP methodology taking into account the legal constraints and cultural differences of each participating country. The bundling of the demand on procurers „side will increase the capacity to invest in a workable prototype in the pre-commercial phase and will allow purchasing Smart PPE at a better price in the procurement phase.

The main goal of the project is to develop filaments and yarns with improved mechanical properties by introducing thermoplastic microfibrillar reinforcements. These structures can be obtained by melt-processing technologies of specialty polymer blends.

Flanders and the French regions of Nord-Pas de Calais and Somme have a large maritime industry, with worldwide activities. In order to reinforce their competetive position in a globalising economy, this industry is looking for opportunities to set up synergies with other industrial sectors. This is one of the objectives of both the Flemish Maritime Cluster FMC (Flanders) and AQUIMER (France).

<h2>Sustainable wastewater reuse and residual flow recovery</h2>
Because of the scarcity of water sources, more and more companies are “reusing” wastewater. However, the present wastewater treatment techniques allow only a partial water recuperation. This also leads to concentrate flows for which it is increasingly difficult to obtain a waste disposal licence. The lack of an appropriate treatment technique of concentrate flows that often prevents the implementation of a far reaching water reuse.

<h2>Flame-retardant textiles 2015: how to reconcile legislation, ecology and economy?</h2>
Because of the high number of victims and damages caused by a fire, it is logical that the standards regarding fire retardancy and inflammability are becoming increasingly severe. Therefore it is essential that flame-retardant agents are added to textiles. However, the use of these FR-products is strictly controled for several reasons: strict European legislation (REACH, CLP), strict requirement of eco-labels (European Ecolabel, Oeko-Tex® 100…). It goes without saying that the sector voices its concern. The

The PowerWeave project will develop a fabric to harvest and store electrical energy within its fibrous matrix, to fulfil a need for an easily deformable, storable and transportable power supply.This will be achieved through the development of PV fibres and energy storage fibres integrated with control electronics into a textile.

Lately, the scientific as well as practical (application-oriented) interest in the so-called ionic liquids (IL) has been growing. IL represent an important class of materials, called “Green Solvents”. In general, IL are to be understood as ionic substances, that are already fluid from room temperature up to 120°C and that are often thermo-stable far beyond 200°C. IL excel by their extremely low vapour pressure, which makes them easy to handle in contrast to organic solvents.

<h2>Durable Biobased Plastics</h2>
<h4>Applications of biobased plastics in extrusion processes for durable end products</h4>
A successful transition of oil-based polymers to biopolymers demands that the (mechanical) properties of the latter can compete with those of synthetic polymers and that the stability of the products can be guaranteed over a longer period.

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<h2>Rapid deployable kits as seeds for self-recovery</h2>
Most humanitarian organisations use stand-by emergency response units (ERU), to meet the immediate needs of people hit by disaster. Each ERU has a specific function, e.g. medical care, sanitation, energy provision, or water supply. S(P)EEDKITS aims at speeding up the emergency response and at providing the seeds for future development.