Z-ONA4LIFE

Brief description

The circular economy model seeks to create a regenerative and sustainable system. Z-ONA4LIFE fully embraces this vision by leveraging innovative technologies and sustainable practices to efficiently utilise and repurpose aluminium salt slag, thereby promoting circularity in the aluminium industry.

Z-ONA4LIFE promises far-reaching impacts:

• Technical and Social: It aligns with the new Circular Economy Action Plan, encourages the sharing of best practices, and raises awareness among EU citizens about the environmental and socio-economic benefits of the Z-ONA4LIFE solution for resource recovery from industrial waste.
• Environmental: It enhances waste management, promotes resource reduction, reduces emissions of pollutants into the air, and safeguards soil quality.

With Z-ONA4LIFE, the EU takes a bold step towards a more sustainable and circular future for the aluminium industry, setting a precedent for global environmental stewardship.

Our Role

The project, coordinated by CSIC, is composed of six renewed research and industrial partners with high experience in the circular economy field. Within Z-ONA4LIFE, Trust-IT  leads the Work Package (WP6) for the dissemination, sustainability, replication and exploitation of the project results with the specific objectives:

• Developing and implementing an effective communication and dissemination strategy.
• Ensuring the exploitation of project results, widespread replication, and a reliable sustainability plan.
• Elaborating an effective business strategy to accelerate international market uptake and onboarding.

In WP6, Trust'IT plays a central role, alongside COMMpla, in the following tasks:

• Dissemination and Communication (T6.1): COMMpla leads this task with strong support from Trust-IT and all partners. They oversee dissemination, communication, and event organisation.
• Business Strategy (T6.4): Trust-IT takes the lead in crafting a business strategy for international market acceleration, with backing from FERROSADIM and ALUSIGMA.

Trust-IT is also involved in other key tasks:

• EU Policy and Market Study (T2.2): Trust-IT conducts desktop research and market analysis, leading public consultations with stakeholders. ALUSIGMA and FERROSADIM assist in data analysis and report development.
• Monitoring KPIS (T5.1): COMMpla and Trust-IT provide KPIs related to international communication, dissemination, and exploitation. CSIC collaborates with FERROSADIM for KPI verification.
• Evaluation of Impact (T5.2): ALUSIGMA leads the environmental analysis, while Trust-IT conducts the international economic study with support from FERROSADIM.​​​​​​​
   

Impact

The following achievements contribute significantly to knowledge transfer impact:

• Obtained at least one international patent. 
• Orchestrated two specialised scientific-technical workshops led by CSIC.
• Hosted eight informative webinars. 
• Successfully conducted and delivered four training workshops. 
• Organised two open days during the project, allowing visits to ALUSIGMA's pilot zeolite transformation plant and COGERSA's effluent depuration demo plant. [KPI: Sustaining 1 open day per workshop for 5 years post-project]
• Produced a minimum of 15 scientific communications, encompassing peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed journals, congresses, and exhibitions. 
• Influenced policy through two dedicated impact events.

Results

• A detailed dissemination, communication, and stakeholder outreach strategy and plan (DECP).
• Implementation of outreach campaigns to build a community and enhance the capacity for the project.
• A roadmap outlining how the results of Z-ONA4LIFE can be replicated.
• A business strategy for the pan-European rollout of Z-ONA-4LIFE.

Funding

The Z-ONA4LIFE project has received funding from the European Union's LIFE Framework Programme - under grant agreement no. 101114027.