In the last few weeks, Extraco has participated in public events at several Galician universities to share the preliminary results of three R&D&i projects led by the company: Alfiller, Topacio and Geo4Radón. These three research projects were selected in the competitive call Conectapeme 2018 to be co-funded, through ERDF funds, by the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN), attached to the Regional Ministry of Economy, Employment and Industry of the Regional Government of Galicia, in the three-year period 2018-2020.

The results for 2019 of “ALFILLER: Recovery of filler material from asphalt plants for developing cement-based eco-products” (Ref. IN852A 2018/39) were presented on November 18^th at the Higher Technical School of Civil Engineering of the University of A Coruña (UDC). In this event, the physical, chemical and mechanical characterization works of the waste filler coming from Extraco’s asphalt agglomerate plants (already finished) were shown, as well as the results obtained regarding the development of new masonry mortars, coating and filling concretes for prefabricated blocks. The presentation was attended by researchers from the Construction Group (gCONS) of the UDC and representatives of the consortium of companies developing the project with Extraco: Prefhorvisa Outeiro, Galaicontrol and Renga Enerxía.

In addition, the event for the dissemination of the 2019 results of the project “TOPACIO: Infrastructure Management Optimization Technologies for the Prevention of Forest Fires” (Ref. IN852A 2018/37) took place on November 28^th at the Water Campus Building in Ourense, in an event attended by representatives of the companies participating in the project (Extraco, Aeromedia, Conexiona Telecom and San2), the GEOTECH and GTE research groups from the University of Vigo (UVigo) and the Center for Forestry Research in Lourizán. In addition to showing the monitoring results performed at real scale in the Ourense-Celanova Highway (AG-53) and in Lobios (Xurés Natural Park), the calculation algorithms developed for vegetation control in infrastructures, from inspections performed with LiDAR, drones and satellite images, were analyzed.

Finally, the project “GEO4RADÓN: Forecasting and improvement of geothermal heating and cooling systems and analysis of the influence of soundings on radon gas diffusion” (Ref. IN852A 2018/38) presented its results from last year on December 17^th at the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering in Vigo (UVigo). Together with the principal investigator of the project, Professor José Fernández Seara, Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Machines, Thermal Engines and Fluids of the UVigo, several technicians from the five companies developing the project with Extraco participated in the event: Megodeza, Conexiona, Galaicontrol and Renga Enerxía. After summarizing the progress made in the construction of the geothermal energy collection fields, in the design of control systems and in the preliminary measures for radon gas detection carried out at the headquarters of Extraco in Ourense, the attendees visited the UVigo test bench, where the high performance heat pump designed in the project is being tested. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2020 this pump will be installed in the new heating and cooling system that is being built.