PROTECT

Pre-commercial lines for production of surface nanostructured antimicrobial and anti-biofilm textiles, medical devices and water treatment membranes

Principal Investigators: Anna Luisa Costa, Simona Ortelli
Involved personnel: Felice Carlo Simeone, Magda Blosi

Starting date: 01/01/2017
Duration: 48 months
Total funding: 9 441 862,50 €
Call: H2020-NMBP-PILOTS-02-2016 – GA No.720851
Action: Innovation Action
Project coordinator: Tzanko Tzanov (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya)
Consortium: 17 partners from 7 European countries
Official website: http://protect-h2020.eu/

PROTECT will upscale and demonstrate nano-coating pilot plants in relevant industrial environments incorporating the following innovations for process efficiency and reliability, product efficacy and validation, and value-chain integration:

• Three pre-commercial processes: continuous sonochemical and spray coating (R2R Ultra-Sonic; R2R Spray-Coating) and batch sonochemical coating (Ultra-Sonic Batch);
• Implementation of the pre-commercial processes trough a “Safety by Process Design”, the safety aspects of pre-commercial line operation will be assessed in order to control possible risks related to the material characteristics and to the pilot line operation (CNR-ISTEC Task);
• Novel antibacterial and anti-biofilm nanoparticles (NPs) of the following categories: inorganic (Zn_xCu_1-xO, Ga@C-dots, SiO₂/TiO₂ composite), thermoplastic polymer (polypyrrole) and biologicals (antibacterial enzymes and functionalised lipids). These will be used to obtain biocompatible nanostructured surfaces with antimicrobial and anti-adhesive properties;
• Methods and/or instrumentation with real time monitoring of relevant process parameters and nano-scale characterisation of materials to ensure reproducibility and quality of the nano-coated products.

A Pilot Laboratories Network (PLN) that will include also lab scale prototypes of the proposed coating pilots for workforce training and knowledge dissemination. The PLN will enable the end users to select the most appropriate pilot technology for their manufacturing facilities and targeted costs vs. performance values of their products.

Partners: KLOPMAN INTERNATIONAL SRL; UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA; BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY; CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE (ISTEC AND ISMAC); CENTI; MAROCO; ICONE; CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES SA; INDATECH SAS; FONTE NUOVA; TESSITURA PERTILE DI PERTILE & C. SNC; UNIVERSITY OF MILAN BICOCCA; UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK; STZ SÄCHSISCHES TECHNOLOGIE ZENTRUM GGMBH FÜR BILDUNG UND INNOVATION; ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION DE LA INDUSTRIA TEXTIL AITEX; PROJECT SAS DI MASSIMO PERUCCA; OSM-DAN LTD.