Descripción del proyecto
Procesos ecológicos para unos océanos más limpios
La contaminación generalizada de los océanos supone una grave amenaza para nuestra salud, el ecosistema marino y el futuro del planeta. Se calcula que cada año se vierten en las aguas entre 9 y 23 millones de toneladas de residuos plásticos, y este problema no ha hecho sino agravarse durante la pandemia de COVID-19 debido al aumento del uso de productos sanitarios de plástico de un solo uso, como las mascarillas. El objetivo del proyecto CUPOLA, financiado con fondos europeos, es crear un proceso innovador y sostenible de reciclado de residuos plásticos marinos mediante el diseño de tecnologías térmicas y termoquímicas capaces de transformarlos en materias primas valiosas. CUPOLA reúne a investigadores y algunos de los científicos más reputados de múltiples disciplinas, que intercambian conocimientos y llevan a cabo evaluaciones de viabilidad mediante análisis económicos y tecnológicos.
Objetivo
Plastic pollution in the ocean causes severe damage to marine life and raises growing global environmental concerns. The harm to marine life and pollution to the ecosystem is devastating our oceans and is causing negative connections to human health. According to EU Legislation Research, an estimated 9 to 23 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans every year, and the associated cost is between €485 million and €1,259 million. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in demand for single-use plastic, aggravating the long-lasting marine waste problem with an estimated 1.56 billion face masks have entered oceans in 2020 and even more in 2021. This project aims to develop sustainable, scalable, and profitable waste management processes for marine plastics. The automated plastic waste management and product innovation processes aim for environmental sustainability. Extensive training and knowledge exchange activities will be carried out among the world-leading scientist group through a total of 160 person-months of structured staff exchanges between 15 research institutes.
The scientists in this group share the common objective to develop the CUPOLA processes for marine plastic waste recycling. Thermal and thermochemical conversion technologies will be applied to produce high-value marketable products. Full process modelling, techno-economic and life cycle analysis will be carried out to provide vital information about the feasibility of the novel process. CUPOLA will create a multi-disciplinary consortium consisting of process engineers, chemists, environmental scientists, and process modellers, and develop the innovative and economic waste-to-product process, closing the gap in the circular economy. It will produce multiple avenues for career development, cross-sectorial experience, and academic training in a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary and intersectoral environment, and lead to achieving SDGs 3, 12 and 14.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-SE - MSCA-SECoordinador
30-059 Krakow
Polonia