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VARTA's key objective is to develop an innovative approach based on a dedicated treatment of mine tailings combined with a new hydrometallurgical process enabling the recovery of tungsten and potentially other valuable metals (gold, copper...), and the management of a hazardous element (arsenic) fro

There is an urgent need to develop reliable and reproducible sensing technologies for in situ and continuous water monitoring for surface water and wastewaters. The AQUAE project will address this need by specifically developing dedicated chemical sensors that are versatile and adaptable enough to m

Objective 1: Design a bioinspired analog cochlea The objective is to design a bioinspired CMOS cochlea able (like any mammal ear) to convert acoustic analog signals to parallel trains of spikes and bi (multi-channel) naurally to localization. The cochlea will be connected to an existing ULP hydroph

Floods are the first weather related disaster worldwide, expected to increase with global change, and effective flood warning systems are crucially needed to mitigate their devastating effects. Nevertheless, performing accurate flood forecasts in terms of location, magnitude and timing of runoff and

The model of agriculture developed in France and abroad since the 1950s is based on the use of pesticides that diffuse to other environmental compartments (groundwater, surface water...), and contaminate these drinking water sources. In the absence of a soil protection Directive, a posteriori pestic

Providing reliable forecasts of severe weather events is a major issue in many areas such as civil safety or renewable energy production. SAPHIR proposes to combine high-resolution (sub-km) atmospheric dynamics models and a set of direct measurements from weather stations, atmospheric monitoring pro

Real-time and continuous monitoring of chemical contaminants in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment facilities allows early detection of critical concentrations as well as better understanding of dynamics and causes of potential environmental threats. Conventional analytical methods are po

The high rates of population growth and urbanization in coastal regions tend to constantly increase marine flooding risks in low-lying areas. The variety of processes and scales to consider make it very difficult to predict several hours or days in advance. If marine flooding early warning systems h

Chlordecone (CLD) is an organochlorine insecticide used in the French West Indies from 1973 to 1993 to control the banana weevil. It is now classified as a persistent organic pollutant (POP) and pollutes in a sustainable way the agro-ecosystems (soils and waters) of the French West Indies: from bana

Despite ambitious targets at reducing biodiversity loss, assessing these changes remains an epic challenge. A better monitoring of ecosystems remains the only solution. Acoustic passive monitoring is getting popular to sample different groups of vocal wildlife. However these tools remain limited as

The waste treatment directive (2012/19/EU) requires the selective treatment of plastics loaded with Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs), which can no longer be recycled, buried or exported without prior treatment guaranteeing the elimination of targeted harmful molecules. The project focuses on the i

Concrete is the most common construction material and is unconsolidated during its casting. It is therefore straightforward to think of installing permanent sensors inside it for maintenance purposes. The most widespread sensors embedded in concrete aim to monitor temperature and strain. They provid

Remote sensing is an exceptional tool for mapping landscapes but needs empirical and theoretical knowledge to extract biophysical variables. The MAPS project is part of this process and proposes a generic model of alga biophysical and biochemical properties retrieval using remote sensing sensors. Fo

With currently 7000 contaminated sites in France alone, soils, sediments and groundwater are increasingly endangered by anthropogenic contamination, especially industrial pollutants from accidental spills. Petroleum hydrocarbons, which are toxic and carcinogenic for humans, are of great environmenta

Positioned at the interface of environmental sciences and chemical biology, the 42-month MICROFLUOR project aims at renewing and accelerating the discovery of protein catalysts for the degradation of "forever chemicals" polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This very large and diverse class of recalcit

Crystallization is one of the major unit operation to produce, purify or separate solid compounds or products. Whatever the technology, a fine control of the mass and/or heat transfer, i.e. supersaturation, is a key parameter to reach the physical quality of the product (purity, polymorphism, shape,

The project proposes a new concept for the degradation of organic contaminants in groundwater, at neutral pH with air as the only oxidant. It responds to the obvious need to develop eco-compatible and effective long-term methods for the in situ remediation of soils and groundwater. Recent proofs of

The vision of the electrochemical cell has not drastically changed for two centuries, in a way that static electrodes (or semi-static in rotating disk and cylinder systems) are either immersed in electrolyte while the solution is likely stirred for better homogenization or pumped in between or throu

The BBFOAM project aims to establish the founding knowledge for electrical monitoring of foams in subsurface. It will open new monitoring technics in the use of foams for aquifer remediation. Because of their unique properties (density, viscosity, interfacial tension, capillarity), foams are intuit

As a response to the critical need for a better comprehension of the CH4 cycle, the 2nd greenhouse gas (GHG) after CO2, in aquatic environments, FRAME aims to design an innovative fiber refractometric sensor system multiplexing two different technologies based on (1) multimode (MMFs), and (2) photon

While nontoxic, NOM largely outweighs the reactivity of micropollutants and consumes the majority of the oxidants used during drinking water treatment. The transformation of NOM produces potentially toxic compounds in treated waters. Most of those by-products are still unknown. Innovative tools will

The detection of polluting species in the environment (water, soil, air) and in consumer products (food, manufactured products) is a major public health and environmental issue. Nowadays, many chemical substances have been classified as probable carcinogens, reprotoxic or mutagenic (CMR), while thei