The FINEST Project is structured into three sub-projects.
The three sub-projects will provide complementary competence for three quantitatively relevant material types (micro-plastics, mineral additives, and metal-bearing compounds). The partners in FINEST will combine their respective expertise on fine particulate materials characterization, technologies needed to process, blend and beneficiate fine particulate material streams and the systemic assessment required to assure that suggested approaches will really make a positive contribution towards sustainability. Transfer is an integral part of each of the three sub-projects. It will include active participation of transfer organisations of research partners as well as partners from industry. The three sub-projects will be complemented by the FINEST Research School as an overarching element dedicated to the education of young scientists focusing on sustainability applied to the use and management of finest particulates of anthropogenic material flows. The research school will be led by a combination of partners from four centres of the Helmholtz Association: HZDR, KIT, UFZ, HZB. University partners TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TU BAF) and Uni Greifwald (UG) provide matching expertise.
The project FINEST will address the finest particles being generated in various industrial acitivities. The project FINEST will be structured into three sub-projects each of these being divided into several work packages. The sub-projects dealing with waste streams (FINEST microplastics | FINEST mineral additives | FINEST disperse metals) are in the center of the research activities while the three interlinking topics dealing with technologies, materials, and assessment are woven into the three sub-projects.
The three scientific sub-projects are embedded in the backbone project, which is dedicated to the overall coordination of the consortium and the project management throughout the entire duration. The backbone also ensures an adequate, target-orientated monitoring of the progress in each sub-project. In addition, the Open Science activities in the project are settled and employed within the backbone activities. Finally, the backbone project functions as the dissemination and communication actor for the consortium.