Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BRISK II (Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge II)

Teaser

The vision of BRISK II is to establish a centre of excellence in the field of 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels via the uniting of leading European research infrastructures. Building upon the success of its FP7 predecessor, BRISK II Networking Activities will consolidate...

Summary

The vision of BRISK II is to establish a centre of excellence in the field of 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels via the uniting of leading European research infrastructures. Building upon the success of its FP7 predecessor, BRISK II Networking Activities will consolidate knowledge in the field, reaching out to a wide set of stakeholders and potential users. Databases generated within the project will serve as a valuable resource for academia and industry. The business plan will boost momentum beyond H2020 so that the research infrastructures can be utilised between framework programmes or even independently. Joint Research Activities will yield a manifold improvement in the characterisation of feedstocks for thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes, tying micro-scale and macro-scale phenomena in novel ways. Enhanced measurement techniques will lead to significant gains in process flexibility and reliability. New biorefining approaches are intended to explore novel process combinations, ones that cannot be tested without a concerted effort between project partners. Assimilated data and knowledge will be input to simulation tools for use in a broad spectrum of analyses. Transnational Access supports the biofuels research community through the availability of high-quality installations within a well-structured framework.

Work performed

The work performed in this period entailed a consolidation of the consortium with various start-up activities such as establishment of project master plan, launch of public website with accompanying dissemination materials, establishment and implementation of trans-national access application procedure, and set-up of data management plan in accordance with the Pilot on Open Research Data. In terms of Joint Research Activities, a technology assessment of BRISK II research infrastructures was conducted along with market analysis of biobased products. Two rounds of trans-national access applications were opened, leading to 58 being granted access to BRISK II facilities.

Final results

BRISK II is on its way to fulfilling the overall goal of establishing a centre of excellence in biofuels, building upon the success of its FP7 predecessor. Shortly after the project start-up, attention was focused on Networking Activities with the purpose of reaching out to the EU and international research communities for soliciting potential users for trans-national access. These initiatives led to a high level of interest. To exemplify, among the approved applications for trans-national access, 55 were submitted by universities, two emanated from public research organizations, and one was linked to a small-to-medium enterprise. Furthermore 53 of these applications originated from the EU or H2020 associated states, with the remainder submitted from South America. The division between gender was 42% female/58% male, exhibiting a good balance.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.brisk2.eu/.