Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ICARUS (ICARUS. INCREASING CIRCULARITY IN PROCESS INDUSTRIES BY UPCYCLING SECONDARY RESOURCES)
Période du rapport: 2024-01-01 au 2025-06-30
Within the European Union (EU), the construction industry is responsible for close to 40% of total emissions and generates nearly a third of all waste. The traditional linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model leads to excessive landfill waste, pollution, and environmental degradation.
One ambitious, forward-thinking initiative funded by the Horizon Europe programme, ICARUS, transforms industrial waste into high-quality secondary raw materials (SRMs).
With 18 beneficiaries from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands, ICARUS aims to make Europe the first digitally led climate-neutral economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction, and production systems.
It aims to close the loop in construction, significantly cut down on waste, reduce environmental impact, and ensure materials meet the same standards as virgin resources.
By pioneering innovative recycling and upcycling techniques, ICARUS is proving that sustainability and high-performance construction can go hand in hand.
ICARUS has three key demonstration case studies that are excelling across Europe:
1. Leftover waste material, such as lithium aluminosilicate residue (LAR), can be turned into useful products like cement and concrete, road base, backfill, and ceramics. By improving how LAR is processed, the project ensures these materials are strong, long-lasting, and ready for use in construction. This reduces the need for new raw materials and gives industrial waste a second life in sustainable building.
2. New value in waste can be found from diapers and wastewater by recovering cellulose fibres that would normally be thrown away. These fibres are cleaned, processed, and reused in construction materials and other bio-based products.
By targeting both hygiene product waste and wastewater sludge, ICARUS is helping reduce landfill use and emissions. With the help of an AI-powered platform, this process can be made to be efficient and ensure high-quality results.
3. There is a huge opportunity for businesses in the built environment to turn steelmaking slag, usually treated as waste, into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), a useful material for construction, ceramics, and even steel production.
This process replaces the need for virgin limestone and captures carbon dioxide, which helps to cut emissions. ICARUS is refining the method to produce high-quality PCC and exploring other ways to reuse slag, showing how industrial waste can support both circularity and climate goals.
One ambitious, forward-thinking initiative funded by the Horizon Europe programme, ICARUS, transforms industrial waste into high-quality secondary raw materials (SRMs).
With 18 beneficiaries from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands, ICARUS aims to make Europe the first digitally led climate-neutral economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction, and production systems.
It aims to close the loop in construction, significantly cut down on waste, reduce environmental impact, and ensure materials meet the same standards as virgin resources.
By pioneering innovative recycling and upcycling techniques, ICARUS is proving that sustainability and high-performance construction can go hand in hand.
ICARUS has three key demonstration case studies that are excelling across Europe:
1. Leftover waste material, such as lithium aluminosilicate residue (LAR), can be turned into useful products like cement and concrete, road base, backfill, and ceramics. By improving how LAR is processed, the project ensures these materials are strong, long-lasting, and ready for use in construction. This reduces the need for new raw materials and gives industrial waste a second life in sustainable building.
2. New value in waste can be found from diapers and wastewater by recovering cellulose fibres that would normally be thrown away. These fibres are cleaned, processed, and reused in construction materials and other bio-based products.
By targeting both hygiene product waste and wastewater sludge, ICARUS is helping reduce landfill use and emissions. With the help of an AI-powered platform, this process can be made to be efficient and ensure high-quality results.
3. There is a huge opportunity for businesses in the built environment to turn steelmaking slag, usually treated as waste, into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), a useful material for construction, ceramics, and even steel production.
This process replaces the need for virgin limestone and captures carbon dioxide, which helps to cut emissions. ICARUS is refining the method to produce high-quality PCC and exploring other ways to reuse slag, showing how industrial waste can support both circularity and climate goals.
During the first reporting period, from Month 1 (M1) to Month 18 (M18), several Work Packages (WPs) were actively implemented and successfully completed, contributing significantly to the progress of the project. The main activities and accomplishments per WP are as follows:
Work Package 1 (WP1) – Project Management
WP1 focused on ensuring the efficient coordination and oversight of the project. It comprised four main tasks:
T1.1 Project coordination
T1.2 Technical coordination
T1.3 Quality assurance
T1.4 Data management
Work Package 2 (WP2) – Baseline Developments for Upscaling Secondary Materials
WP2 laid the foundation for identifying and optimizing secondary raw materials (SRMs). Activities were structured around five tasks:
T2.1 Definition of baseline developments and feasibility assessment for upscaling SRMs
T2.2 Specification of technical requirements for the use of secondary resources as SRMs
T2.3 Waste characterization across each demo case
T2.4 Optimization of cost-effective technologies for producing high-quality SRMs and their characterization
T2.5 Definition of requirements and specifications for Digital Product Passports (DPP)
Work Package 3 (WP3) – Dissemination and Communication
WP3 aimed to raise awareness and build networks with key stakeholders through the following tasks:
T3.1 Stakeholder mapping
T3.2 Development of a Dissemination and Communication Strategy
T3.3 Promotion of synergies, networking, and collaboration opportunities
Work Package 4 (WP4) – First Version of the Exploitation Strategy and Business Models
WP4 focused on defining strategies for long-term exploitation of project results. The tasks included:
T4.1 Development of the Exploitation Strategy and Plan
T4.2 Design of a Stakeholder Engagement Model
T4.3 Formulation of Initial Business Models and market potential assessment
T4.4 Establishment of the IPR Design Framework
Work Package 5 (WP5) – Impact Assessment
WP5 provided the framework for assessing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the project’s demo cases. The main tasks were:
T5.1 Definition of the Ex-post Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework
T5.2 Definition of the Ex-post Life Cycle Costing (LCC) framework
T5.3 Development of the Social Impact Assessment framework
T5.4 Identification of social aspects and non-technological barriers through co-creation activities
Work Package 1 (WP1) – Project Management
WP1 focused on ensuring the efficient coordination and oversight of the project. It comprised four main tasks:
T1.1 Project coordination
T1.2 Technical coordination
T1.3 Quality assurance
T1.4 Data management
Work Package 2 (WP2) – Baseline Developments for Upscaling Secondary Materials
WP2 laid the foundation for identifying and optimizing secondary raw materials (SRMs). Activities were structured around five tasks:
T2.1 Definition of baseline developments and feasibility assessment for upscaling SRMs
T2.2 Specification of technical requirements for the use of secondary resources as SRMs
T2.3 Waste characterization across each demo case
T2.4 Optimization of cost-effective technologies for producing high-quality SRMs and their characterization
T2.5 Definition of requirements and specifications for Digital Product Passports (DPP)
Work Package 3 (WP3) – Dissemination and Communication
WP3 aimed to raise awareness and build networks with key stakeholders through the following tasks:
T3.1 Stakeholder mapping
T3.2 Development of a Dissemination and Communication Strategy
T3.3 Promotion of synergies, networking, and collaboration opportunities
Work Package 4 (WP4) – First Version of the Exploitation Strategy and Business Models
WP4 focused on defining strategies for long-term exploitation of project results. The tasks included:
T4.1 Development of the Exploitation Strategy and Plan
T4.2 Design of a Stakeholder Engagement Model
T4.3 Formulation of Initial Business Models and market potential assessment
T4.4 Establishment of the IPR Design Framework
Work Package 5 (WP5) – Impact Assessment
WP5 provided the framework for assessing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the project’s demo cases. The main tasks were:
T5.1 Definition of the Ex-post Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework
T5.2 Definition of the Ex-post Life Cycle Costing (LCC) framework
T5.3 Development of the Social Impact Assessment framework
T5.4 Identification of social aspects and non-technological barriers through co-creation activities
The following are the results achieved during this first reporting period:
Digital Product Passport (DPP) defining requirements and specifications
Optimization of cost-effective technologies for obtaining high-quality SRMs and characterization
Definition of quality control and assurance tools to assess process suitability
Definition of technical requirements and specifications of secondary resources to be used as sustainable raw materials
Definition of baseline developments and feasibility assessment for upscaling secondary materials
Ex-post Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) of ICARUS demo cases
Validation of demo cases and outreach
Stakeholder mapping
Design of the Stakeholder Engagement Model
Capacity building and co-creation with value chain stakeholders
Development of standardization activities
Development of the exploitation strategy, plan, and business model
Synergy, networking, and collaboration
Assessing engagement and involvement in exploitation activities
Digital Product Passport (DPP) defining requirements and specifications
Optimization of cost-effective technologies for obtaining high-quality SRMs and characterization
Definition of quality control and assurance tools to assess process suitability
Definition of technical requirements and specifications of secondary resources to be used as sustainable raw materials
Definition of baseline developments and feasibility assessment for upscaling secondary materials
Ex-post Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) of ICARUS demo cases
Validation of demo cases and outreach
Stakeholder mapping
Design of the Stakeholder Engagement Model
Capacity building and co-creation with value chain stakeholders
Development of standardization activities
Development of the exploitation strategy, plan, and business model
Synergy, networking, and collaboration
Assessing engagement and involvement in exploitation activities