The Directional Composites through Manufacturing Innovation (DiCoMI) project aims to bring together leading innovatorsfrom across Europe, and beyond, to develop a new method of producing composite material parts with optimised fibredirectionality. The DiCoMI project will integrate advanced manufacturing techniques, composite materials science, and manufacturing system design. As such, it requires a high level of inter-disciplinary cooperation as well as collaborationbetween researchers and industrials. The outcome will be a truly novel composites manufacturing system capable of producing parts with increased accuracy, reduced cost and enhanced functionality. DiCoMI project will focus on Directional Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) materials and combined different manufacturing techniques into a unique and innovative hybrid system. DiCoMI project will have a direct impact on the European and international scientific state of the art in the fields of composite materials and manufacturing equipment, while supporting the innovation potential in the automotive and aerospace industries.

The overall objective of the EcoPlast project is to develop comprehensive digital solutions to enhance circularity in the automotive plastic value chain. These solutions will help ensure high quality, non-toxicity and durability of secondary materials. Share of secondary materials will be increased in new products. Recovery, recycling and upcycling rates will be increased and uptake of secondary materials for high value applications will be proliferated. We will develop EcoPlast platform which will consist of secured and privacy protected collaborative space, ecoDesign tool assisting circular product design, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) tool for increasing sustainability, CI (Circularity Index) calculator for measuring circularity, Digital Twins (DTs) for process optimisation for extrusion and injection moulding processes as well as upcycling and recycling processes. AI and robotics will be integrated for End-of-life Vehicle (ELV) management processes consisting detection, sorting, and dismantling. Blockchain based Digital Product Passport (DPP) will be employed for automotive plastic products’ traceability to increase trust among the value chain partners. DPP will also help achieving 100% sorting efficiency. A circular marketplace in the platform will help trading recycled and upcycled products. This will also help in reuse, repair, refurbish and remanufacture of dismantled automotive plastic parts. All these activities will help create new value chains around the automotive plastic sector. Automotive plastic parts will be manufactured in this project using recycled plastics, bio-composites and biobased plastics and will be demonstrated, tested, and validated along with the developed digital technologies in large-scale facilities. Novel recycling and upcycling technologies will also be demonstrated. Wider adaptation of EcoPlast solution will help address almost all the challenges automotive plastic value chain actors are currently facing.

The main objective of POLYNSPIRE is to demonstrate a set of innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions, aiming at improving the energy and resource efficiency of post-consumer and post-industrial plastic recycling processes, targeting 100% waste streams containing at least 80% of plastic materials. To this end, three innovation pillars are addressed at TRL7: A) Chemical recycling assisted by microwaves and smart magnetic catalysts as a path to recover plastic monomers and valuable fillers (carbon or glass fibres), B) Advanced additivation and high energy irradiation to enhance recycled plastics quality and C) Valorisation of plastic waste as carbon source in steel industry. Innovations A and B can lead up to 34% of fossil fuel direct reduction for PA and 32% for PU. Approach C can lead to reductions of around 80% of fossil carbon sources in electric arc furnaces. The demonstration is completed by the performance of a rigorous holistic environmental and economic analysis (LCA and LCC) to ensure the industrial feasibility and the accomplishment of environmental restrictions. Efforts are dedicated to analyse non-technological barriers (legislative or standardization) that could hinder the proper innovations deployment. POLYNSPIRE also implies the development of a comprehensive business plan, gathering 7 business models and establishing a cross-linked relation between plastic, chemical and steel manufacturing industries. Its consortium, coordinated by CIRCE, ensures POLYNSPIRE success through the involvement of 4 RTOs, 1 university, 9 large companies, 6 SMEs and 2 multiplier associations. To that end, chemical companies (REPSOL QUIMICA, ARKEMA, NOVAMONT, NUREL and KOR), plastic compounders (BADA) and converters (MAIER), waste managers (IDS), technology developers (CIRCE, NIC, ION, AITIIP, TUe, CSM), equipment and steel manufacturers (FM, CPPE, HTT, FENO), exploitation (VTG), standardisation (DS) and dissemination (EUPC and IKMIB) entities are involved in the consortium.

PET is widely used in plastics and textiles leading to over 20 Mt/y of complex waste worldwide for which no closed-loop recycling is viable today. Most complex waste is landfilled or incinerated. There is an urgent need to develop a circular solution to convert complex PET wastes from plastics and textiles back into high-added value products. WHITECYCLE unites 3 brand-owners, 1 PET converter, 2 waste managers, 1 digital deeptech for smart sorting, the world leading enzymatic recycling SME, 1 LCA company, 3 UNIs/RTOs, 1 cluster and 1 management firm. They aim to demonstrate two new processes combining strong scientific and industrial know-how: (i) innovative identification, sorting and separation technologies that will dramatically increase the PET content of complex waste streams to 80%, and (ii) a disruptive enzymatic recycling process that is expected to yield pure PET monomers sustainably even for impure waste streams. PET monomers obtained will be repolymerised and recycled. Thus, 2 t of waste will be used to demonstrate 3 highly technical PET-containing pilot series: 100 tyres, 1,500 m of lay-flat hoses and 400m2 of multicomponent fabric that will be coated and used to manufacture 4 lines of technical garments. Process design kits, LCA and production cost estimates will be provided to PET manufacturers and waste management companies for rapid deployment and assure social acceptance. First projections show that WHITECYCLE’s recycled PET will be competitive with virgin PET. The project will conduct a full circle loop from real complex waste feedstock to representative product of the 3 use-cases at TRL 5. Then, a strong upscale study will allow the process steps to reach TRL 6 to 8. By 2030, WHITECYCLE will enable the annual recycling of more than 2 Mt of PET, which corresponds to the amount of additional recycled PET needed to meet the EU’s 2030 targets. This will reduce emissions by around 2.06 Mt CO2eq and avoid the landfilling of more than 1.8 Mt of PET.