Zero emissions in a circular military economy: from military individual equipment waste to food and energy

ongoing

"The ZEROWASTE project uses advanced biotechnologies to produce energy and food for military personnel. The project aims to design systems that can be installed in isolated infrastructure or operational fields, ensuring the disposal of individual military equipment, recovering and reusing CO2 to grow photosynthetic microalgae cells, and producing fresh food and nutraceuticals. Thus, the project also wants to design a modern, sustainable, and clean energy system using wood-based waste materials, transforming wood waste into renewable biofuel (pyrolysis oil) using a thermal process. The ZEROWASTE project aims to apply natural and renewable biofuel and food technologies for the defence sector, reducing the European Union's dependence on fossil fuels. It focuses on the digestion of military cloths, the production of microalgae, CO2 capturing, and the pyrolysis of wood waste. The project has the potential to be applied to space exploration missions and to new generation of jet-fuel. The project focuses on designing sub-systems based on functional requirements, technical setups, and check-lists, ensuring the longevity of components. It aims to contribute to the sustainability and resilience of military operations while reducing environmental impacts and costs. ZEROWASTE is innovative in several ways, including decomposing solid organic materials or synthetic fibers into macromolecules, transforming wood waste into energy, and converting wood waste into storable fuel. This ""win-win"" strategy reduces environmental impacts and costs while promoting the sustainability and resilience of military operations. All components, including microalgae, filters, pipes, engines, electronics, algorithms, and procedures, will be designed within the EU, with materials, technology, and knowledge coming exclusively from EU resources and industries. The consortium consists of seven participants from six European countries with expertise in environmental, chemical, engineering, and biotech."