New bio-based and sustainable raw materials enabling circular value chains of high performance lightweight biocomposites

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New lightweight High-Performance Composite (HPC) materials and efficient sustainable processing technologies will have an enormous environmental and performance benefit in all sectors of application. However, current sustainable HPC application is limited to large sectors due to their limitations in terms of long processing times, high prices and low recyclability. To overcome these limitations, rLightBioCom propose a paradigm shift in the way HPC are manufactured and recycled, unlocking sustainable-by-design production of lightweight HPC. Therefore, the project will enable new circular value chains towards r-LightBioCom results, contributing to environmental-related EU goals and reducing the HPC waste generation and the use of non-sustainable fossil resources. To this end, a sustainable catalogue of new advanced biobased and recycled HPC materials will be initially developed with inherent recyclability properties (at least 3 new types of bio-resins, 4 new biomass-derived nanofillers and additives, and 3 families of sustainable fibre-based textile products). To reduce current associated manufacturing costs and high energy consumptions and emissions, efficient processing techniques will be developed (2 new fast curing techniques) combined with recycling technologies for the new catalogue of materials to reduce waste generation and induce circularity. A new open method and related tools (Coupled Ecological Optimisation framework) will promote and standardise holistic sustainable HPC design, modelling and systematic optimisation, leading to continuous sustainable catalogue growth and inclusion of new families of biobased, recyclable lightweight HPC at competitive cost. All results will be validated in 3 use cases at automotive, infrastructure and aeronautic industries with specific business cases, contributing to establishing new resilient, sustainable and innovative value chains in the EU HPC industry, promoting a change of paradigm from linear to circular ones.