Dr. Vítor Jorge Pais Vilar, from the LSRE-LCM Research Unit at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), has secured €2.1 million in funding for FEUP through three major collaborative projects approved under the STEP – Business R&D&I – Energy call of Portugal 2030. The projects—ZERAMICS, NETCARBON, and WATER-NET ZERO—represent a combined investment of €27.4 million and address key European priorities in industrial decarbonisation, carbon management, circular economy, energy efficiency, and climate neutrality.

ZERAMICS – Net-Zero Technologies for the Decarbonisation of Energy-Intensive Ceramic Industries

With a total budget of €8.5 million, ZERAMICS aims to develop, validate, and deploy breakthrough net-zero technologies to accelerate the decarbonisation of the European ceramic industry, one of the continent's most energy-intensive and hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The project is coordinated by PRIMUS CERAMICS, S.A. and brings together a multidisciplinary consortium comprising Faianças Artísticas Bordalo Pinheiro, S.A., Adelino Duarte da Mota, S.A., Induzir – Indústria e Comércio de Equipamentos, Lda., Sanindusa – Indústria de Sanitários, S.A., Fado Energy, Lda., Associação NET4CO2 – Network for a Sustainable CO₂ Economy, Smart Energy Lab – Association, the Technological Centre of Ceramics and Glass (CTCV), and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). At FEUP, the project is coordinated by Vítor Vilar, with a budget allocation of €618,650.

NETCARBON – Net Zero Digital Energy and Carbon Management Systems

NETCARBON is a collaborative R&D&I project with a total budget of €10.5 million. Coordinated by OCRAM, the consortium comprises BrightCity, Aliados, TechZero, ADAI, Associação NET4CO2 – Network for a Sustainable CO₂ Economy, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu (IPV), the University of Coimbra, the University of Aveiro, and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), bringing together complementary expertise in digital platforms, HVAC integration, CO₂ capture

technologies, and process engineering. At FEUP, Vítor Vilar coordinates the institution's participation, supported by a budget of €635,207.

WATER-NET ZERO – Net-Zero Technologies for Carbon and Energy Neutrality in the Water Sector

The WATER-NET ZERO project has been awarded more than €8.4 million to develop and industrially demonstrate an innovative technological platform capable of transforming drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities into climate-neutral infrastructures. The project addresses one of Europe's most strategic infrastructure sectors by promoting energy efficiency, carbon neutrality, renewable energy integration, carbon reuse, and circular resource management. Its outcomes are expected to support the transition of thousands of water treatment and wastewater treatment plants towards more sustainable and resilient operation, fully aligned with major European environmental and climate policies. The project is coordinated by VentilAQUA and involves a consortium composed of AGERE, SIMDOURO, Águas do Douro e Paiva, SIRE, PARALAB, FEUP, INEGI, Associação NET4CO2 – Network for a Sustainable CO₂ Economy, and INESC TEC. Together, the partners combine industrial, utility, and scientific expertise to develop and validate innovative solutions for one of Europe's most strategic infrastructure sectors. At FEUP, the project is coordinated by Vítor Vilar, with an allocated budget of €853,555.

Strengthening LSRE-LCM Leadership in Sustainable Process Engineering

Together, these three STEP-funded projects reinforce LSRE-LCM and FEUP as leading contributors to Europe's transition towards climate-neutral industries and sustainable resource management. Through advanced research in hydrogen integration, carbon capture and utilisation, industrial decarbonisation, and circular process engineering, the projects will accelerate the development of scalable technologies capable of supporting Europe's net-zero ambitions while strengthening the competitiveness of Portuguese industry.

The participation of LSRE-LCM in these flagship initiatives further consolidates its role as an international reference in environmental and chemical process engineering, fostering innovation through strong collaboration with industry, public utilities, and research institutions.

Ana Luísa Machado, MSc research fellow at LSRE-LCM, and Joana Pereira Ramos and Rafael Couto Carneiro, PhD students at LSRE-LCM, presented the innovation proposal “Accelerating Photocatalyst Discovery for More Sustainable Chemicals and Fuels” at ALiCE Connect 2026, where they were awarded the Best Pitch Prize in the thematic area of Digitalisation, AI, and Process Innovation.

The concept brought together the diverse research experiences of each group member by combining a multimodal machine learning framework with in-lab synthesis and testing of new photocatalysts, aiming to close the loop between digital and experimental catalyst discovery. This idea marks an important step towards innovation, and we look forward to its future achievements.