De & Remanufacturing for Circular Economy Investments in the Composite Industry - Technol
The DeremCo project aims at the development of innovative systemic solutions for unlocking the great potential of End of Life composite materials, as new manufacturing sources, with a set of actions inspired by two major general guidelines: Sustainable Manufacturing and Digitalization.
The consortium is composed by 30 partners from 7 EU countries and regions.
ABOUT
Fiber-reinforced plastics are the structural components of a wide range of consumer and industrial goods, but managing composite products after use in accordance with the principles of the circular economy remains a significant challenge.
The DeremCo project aims to create a systemic, cross-sectoral, demand-driven circular economy solution that will enable the cost-effective reuse of post-use composite materials and components in new high-added value products. This solution will be based on the interaction between the technical and social eco-systems at the local and interregional level and will benefit the environment, industry, consumers, and the European society.
To satisfy consumer demands, two circular pilot procedures will be used:
a) mechanical demanufacturing and hybrid reprocessing,
b) thermo-chemical demanufacturing and textile reprocessing.
The circular value-chain will be changed into a “pull” system, in line with the new DeremCo Demand-Driven vision, where the demands and specifications on the materials and components to be reused are transferred directly from the demand side in terms of the qualities and functions of the high added-value products reusing them. The major objectives will be to encourage industrial uptake within local eco-systems, to de-risk future industrial uptake through private investments, and to raise awareness for more conscientious consumer behavior to assure sustainability and continuity.
ROLE OF THE CLUSTER
Within the project we want to show the possibility to reuse the grinded GRP material (industrial composite waste) as reinforcement for thermoset composites for GRP profiles to be used in construction as fences and similar. At the same time we want to use our own industrial waste as fillers.
The prototypes will be made in cooperation with project partners – planned steps of production are: grinding of composite parts, adhesion modification (recycled fibers surface modification or resin modification) and testing. Composite production will be done in our company, where the GRP fence parts will also be tested.
DeremCo is an EU – Interregional Innovation Investment (I3) Instrument project and it will run until November 2025.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s ERDF under grant agreement No 101084037. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Project Name: De & Remanufacturing for Circular Economy Investments in the Composite Industry
Project reference: 101084037
Start/end: December 2022 – November 2025
Total Cost: 12 603 930.83
EU contribution: 8 822 751.58
Call: I3-2021-INV1
Topic: I3-2021-INV1-MANU
Internal contacts
Barbara Jerman
Nevij Baruca
nevij.baruca@technol.si
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