FiberEUse

Demonstrating the possible reuse of composite materials in order to create new finished products based on the concept of circular economy and to make the most out of products that have reached the end of their lifecycle.

Start: June 2017
End: September 2021
G.A. 730323

www.fibereuse.eu

Partners

  • POLITECNICO DI MILANO
  • CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE
  • RIVIERASCA S.P.A.
  • NOVELLINI FRANCE S.A.R.L.
  • FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION
  • SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY
  • BATZ SOCIEDAD COOPERATIVA
  • MAIER SCOOP
  • AERNNOVA AEROSPACE S.A.U.
  • TAMPERE UNIVERSITY
  • FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
  • UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE
  • EDAG ENGINEERING GMBH
  • INVENT INNOVATIVE VERBUNDWERKSTOFFEREALISATION UND VERMARKTUNG NEUERTECHNOLOGIEN GMBH*
  • GREEN COAT SRL
  • HEAD SPORT GMBH
  • SAUBERMACHER DIENSTLEISTUNGS AG
  • DESIGNAUSTRIA
  • AVK-INDUSTRIEVEREINIGUNG VERSTARKTEKUNSTSTOFFE EV

Project goals

The project offers an integration of mechanical technologies oriented towards the development of options for the reuse of waste composite materials, investigating new markets, evaluating different logistics options, allowing organizations from different industries to interact, respecting the process compliance according to EU directives.

Specifically, it wants to connect all stakeholders, belonging to different industries related to composites – from manufacturers to suppliers, logistics operators, designers and end-users’ associations – creating a network to enable their handling and facilitating innovation strategies.

To do this, it is committed to develop a new cloud-based ICT solution, which allows for the industry support in the transition towards a circular-economy model based on the reuse of composite materials such as fiberglass and carbon.

The pursuit of these objectives is related to the following use-cases:

  1. Mechanical recycling and subsequent reuse of material in industry sectors such as furniture, building, sports and recreation.
  2. Thermal recycling and subsequent reuse of the material obtained in high-tech solutions.
  3. Remanufacturing and creation of new products, designed so that the materials they are made of can in turn be reused, thus embracing the fundamental idea of circular economy.

The role of Holonix

Within the project, Holonix works on two aspects:

1. Supporting eco-design through the Idea Manager tool, used to stimulate co-creation.

That is, the participatory process of creation involving not only designers, but also the companies themselves proposing new materials and technologies and validating the technical feasibility of new ideas from the earliest stages of the realization of an idea.

IDEA MANAGER: after the project of the product is entered by designers, the platform users have the opportunity to express their own initial evaluation, leaving room for technical opinions. In order to obtain interesting evaluations of the proposed projects, the tool was opened to people not included in the project on social networks, and it was spread onto the Internet.

Idea Manager

2. Developing the network through a platform that connects stakeholders through their availability in terms of materials, services and processes.

Within the platform, an innovative search tool named Circular Search Engine was developed; this tool makes it possible for the stakeholders to introduce themselves, describe their own materials (waste, recycled raw material, etc.), production capacity, recycled finished products and services, thus allowing for the search for the partner one needs to create a new lifecycle of the recycled composite material and thus giving it a new environmental and economic value.

Key competences acquired

Thanks to its participation in the project, the Holonix team has been protagonist in the realization of the FibeEUse platform. Investigating the field of co-creation, Holonix is improving the already existing Idea Manager tool, presenting new features and analyzing new possibilities of use for participatory eco-design and circular economy.

In addition, it is focusing on process methodologies within the circular economy, studying the problems, weaknesses and strengths of this new system. The main purpose is to bring an IT solution to the market enabling information exchange among the users involved in production processes, thus overcoming the physical distances and obstacles related to the handling of waste material, regulations and relations among subjects.

Finally, the Holonix team aims to expand its expertise in the LCC (Life-Cycle Costing) and LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment) fields. The evaluation of the economic and environmental impact of the recovery of a product at the end of its life and of a new production process is essential to create a solution that is as effective as it is sustainable for the industry.

IoT Technologies and Applications

Product-Service Business

Technological and Methodological Support

Operation and Innovation Management

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