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Novel bio-inspired environmentally-friendly process for producing durable and dimensionally-stable wood

Objective

"Wood is a natural, renewable, reusable and recyclable material, thus contributing positively to EU’s 2050 goals,
by enabling a high standard of living from reduced energy and resource consumption.

To ensure a long and useful life, timber — especially softwoods – needs protection from hazards of fungal decay and weathering.
The current approach to wood preservation is based on toxicity. Wood impregnation with biocides (containing creosote, arsenic, zinc, copper, chromium, etc.) prevents biological degradation,
but the European directive on the use of biocides place severe restrictions nowadays on the active substances that can be used in wood preservation and their fields of application.
Wood treated with such preservatives is classified as hazardous waste.
Furthermore, current treatments don’t have positive contributions to other critical properties of wood, such as dimensional stability or water absorption.

Recent research has demonstrated that antifungal components and hydrophobic extractives produced by trees themselves can be effectively used as environmentally-friendly wood preservatives. This novel patent-protected bio-inspired approach is based on ""wood preservation as trees do it"", in effect, converting sapwood to have characteristics of durable heartwood.

SafeWood offers an innovative solution for safe and environmentally-friendly preservation of wood.
The approach benefits from a synergetic combination of material (tall oil, a natural extractive from heart-wood obtained as a by-product of paper manufacturing), together with a novel emulsion-based impregnation process.

In Phase 1, technological and implementation feasibility will be assessed, together with
development of a business model to evaluate economic viability, assessment of risk and return on investment.
In the expected Phase 2, the innovation will be commercialised in collaboration with SME and research partners,
ensuring synergies are exploited between complementary expertise and resources."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2014-2015

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Coordinator

INSIGNIA GROUP OU
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
PIKAMAE VESKE VILLAGE
94247 LEISI VALD SAARE COUNTY
Estonia

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Eesti Eesti Lääne-Eesti
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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