CHARACTERIZATION, COMPATIBILIZATION, PROCESSING AND PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED POLYOLEFINS (REPOL) is a European Industrial Doctorate established by a consortium of leading European scientists in the academic and private industrial sector of polymer science and engineering. The University of the Basque Country (SP) and the University of Genova (IT) are the academic beneficiaries while Borealis is the industrial beneficiary (AT). They will collaborate in research-related and transferable training activities, through the execution of individual projects of three early stage researchers (ESRs) with a highly synergic, intersectoral and multidisciplinary approach in the field of polyolefins recycling. Currently, effective and innovative upgrade polyolefins recycling technologies are urgently needed to address global environmental concerns. European industries require skilled researchers to exploit academic knowledge on polymer chemistry, physics, and engineering, and switch innovation and investment from an economic system to an ecological one, driven by circular economy. In this sense, the REPOL project will address these challenges through a combination of fundamental and applied research training programme to enhance the scientific excellence and competitiveness of polymer recycling in Europe. The project aims to develop characterization tools for recycled polyolefins, find novel compatibilization routes, design upgraded recycled postconsumer based blends and nanocomposite blends, and study the scalability of the developed recycled materials. REPOL will become a reference at the International Level, improve R&D capacity between participating organisations and boost synergies and better knowledge transfer between sectors in the area of polymer recycling, by promoting the mobility of ESRs and sustainable training cooperation.

The here proposed DIMAP project focuses on the development of novel ink materials for 3D multi-material printing by PolyJet technology. We will advance the state-of-the art of AM through modifications of their fundamental material properties by mainly using nanoscale material enhanced inks. This widens the range of current available AM materials and implements functionalities in final objects. Therefore applications will not be limited to rapid prototyping but can be used directly in production processes. DIMAP will show this transition in two selected application fields: the production soft robotic arms/joints and customized luminaires. In order to cope with these new material classes the existing PolyJet technology is further developed and therefore improved. The DIMAP project targets at the following objectives: additive manufactured joints, additive manufactured luminaires, ceramic enhanced materials, electrically conducting materials, light-weight polymeric materials, high-strength polymeric materials, novel multi-material 3D-printer and safe by design. With the development of novel ink materials based on nanotechnology improvement of the mechanical properties (ceramic enhanced and high-strength polymeric inks), the electrical conductivity (metal enhanced inks) and the weightiness (light weight polymeric materials) are achieved. Based on the voxel printing by PolyJet these new materials lead to a huge broadening of the range of available digital material combinations. Further focus points during the material and printer development are safe by design approaches, work place safety, risk assessment, collaboration with EU safety cluster and life cycle assessment. An established roadmap at the end of project enables the identification of future development needs in related fields order to allow Europe also in the future to compete at the forefront of the additive manufacturing revolution.

The overall objective of ELECTRO is to demonstrate a revolutionary technology concept that links the waste and petrochemical industry and provides them with a sustainable, low GHG footprint and scalable circular solution for olefin and polyolefin production. The priority for ELECTRO is the plastic waste streams that are currently not recycled but rather either incinerated or dumped to landfill: examples are multilayer plastics, mixed PE/PP/PS, and waste PS. An innovative modular extruder for optimal pre-treatment of plastic waste will be combined with an electrically heated reactor for the catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste at TRL 7. The main product, plastic waste pyrolysis oil, will be used as a feed for steam crackers. Steam cracking will be electrified in the roto-dynamic reactor (RDR), a second novel reactor technology to be demonstrated at TRL 7 in ELECTRO. In the RDR heat transfer is accelerated by an order of magnitude compared to heat transfer rates achieved in the fired heaters used in conventional crackers. And so the RDR has a substantially higher selectivity towards light olefins and improved process efficiency. The light olefins will be further processed into PE and PP, demonstrating the technical feasibility of chemical recycling and the use of plastic waste as a circular carbon feed. This scalable concept will enable strong industrial symbiosis, with the initial LCA showing an 90% GHG reduction compared to today's best available technology (BAT). Given the amount of plastic waste that can be converted, and the market demand for the compounds produced, the impact of ELECTRO will be profound. To further extend the impact of ELECTRO, the global replicability and economic viability of the proposed concept will be demonstrated using waste streams from the Republic of Korea and Indonesia, and a thorough programme will be implemented to train the next generation of waste management engineers and workers.