On the continuation of ISGC-2, a key objective of this third edition was to provide an environment that facilitates widespread interdisciplinary communication. To this end, ISGC-2015 offered to public and private scientists an ideal platform for sharing fundamental knowledge with industrial research and development

ISGC-2015, organized in May 2015 in La Rochelle (France) covered nine general topics related to 1. biomass conversion, 2. clean hydrogen production, 3. alternative solvents, 4. waste, 5. polymers and materials, 6. atom-economy synthesis, 7. eco-technology, 8. predictive methods and 9. environmental and ethical assessments. Each topic has been introduced by a plenary lecture delivered by an eminent scientist of the field.

GRAIL was represented during this edition by the YK partner, THE QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST.One poster and one oral presentation have been presented discussing the GRAIL project:

• Poster: “EU FP7 GRAIL: Glycerol Biorefinery Approach for the Production of High Quality Products of Industrial Value“. Poster authors: F. Lorenzini, Y.-M. Wang, X. Liu, M. Rebros and A. C. Marr
• Oral presentation: “Combining Bio- and Chemo-catalysis for the Conversion of Bio-Renewable Alcohols“. Poster authors: Dr Andrew C. Marr. SCCE and QUILL.

For more information about the conference: http://www.isgc2015.com/welcome.html,1,20,0,0,0

 

The 2nd European Life Cycle Assessment Workshop will be held on 29th and 30th of April 2015 at Casino Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice (France). Vertech, as an organisator, and DBFZ DEUTSCHES BIOMASSEFORSCHUNGSZENTRUMGEMEINNUETZIGE as a participant, will represent the GRAIL project.

The increased awareness of the importance of environmental protection, and the possible impacts associated with products, both manufactured and consumed, has increased interest in the development of methods to better understand and address these impacts. One of the existing techniques for this purpose is life cycle assessment (LCA).
LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts (e.g. use of resources and the environmental consequences of releases) throughout a product’s life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and final disposal (i.e. cradle-to-grave).

BACKGROUND
These workshops have emerged from the necessity and mutual beneficial impact to share experiences and closely cooperate among European research projects involving LCA in their current technological development.

The first event of this type was held last February 6th in Leoben (Austria), in where important conclusions were gathered and as a fruitful and constant continuation of our work,Vertech Group is organizing the 2nd EU Life Cycle Assessment Workshop, that will be held next 29th and 30th of April in Nice, South of France.
It will include short summaries of reference projects, benefits from the LCA in those projects, challenges faced during the LCA analyses, discussion sessions and existing tools.

R&D Projects Brokerage event session
Participants will have the opportunity to present their project ideas and partnership requirements for upcoming H2020 calls, through brief 10-minute presentations both days of the event.

MORE INFORMATION
Date and Place // How to get there

http://vertech-group.com/lifecycleassessmentworkshop/index.php

Or contact:
Dr. Paola Castrillo
VERTECH GROUP
Tel: (+33) 0981096862 // (+34) 910228874
[email protected] // www.vertech-group.com

GRAIL was also represented and introduced on 5.12.2014, in Brussels at PLEASURE Final Conference of the FP7 EU funded project PLEASURE – Novel Processing Approaches for the Development of Food Products Low in Fat, Salt and Sugar, Project coordinated by BZN (partner in GRAIL, Matthias Kück – CEO Biozoon and Dr. Alexandru Rusu)

http://www.eurofir.org/?page_id=4011#

GRAIL’ partners Centiv (Dr. Monica Trif) and BZN (Dr. Alexandru Rusu)  participated and disseminated GRAIL project on 21-23.10.2014, in Paris at “SIAL – the world’s largest food innovation marketplace”. At this event partner BZN exhibited and dissemination materials were available at the stand. Besides were distributed at IN-FOOD Centre – Ingredients, sourcing & ideas, and during the fair especially in the Semi-processed food products and ingredients sector of the fair.

http://www.sialparis.com/

SIAL press release: SIAL Paris 2014 Post show report

 

CENTIV, partner of the GRAIL project, will attend the “Salon International de l’Agroalimentaire”(SIAL), the largest food innovation observatory in the world, which will take place in Paris, from 19 to 23 October 2014.
Ms Monica Trif, CENTIV, will spread information about GRAIL project to the interested stakeholders.

More information about the SIAL’s event: http://www.sialparis.fr/

In addition,  Ms Trif will visit Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) – Center for Taste and Feeding Behaviour from Dijon (FRANCE) on 23rd of October to present GRAIL project.

The project “Glycerol Biorefinery Approach Towards the Production of High Quality Products of Industrial Value” (GRAIL) was presented in the month of September at two main events in Spain.

First, the project was presented to the biotechnological society at Biospain2014, held in Santiago de Compostela. The event had more than 200 exibitors and 2.000 visitors with over  4.000 one-2-one presnal meetings, which make this event the 4th largest fair in the world in biotechnology after Bio (EEUU), Bioeurope and Bioeurope Spring, and the first one organized by a single country. GRAIL presented graphical information of the project. Attendees showed a high interest on the project, Dr Castells and Dr Estevez had the chance to talk with interested industrial representatives about the project details.

CSO Carles estevez and CEO Josep castells presenting the GRAIL project

CEO Josep Castells presenting GRAIL the project

The following week, the project was set at Expoquimia, the main show of the chemical industry in Spain, held in Barcelona. There were 490 exhibitors from all sectors of the chemical industry and more than 20.000 visitor ranging sectors from the fine chemistry, to plastic and lubricants. InKemia IUCT group, presented the GRAIL project among the visitors. The CSO of InKemia, Carles Estevez, gave a series of presentations of the project.
The profile of visitors of Expoquimia is more general and not specialized in science. There was a significant number of students from secondary education to University level visiting and asking about the latest trends in Research at InKemia, where GRAIL has a main role.

After these two weeks, we can say that GRAIL objectives interest the chemical and biotecnological sector.

The group of Hauke Hilz at University of Apllied Sciences Bremerhaven presented a poster about GRAIL during the German Food Chemists Day 2014.

This conference with more than 500 participants took place in Gießen, Germany, in September 2014

Please find here the poster of the presentation available in German:
GRAIL – German Food Chemists Day 2014

 

On behalf of the Organising Committee, UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE VALPARAISO, partner in the GRAIL project, is delighted to invite you to the 14th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion to be held in Viña del Mar, Chile, from November, 15 to November 18, 2015. This event is part of the IWA Anaerobic.

The conference will cover a wide range of topics related with the application of Anaerobic Digestion, with the aim of attracting experts from different fields of knowledge, from all over the world.

Five Specialized Courses will be launched prior to the conference.  These courses are mainly oriented to PhD students and young researchers, who already know or work with anaerobic processes and want to achieve a higher degree of specialization in one of these particular fields, as well as other researchers or professionals specifically interested in these topics.

If you want to be part of the 14^th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, we invite you to complete your online registration at our website. For registrations confirmed and paid before August 15^th, 2015, there is an Early Bird Conference Fee. Register here.

More information http://www.ad14chile.com/

On 18-19 June 2014, Alexandru Rusu from Biozoon GmbH (BZN) and Monica Trif from CENTIV GmbH (CENTIV), partners of the GRAIL project, have been attended two events organized in La Rochelle (FRANCE):

• Health & Food Days (JAS) organized by the cluster « CRITT Agro-Alimentaire »http://www.aliments-sante.fr/cms/rubrique-171-overview.html
• 1st International PLEASURE Conference “SALT-SUGAR-LIPIDS REDUCTION” organized by the EU Pleasure Project coordinated by BZN (partner in GRAIL as well) http://www.pleasure-fp7.com/conference/.

 

Monica Trif, CENTIV, with GRAIL dessimation material during the Health & Food Days – Journées Aliments & Santé The dissemination materials used were the GRAIL press release

Monica Trif, CENTIV, representing GRAIL during the 1st International PLEASURE Conference

Cristiano VARRONE is going to present a poster about AALBORG UNVERSITET’s work in GRAIL, at the European Biomass Conference 2014. Cristiano VARRONE is a post-doctoral researcher in Section for Sustainable Biotechnology at AALBORG UNVERSITET (AAU), partner of the GRAIL project.

He is going to be a presenter on two main topics:

• “Research on the Valorisation of Crude Glycerol Through Biological Conversion into Bioplastics and Biofuels in the Frame of an FP7-Project”, authors: C. Varrone, H.N. Gavala, for the session “Biorefining and coprocessing for biofuels and biochemical”, Tuesday, 24 June 2014
•  “Optimization of Substrate Composition for Biohydrogen and Methane Production from Buffalo Slurry Co-Fermented with Cheese Whey And Crude Glycerol“(not going to be developed in GRAIL), authors: Cristiano Varrone, Antonella Marone, Floriana Fiocchetti, Barbara Giussani, Giulio Izzo, Luciano Mentuccia, Silvia Rosa, Antonella Signorini, for the session “Anaerobic Digestion Process Fundamentals, Wednesday, 25 June 2014.

“The EU BC&E is the event in which the members of the bioenergy community can get a broad picture of the situation and trends emerging in today’s market.

The number of participants at the 2013 edition anticipate the size of the event in 2014 in Germany. It is set to be the European biomass highlight of the year, dedicated to sustainable energy with a high international acclaim.

The Conference provides a high-level scientific programme and parallel events which attract participants from a wide-ranging background: researchers, engineers, technologists, standards organisations, financial institutions, policy makers and decision makers.

This event is supported by European and international organizations. The Technical Programme is coordinated by DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.” http://conference-biomass.com/Conference.405.0.html#.U4wz_Chr-VI

Please find below the programme of the conference:

http://programme.conference-biomass.com/search.php?poster=all