M-ERA.

NET Transnational Call 2013

Pre Proposal

ECO-CERAMIC COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING FROM

INDUSTRIAL WASTES RECYCLING BY MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGY

Project Acronym:
ECOCER-MW

Project Coordinator:
(organisation and country):
CALORIS GROUP SA BUCHAREST
ROMANIA

Each partner is requested to contact the respective national/regional

funding organization before submission
Refer to Guide for Proposers when filling out this form.
To be completed by the Project Coordinator only.
Times New Roman 12 pt 1.5 spacing

M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

Content:
Pag.
1.

Summary

Project Summary

Relevance to funding programmes (for each

national/regional funding programme)

2.

Consortium Description

3.

Project Description

4.

Cost Calculation

5.

Disseminations and Exploitation

6.

Ethical Issue

7.

Checklist for Proposers

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

1. SUMMARY
Acronym/Short name

ECOCER-MW

Proposal Full Name

ECO-CERAMIC COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING

FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTES RECYCLING BY
MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGY

Project Coordinator
Coordinator
Organization
(full name in
original language/
name in English)

Name:

Sorin Pasat

e-mail:

contact@caloris.ro

Original Language: CALORIS

GROUP SA
English: CALORIS GROUP SA

Soseaua Berceni no.8 A

Address

Postal code (CEDEX)

041914

Country/
Region

Romania

Tel:

004.021.3322992

Fax:

004.021.3322810

City BUCHAREST
www:
www.caloris.ro
Total Project Costs
Requested Funding

(Euro)
(Euro)
Planned Starting
Duration
Total person
01.10.2014
36

date
(in months)
months
Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME)
Interfaces, Surfaces and Coatings
Call Topic

Composite Technology
Materials for Health
Materials for Sustainable and Affordable Low Carbon
Energy Technologies

Keywords (best describing the

proposals content)

Ceramic composites, microwave heating,

recycling, industrial wastes, coal ash, slag

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

Project Summary
ECOCER-MW project aims to demonstrate the technically feasible alternative to use the rapid
and clean microwave technique to recycle industrial wastes (from Romania and Italy) from
energy industry (coal ashes) and metallurgy (steelmaking slag) some of which having yet no use
in Europe, even worldwide. The proposed approach will demonstrates innovative technologies to
recycle wastes into high added value products which create the possibility for a widespread use
within the EU, facing the same environmental problem The project expects to achieve ceramic
composites (including bulk nucleated glass ceramics) for architectural or insulator applications.
Derivative objectives are:
1) development of unconventional techniques (MW) to manufacture micro and/or nano
structured ceramics to be used at industrial level: improvement of microwave technology
adapted to ceramic micro and nano-composites processing for further industrial use; conception
and design of a microwave furnace dedicated to ceramic composites sintering,
2) simulating modelling the microwave heating process for the ceramic and ceramic composites
to be manufactured by using industrial waste in order to extend at laboratory level the
manufacturing of advanced ceramic composites.
3)Reducing the gap between the thematic approach of waste management in our countryies
and European level, in terms of the application of the results in practice by a sustained campaign
to promote products and technology.
4) To prove significant natural resources saving (up to 50%) and energy usage reduction (up to
20%) based on the quantitative and qualitative potential of the targeted wastes, in order to
establish a sustainable waste management.
Unconventional techniques (MW) main advantages are:

fast, clean and reduced energy efficient processing (MW)

technologies,

speeding up the sintering process (within minutes);

high heating rates and a more uniformly distribution of the adsorbed energy all

over the material, while energy loss occurs only at the surface (sample is hotter inside,
colder at the surface);

nanosize or nanostructure tailoring while avoiding coarsening which

accompanies standard densification routes;

low energetic consumption (over 30% less) which promotes a good ratio

quality/price of the products realized by this route.

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

The project objectives will be solved by a consortium of one research institute (NIMP- Ro), one
university (UNITO) and two SMEs (ICEM SA and CALORIS Group SA) as a source of
scientific and applicative expertise will promote, in every step of activity, the deep use of
knowledge, techniques and advanced materials in both Romanian and Italian economical and
social medium, with the purpose of becoming competitive and outstanding recognized on
international scale.
The proposed unconventional green rapid technology will lower the price of the vitreous
ceramic composites for various industrial applications with 32% based on increasing the
chemical corrosion resistance with minimum 50%.
It should be emphasized the applicative feature of the proposal through the strong commitment
of two SMEs: (CALORIS Group SA and ICEM SA). The Coordinator-CALORIS Group SA
will focus on the implementation of laboratory bench technologies and will be in charge of the
design and conception of the MW monomodal furnace adapted to specific ceramic processing.
Partner 1- ICEM SA has a relevant expertise in handling problems concerning the ceramics and
ceramic composites processing and characterization estimated to industrial use, Partner 2 -NIMP
will investigate microwave process at laboratory bench level and select the best ceramic
composites for further use, while Partner 3 UNITO will simulate the interaction of the targeted
industrial wastes with microwaves, investigating the corresponding temperature field under
different experimental conditions. Therefore, all planned objectives and activities are completely
covered and the success of project relies on teams complementary facilities and abilities.

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

Relevance to funding programmes

(for each of the involved national/regional funding
programme)
Justify why the proposal is in line with the objectives of each funding program and
why the proposal includes the required national impact (up to 2 pages)

Strategic relevance

This proposal will enable easy access to collaboration between leading research partners and
industry across and also outside Europe and create a powerful network to tackle European and
global challenges. Increasing interdisciplinary cooperation with a series of joint calls and
activities will enable EU researchers and industry to access previously inaccessible new markets,
creating a new innovation oriented economy. The joint activities of the proposal will encourage
key players as well as newcomers in transnational projects and SMEs to develop a pan-European
partnership.
This increased interdisciplinary cooperation and exploitation of European and international
roadmaps will induce a new dynamism in the field of materials science and engineering while
stimulating the generation of leading knowledge along the innovation chain.
Coal fly ash (FA) is a vastly produced waste in power stations. In Romania and Italy, the thermal
power stations produce million tones of per year from the burning process of lignite coal that is
mostly stored in open areas and then used for land filling in the mine sites. The utilization of this
particular waste (FA), which features relatively high calcium and low silica content, has already
addressed the possibility of being used in cement and concrete industries, but huge amounts are
still dumped in landfills. Therefore, the main reasons of this work were to investigate potential
use of FA as precursor in the production of high quality bulk nucleated glass-ceramics (GCs) to
be applied as building components or insulators.
Relevance to EU funding programs
The proposal is in line with the objectives of M-Era.Net Program as the aim is to fund
transnational high risk R&D projects addressing Materials Science and Engineering including

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

micro and nano technologies, production processes and technologies. The specific objectives for
Call 2013 are increasing synergy, support for innovation chain, international cooperation,
multidisciplinarity and socio-ecological benefits and are targeted by this proposal under the
topic: CompositeTechnology. Cooperation between industry and academia (exchange of
researchers) and international cooperation are addressed by this proposal.
This work requires a European approach to effectively address the environmental/technological
problems aimed in the proposal. The size of the problems and extended complexity of the
involved technologies, require a European level cooperation. These factors limit the regional or
national approach in two ways:
i. It is difficult to find in one European region the whole set of capabilities needed to develop
new processes for turning a waste into a product.
ii. The progress of real industrially applied solutions need a sufficiently large market that
justify the investment associated with RTD.
Therefore, addressing this project from a European point of view with a wide set of resources
(human and technological) will lead to an optimised solution. Additionally, the exploitation of
the project results will strongly depend on the market that can be reached. This commercial
application base can only be generated and sustained at this early stage of development by the
range of markets and industrial concerns available throughout Europe.
Regarding the trans-national cooperation, the consortium is composed by partners coming from 2
EU countries. The resources provided by each industrial partner are necessary to the completion
of the project, and therefore it is planned a clear transnational cooperation between these
industrial and RTD partners. Furthermore, the consortium is looking to establish cross-border
links, which are important to both social and economic cohesion of the EU as well as to the
competitiveness of the European industry.
Challenges and corresponding targets, operational objectives and actions according to the
macroeconomic, microeconomic and employment guidelines of the Lisbon, as well as the
environmental guidelines of the Gothenburg agenda are designed for implementation in the
current project and stated as follows:
1. Making Europe and its regions more attractive places to live and work
Strengthen synergies between environmental protection and growth
Address Europe's intensive use of traditional and new energy sources
2. Improving knowledge and innovation for growth
Increase and improve investment in RTD
Facilitate innovation and promote entrepreneurship
Promote the information society for all and improve access to finance.
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Relevance to national funding programs

Because of the above-mentioned goals, which inherently imply synergies and cooperation
between industries and research institutions, the present proposal is in line with the objectives of
the Italian funding programme FIRST. Similar considerations apply for the Romanian
programme..

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Organisation

Partner name
(Full name)

Type of the project?

Legal Status
Main focus

Partner 2:
National Institute
of Materials
Physiscs
NIMP Bucharest

Ex. A

Ex. B

Ex. A+B

SME-RES
Applied research

RES
Applied research
www.infim.ro

HE
Applied research
www.unito.it

Romania

Italy

SME
Applied research
www.caloris.ro

Website
http:

www.icem.ro

Region/ Country

Romania

Romania

Organisation
registration number3

13657569

459853

20

42
379.840
Dr.Eniko
Volceanov
004-0212205506
evolceanov@metal.
icem.ro

Size (Employees) 4
Turnover (K)
OrganisationFunding PersonContact

Coordinator (CO)
CALORIS GROUP SA

Partner 1:
Metallurgical
Research InstituteICEM SA

Title/Name

Eng. Sorin Pasat

Telephone

004-0213322992

e-mail

contact@caloris.ro

Person contacted in
the funding
organisation5
Funding Programme
full name6

Mircea Segarceanu
UEFISCDI

Mircea Segarceanu
UEFISCDI

M-ERA.NET
Transnational
Call 2013

M-ERA.NET
Transnational
Call 2013

9068280

Partner 3:
Universita degli
Studi di Torino

02099550010

250

4000

Dr.Carmen
Plapcianu
004-0213690185
carmen.plapcianu
@infim.ro
Mircea
Segarceanu
UEFISCDI
M-ERA.NET
Transnational
Call 2013

Dr. Marco
Truccato
+39-0116707374
marco.truccato@
unito.it
Alberto
Martuscelli MIUR
M-ERA.NET
Transnational
Call 2013

HE-University, RES-Research Organisation, SME-Small medium enterprise, IND-large companies, OTHOthers. (according national rules)
2
Main focus of research activity within the project (basic research or applied research, according to
national rules)
3
It is strongly recommended to contact M-ERA.NET contact person in your region/country about
registration number (VAT number or other Registration number).
4
only for companies
5
It is strongly recommended to contact M-ERA.NET contact person in your region/country for further
information about funding rules, prior to the submission of a pre-proposal. http://www.m-era.net
6
Name of the funding programme for which the partner is applying

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

2. CONSORTIUM DESCRIPTION
Coordinator (CO): SC CALORIS Group SA Bucharest, Romania, www.caloris.ro,
Role in the project: CALORIS Group SA is a SME with a vast experience in microwave
techniques design and processing prototypes level. CALORIS Group SA will scale up and design
the monomodal microwave furnace for ceramic composites based on Partener 3 (UNITO) data
concerning the modeling of the bottom ashes interaction with microwaves. The simulations will
be carried out by analyzing the sample and the reaction chamber of a lab-scale single-mode
microwave furnace and will be the starting point for the monomodal microwave furnace
propotype building.
Team qualification in the field of proposal:
Caloris was founded in 1991, specializes in designing and manufacturing small medical and
laboratory equipment, and since 2001, turned into a stock company - CALORIS Group SA, was
involved in research and development activities (over 18 projects completed with two proposals
for invention and 21 experimental prototypes) and transfer into production and exploitation of
research results were generated sales of over 4.5 million in the last 8 years.
CALORIS Group is SR EN ISO 9001, SR EN ISO 14001-2004 and SR EN ISO 13485
certified by SRAC - Romanian Society for Quality Assurance.
Currently, CALORIS Group S.A. is a partner of research and co-founder / beneficiary of
technology transfer in the project, has been underway, under the title "Technological line
specialized for converting waste into synthesis gas and higher electricity generation ', the object
of the contract no. 62/2012, signed with UEFISCDI.
Using intake of more than 14 specialists with expertise in electronics, mechanical and
thermo-technical (engineers, physicists, researchers) Caloris Group has proven capabilities and
willingness to approach new challenges and dedicated technical areas of the border, involving
applied research, innovation and technology transfer:
organic incineration technology development for recyclable waste;
developing green products and technologies for exploitation of renewable energy
resources (biomass, solar energy, non-recyclable waste recovery);
design and production of thermo-technical industrial equipment in various fields of
temperatures and pressures (reactors, heat treatment furnaces, autoclaves);
design and development of dedicated equipment for research, pharmaceutical and
food industries;

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development of intelligent micro-controller with distributed logic that allows control
and monitoring of industrial process measurements.
CALORIS Group is a member and active supporter of the following professional associations:

ECOTIC - Association for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment

INGIMED - Romanian Federation of Biomedical Engineering

ANFPM -- The National Association of Private Enterprises for Environment in Romania

Partner 1(P1): Metallurgical Research Institute ICEM SA, Bucharest, www.icem.ro,

Role in the project: ICEM is a technological research institute with over 63 years of experience
(since 2004 organized as SME on behalf of Romanian Ministry of Economy), dealing with
applied research and technological development. The company provides scientific and
technological services to the industrial sector dealing with eco-metallurgical processing as well
as with ceramics and composite materials processing, the manufacture of ceramic components,
or the use of ceramic products. ICEM SA is active in the fields of ceramic composites, metals,
refractory materials and environmental technologies. ICEM currently employs 42 people and
offers a wide range of activities such as: applied research by developing core technologies in
ceramic materials and processes; industrial research focusing on the development and pilot
production of innovative products; certification services and products quality control; integrated
solutions in environmental control and protection. It has been carried out applied research and
gained significant experience on every stage of industrial waste recycling through various
European and National R&D programs. A considerable experience in the management of
National R&D programs as well as European has been demonstrated as well as a key role in the
exploitation of results and the dissemination of relevant information to the Romanian and
European industry.
Team qualification in the field of proposal: The institutes laboratories are equipped to carry
out high level research on every stage of the ceramics production processing. Both traditional
and modern shaping techniques are employed for the production of green bodies with simple or
intricate shape. Ceramic manufacturing facilities include also high-technology furnaces, powder
synthesis equipment by wet chemistry route, surface area and porosity analyzer Sorptomatic
(measurements up to nanoroporous), Spectrophotometer UV-Vis Shimadzu; XRD, XRF
(Panalytical), Chemical labs (fully equipped); High temperature furnaces (up to 1800 C, with
gas flow capability). In addition, a number of high technology analytical techniques are available
for physical-chemical, microstructural, mechanical strengths characterizations, ceramic corrosion
resistance tests for metal/glass smelts, thermal shock resistance, refractoriness, abrasion tests,
etc. The team leader, Dr. E.Volceanov has more than 25 years of experience in research work and
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academic teaching focused on: ceramic powders synthesis and characterization; formulation of
dense and porous ceramic-ceramic composites, high refractoriness, thermal shock resistance,
corrosion resistance); ecoceramics compositions design from industrial silicate waste (coal fly
ash, oil drilling sludge, metallurgical slags, glass cullets and fibres) and mineralogical
characterisation of ceramic materials. Dr. C.Coman will investigate the mechanical and ceramic
properties of the developed materials. Chem.Eng.M.Ene will investigate by XRF the chemical
composition of starting ceramic powders, wastes and sintered ceramic bodies Dipl. Eng.
F.Zaman is expert in eco-metallurgy and Dipl.Eng, L.Popescu is expert in environmental risks
analysis in metallurgy.
Partner 2 (P 2): National Institute for Materials Physics NIMP, www.infim.ro
Role in the project: NIMP was established in December 1996 by Governmental Decree,
evolving from the former Institute for Physics and Technology of Materials. Ranking in the first
10 National Institutes of Romania, at the last national evaluation, is organized in five
Departments and has an internationally recognized outstanding reputation in the field of
electronic processes and mechanisms in various materials. The main task is the sintering of the
selected composite powders furnished by ICEM SA in multimodal microwave equipment (LINN
MW) to produce ceramic and ceramic composites for industrial applications. The NIPM team
will cover a large amount of investigations offering associated data (complex characterization of
all powders and bulk ceramics and ceramic composites) with strong influence on selected
ceramic composites properties devoted to certain industrial applications. NIMP ensures access
to: Microwave sintering equipment from LINN, Germany (6 magnetrons, maximum power 4.8
kW, frequency: 2450 MHz, maximum sintering temperature: 1700C, Ar, N 2 sintering or vacuum
(~10-3 mbar); X-ray diffract meter, D8 ADVANCE type (BRUKER-AXS Germany, 2007);
Differential scanning calorimeter DSC 204 F1 (Netsch); Analyzer TGA-DTA/DSC

type

SETSYS coupled with mass spectrometer QMS 200 (SETARAM Instrumentation); Mssbauer
Spectrometers: having cryostats for Low temperature (4.5 -300K) or furnaces for High
temperatures (up to 790 K controlled atm.,-1500 K in air) measurements, JEOL JEM ARM 200F
Cs-corrected Analytical High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope; Retch.. planetary
mill.
Team qualification in the field of proposal:
The tasks of the team derive from its high expertise in materials science field. All materials
produced during project development (oxide precursors powders, bulk materials, ceramics and
ceramic composites) will be fully characterized by a selection of adequate methods. The phase
composition, the degree of their formation, the site occupancy and dimensions of nanoparticles
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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

are obtained via X-Ray diffraction (XRD) at normal or small angle incidence. The thermal
stability will be investigated by complex thermal analysis methods (DSC-TG-DTA-MS). In
special cases, additional data will be offered by Electron Microscopy (last generation devices)
measurements in order to improve the decision related to the following steps in the project. The
local coordination and distortion, the valence and spin states of iron ions, the lattice vibration and
field at nucleus are provided by high sensibility of the Mossbauer spectroscopy (for the oxide
systems including Fe). Dr. C. Plapcianu team leader has experience in microwave processing and
rapid sintering of various ceramic type compounds (MW and/or FAST Field assisted sintering
technique). Dr. C. Bartha is going to help the optimization of ceramic thermal heating processing
by means of thermal analysis studies and Dr.P.Palade will investigate samples structure and
morphology complex investigation by X-ray diffractions and Mossbauer spectroscopy.
Partner 3 (P3): University of Torino UNITO, www.unito.it
Role in the project: UNITO was established in 1404 and after about 600 years the recent
ministerial evaluation of the quality of research has ranked it as the 6 th best Italian university by
averaging its performances in all research areas. It is divided in 27 departments, and, thanks to a
long-standing collaboration between the Physics and Chemistry Departments, has a wide
expertise in the material characterization and synthesis by means of microwave heating.
Taking advantage of this expertise, the main role of UniTo will consist in modelling the
interaction of the industrial wastes (coal ash, metallurgical slag) with microwaves,
investigating the electric field distribution and the corresponding temperature field by means of
the finite element method (FEM) under the real experimental conditions present in the prototype
furnace. 3D computer simulations will be carried out to study the time evolution of the thermal
gradient and of the densification process of the material to be sintered. Modelling methods will
be validated by comparing their predictions to the experimental findings of dedicated
experiments carried out on a lab-scale monomodal microwave furnace, before being scaled up to
the industrial-scale final prototype furnace. Optimization of the microstructural properties of the
resulting ceramics and of the corresponding energy consumption is expected from this task.
UniTo provides access to modelling facilities (SCRAT workstations, 16 GB RAM, COMSOL
Multiphysics software with optional modules) and to a MW single-mode furnace (2.45 GHz,
maximum power 2 KW, controlled atmosphere or vacuum 10 -2 mbar) necessary to the present
project. It also provides access to standard material characterization facilities (Oxford Diffraction
Gemini R Ultra and Philips Xpert Pro for X-Ray Diffraction, JEOL JEM 3010-UHR and ZEISS
LEO 1525 for Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy, respectively).

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Team qualification in the field of proposal: The Italian team has a vast expertise in the field of
microwave processing, from simple compounds up to organic and inorganic complex materials.
As an interdisciplinary team, it has been producing and characterizing both dielectric and
superconducting materials for more than 15 years with MW techniques. Moreover, it has also
successfully modelled the heating effect due to radiation absorption at a microscopic level, even
for very anisotropic materials.
The team leader, Dr. Marco Truccato, has more than 20 years of experience in Solid State
Physics and will perform the modelling work with the help of a research fellow to be recruited
for the project. Dr. Angelo Agostino has more than 15 years of experience in Chemistry of
Materials and will carry out experiments on the microwave furnace. Based on this combined
background, the team is an ideal position to develop and validate the theoretical approach to the
problem by modelling the microwave heating process of the ceramic composites to be
manufactured from industrial wastes. Both experimental and theoretical expertise will lead to
optimal performance of the microwave furnace prototype developed by CALORIS Group SA.
2.2. Explain the added value provided by transnational cooperation (for consortium and
for each partner).
The research proposal focuses mainly on process technology, which decreases the ceramic
composites energy demand, allowing manufacturing cycle time reduction as well as cost
efficiency. Moreover, the new material design and manufacture (microwave furnace) will lead to
environmentally friendly technological approach by recycling industrial wastes (bottom ashes
from energy industry).
Currently network cooperation among the consortium:
In the last decade, the Romanian partners (Caloris Group SA, ICEM and NIMP) have
participated in common research projects CERES, CEEX and RELANSIN devoted to various
ceramic composites functionalization and are currently participating in common national
research projects proposals. NIMP and UNITO have previous research experience in
superconductors processing (including microwave field heating).
The added value provided by transnational cooperation of the consortium:
- More competitive industrial products with advanced materials design and manufacturing
including concepts for increasing the difficulty of copying;
Socio-ecological benefits provided by products with higher integration level of functionality,
and decrease of energy consumption and waste recycling;.

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Network of the scattered players, including SME manufacturers and equipment suppliers,
inside Europe improving the sharing of knowledge and reinforcing both technological and
scientific platform.
The transnational cooperation and the synergy of the consortium partners are presented bellow.

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION Recommended length not longer than 2 pages
3.1 The project main purpose is industrial waste (coal ashes, steelmaking slag, etc.) recycling in
Romania and Italy by using the microwave technology. The proposed approach will demonstrate
innovative technologies to recycle wastes into high added value products (for architectural
and/or insulator applications) solving environmental problem at the same time. The derivative
objectives are: 1) Development of unconventional techniques (MW) to manufacture micro and/or
nano structured ceramics to be used at industrial level: improvement of microwave technology
adapted to ceramic micro and nano-composites processing for further industrial use; conception
and design of a microwave furnace dedicated to ceramic composites sintering, 2) Modelling
Simulating the microwave heating process for the ceramic and ceramic composites generated by
industrial waste recycling 3)Reducing the gap between the thematic approach of waste
management at European level, in terms of practical approach by a sustained campaign to
promote products and technology, 4) Prove significant natural resources saving (up to 50%) and
energy usage reduction (up to 20%) .
3.2 In Romania and Italy, billions of tonnes of solid industrial wastes are generated yearly, an
important amount being stored within industrial dumps which affects the environment quality.
Ash and slag resulting from steam power plants require approximately 1.2 ha storage space for
every million tonnes. In both Romania and Italy million tonnes steelmaking and non-ferrous slag
are produced annually which require urgent recycling solutions.
3.3. The project will certainly demonstrate the simultaneously use and recycling of the two
industrial wastes (slag and ashes). The combination of wastes and their processing in
microwave field is new for ceramic composites approach. MW technique advantages
compared to the conventional methods are: fast, clean and low energetic consumption allowing a
good ratio quality/price of the products manufactured by this route. The project proposes an
innovative technology, namely powders modified method. The shaping by cold-compacting a
powder followed by a high temperature heat treatment to sinter the compact, to fabricate a dense
glass-ceramics by a sintering process in which both densification and crystallisation take place
simultaneously at the same temperature. Also, the microwave heating is enabled by exploiting
the susceptibility of nucleation agent (TiO2 and/or SiC) in microwave field.
3.4. WORK PLAN: Establishing quantitative and predictive relationships between the way a
material is produced (processing), its structure and derived properties are fundamental and will
be a recurrent theme throughout the project. Therefore, the researchers should seek
understanding the connections on various scales.WP1: Selection and full characterization of
wastes/ raw materials : {ICEM SA, NIMP}, Month 1-6: Physical-chemical characterization of
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wastes granulometry, particle size and distribution (by laser particle analyser), surface area
(BET), density, morphological characteristics (SEM), elemental and phases analysis (A.A., XRF,
XRD,), thermal analysis (DTA, DSC) and toxicity characteristics (TCLP). WP2: Modelling
the interaction of wastes/raw materials with microwaves: {UNITO, ICEM, NIMP,
CALORIS}, Month 1-12: 3D computer simulations; study of temperature and the thermal
gradient induced in the material to be sintered as a function of the applied power. WP3:
Exploratory material processing studies on ceramic composites from recycled industrial
waste: {ICEM, NIMP, CALORIS, UNITO}, Month 7- 12: mixing and firing at different
temperatures; recipes adapted to physical-chemical characteristics. WP4: Laboratory-scale
production of prototypes of ceramic composites with improved properties (corrosion
resistance, insulation, mechanical)-{ICEM, NIMP, CALORIS}, Month 7- 14: Materials will
be processed by different methods available in the consortium: melting, sintering, coprecipitation, sol-gel, hot pressing, sputtering, etc. WP5: Design of the MW furnace
(CALORIS, UNITO), Month 12- 24. WP6: Characterization and properties evaluation of
pilot-scale prototypes, and product demonstration {ICEM, NIMP, CALORIS, UNITO},
Month 25-36. Specific characterization: wear resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal shock
resistance, mechanical strength tests.
3.5 Expected impact at the European or international level under the topic of the Call
Technological The project has a significant potential to increase the general availability of
exploitable know-how in the EU, related to the development of processing technology of
ceramic composites by simultaneous use of two industrial wastes treated in microwave field.
Environmental: decreasing the wastes storage in landfill; restoring the productive capacity
of degraded soils; diminishing of the carbon CO 2 footprint (savings of CO2 emissions) Social
impact: diminishing the impact of the energy and metallurgical industry on peoples health,
increasing the peoples level of awareness and trust in wastes recycling. Economic: lower
energy and raw materials supply costs; demonstrating two industries recycle systems of two
important industries working together.
3.6 Market analysis The targeted wastes having valuable oxides composition (SiO2, CaO, Al2O3,
Fe2O3, TiO2, etc) can become by-products and replace up to 30-50% from the natural sand used
for ceramic composites manufacturing. The average raw materials price of 40 /tone for building
bricks manufacturing (sands), will decrease up to 30 mil./year, valorising about 500.000 t/year
and considering raw materials NO cost transport (done by the wastes suppliers). On the other
hand, 1.000.000 t slag/year transformed in valuable products determine an economy on storing
of about 50.000 /year (storing prices 2010).
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4. COST CALCULATION
Total project costs per partner
Partner

Person
months

Total Costs

Requested Funding

Euro

Euro

Partner 1 (Coordinator):
CALORIS SA (SME)

106.20

140.000

100.000

Partner 2:
ICEM SA (SME)

68.76

110.000

90.000

Partner 3:
NIMP (RES)

26.64

60.000

60.000

Partner 4:
UniTo (UNI)

42

179.000

116.000

243.6

489.000

366.000

Total:

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

5. DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION

5.1. Impact of the results and the impact for each partner/ The current project, inside one of
most promising topic, is able to stimulate integration between creative research and innovation
considering the opening to new classes of extremely useful materials for environmental
conservation /protection and pollution drastic reduction by using fast unconventional
manufacturing technologies (Microwave heating - MW). The present research proposal follows
one of the current international trends in environmental protection and nanomaterials science.
5.1.a. Economic benefits:
ICEM SA which has a pilot station is directly interested in the technological development for
manufacturing of ceramic composites from industrial waste recycling. CALORIS Group SA
(CO) is manufacturer of microwave field furnace for the ceramic composites, which will have
better energy efficiency, therefore will increase their competitiveness. NIMP and UNITO will
take advantage of the theoretical studies and experimental work by offering the proper climate
for young researchers specialization in new modern techniques (MW). At the same time, it
generates an increase in the knowledge level through publication and dissemination obtained by
both articles submitted to journals with international recognition and the development of patents,
seminars, scientific conferences and participation to national and international exhibitions. The
target audiences for the dissemination and exploitation of the results of the project are: Scientific
community dealing with waste utilization, materials development and characterization;
Materials industry (ceramics and ceramic composites for load bearings and thermal shock and
corrosion resistance); European and National Networks on environmental, chemical/mechanical
engineering and materials subjects.
5.1.b. Scientific benefits:
The results of the project will be disseminated via: the project website, meetings, workshops
and conferences, peer reviewed scientific publications, education at university level.
Teaching activities in universities at undergraduate and post-graduate level will take advantage
of the knowledge and experience acquired during this project. For instance, the Dr. E. Volceanov
(P1 project responsible) is associate professor at University Politehnica of Bucharest and gives
lectures about Materials Science - Processes of Advanced Materials, which will be
substantially enriched by new knowledge gained in the project. Moreover, Dr. Marco Truccato,
who is in charge of WP2, is assistant professor at UNITO where gives lectures in Solid State
Physics. Dissemination of results is in COs responsibility and IPR issues in P1 (SME), P2 and
P3 responsibility under the coordination of CO.
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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

6. ETHICAL ISSUE
Recommended length not longer than 1 pages

ETHICAL ISSUES TABLE

ETHICAL ISSUES
Informed Consent
Does
Does
Does
Does
Does
Does

the
the
the
the
the
the

proposal
proposal
proposal
proposal
proposal
proposal

involve
involve
involve
involve
involve
involve

YES
children?
patients or persons not able to give consent?
adult healthy volunteers?
Human Genetic Material?
Human biological samples?
Human data collection?

PAGE

no
no
no
no
no
no

Research on Human embryo/foetus

Does the proposal involve Human Embryos
Does the proposal involve Human Foetal Tissue / Cells?
Does the proposal involve Human Embryonic Stem Cells?

Privacy
Does the proposal involve processing of genetic information or personal
data (eg. health, sexual lifestyle, ethnicity, political opinion, religious or
philosophical conviction)
Does the proposal involve tracking the location or observation of people?

Research on Animals
Does the proposal involve research on animals?
Are those animals transgenic small laboratory animals?
Are those animals transgenic farm animals?
Are those animals cloning farm animals?
Are those animals non-human primates?

Research Involving Developing Countries

Use of local resources (genetic, animal, plant etc)
Benefit to local community (capacity building i.e. access to healthcare,
education etc)

Dual Use
Research having potential military / terrorist application

I CONFIRM THAT NONE OF THE ABOVE ISSUES APPLY TO MY

PROPOSAL

YES

*Fill YES or NO
Describe the strategy for dealing with environment, health and safety issues (EHS)

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M-ERA.NET Transnational Call 2013

7. CHECKLIST FOR PROPOSERS*

The proposal conforms to the call guidelines.
Every project partner has been in direct contact with his/her national or
regional funding agency and has checked that their collaboration and their
project contribution is eligible for funding.
All partners who are not eligible for 100% funding are able to provide
financial resources for their own contribution.
The consortium is aware of the necessity to have an consortium
agreement, including amongst others the agreements on intellectual
property rights (IPR) and publication rules for a funded project (to be
signed before the first payment)
The national/regional applications have been submitted by all consortium
partners to their local funding bodies.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: All consortium partners must check if applications have

to be submitted to their national/regional funding organizations. In some cases,
if the application is not submitted to the national/regional funding
organizations, it will not be eligible for the full proposal recommendation.

Please go http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2013 to submit this pre-proposal form

on-line.
Deadline for submission: 30 October 2013, 12:00 noon Brussels time

For further information on M-ERA.NET: please go to http://www.m-era.net

Page 21 of 21