PCI · Creative Science Park – Aveiro Region mission is to be the strategic and operational promoter of innovation, knowledge and entrepreneurship in the Region of Aveiro, bringing together and articulating companies, business associations, research and technological development centres, innovation dynamics on a regional scale, allowing the projects developed to have a wide thematic and territorial scope.
In addition to direct contact with the consortium’s organisations, the PCI will play an important role in aligning the Consortium with emerging technologies and industrial needs, by creating content in this area.
The PCI will be the sub-leader of 2 projects, as well as the Agenda’s technical manager, playing an important role in the Agenda’s strategic decisions.
INTELLIGENCE AND FORESIGHT
– Experts Advisory Board
– A study to map and characterise the sector;
– Carry out a benchmark analysis to position and compare the range of national products and services with the European average;
KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER – awareness-raising actions, training sessions, workshops and seminars related to Knowledge and Technology Transfer, which will be extremely important for establishing synergies between all the stakeholders in the Microelectronics Innovation ecosystem. These actions will mainly be aimed at entrepreneurs and companies in the sector, but the intention is also to involve the National Scientific and Technological System Entities and their Interface Units, as well as all researchers and professionals linked to the sector.
– Hybrid leaching of copper, gold and critical metals from electronic waste. PPS consists of a cascade e-waste leaching process. The leaching process begins by using high pH compounds to leach copper from the e-waste in a batch system. The leached e-waste moves on to the next stage to be biolysed. The Cu will be recovered from the solution by the striping method.
– Biolixivation will use previously characterised bacterial strains capable of leaching Au and Ga when incubated in batch conditions. A mixed metal solution will be generated. The process produces metallic Cu and a concentrated mixed metal solution containing Au, Ga and other metals present in PCBs at low concentrations. This requires the use of state-of-the-art analytical techniques, such as ICP-MS and XRF, available at TAIL-University of Coimbra, capable of accurately quantifying the metals at the different stages of the process.
– Cascade selective hybrid method for metal recovery from mixed solutions. The PPS consists of a hybrid method for the selective recovery of metals from mixed solutions using biological molecules immobilised on supports. Different molecules will be used with affinity for different metals. We plan to build affinity columns for Cu, Au, Pt and Ga. The system will be assembled in series, each column activated by a different molecule and immobilising a different metal. The immobilised metals will be removed by passing a strong chelating solution through each column. The solutions obtained will be pH balanced and the metals will be obtained by striping.
– Consultancy services for the development of environmentally conscious processes for the design, eco-design and manufacture of electronic products. The process to be developed will support companies in complying with APA (Portuguese Environment Agency) regulations, namely Decree-Law no. 152-D/2017, modified by Decree-Law 102-B/2021.
Specifically, it will support companies’ processes in adhering to eco-design principles, namely by reducing the presence of hazardous chemical processes, using resources more efficiently, improving the durability of their products, allowing for the possibility of reuse and repair, being energy efficient and reintroducing process waste into the production chain.