The Project - Bercella

The Project

Composite materials find their greatest potential in applications where weight reduction is required without compromising rigidity and resistance of the material. Despite the high performance of these materials, their sustainability is still a major concern.

When dealing with composite materials, and the issues of wastes in the manufacturing process, we need to think in perspective of the impact of the wastes within the process on the end products overall volumes.

Still, issues are raised on their sustainability, and heavy research efforts are spent for the recycling of composites, through the thermal route (pyrolysis) and the chemical route (solvolysis).

A new approach to reach the sustainability target within the ZeroWasteLIFE project arises from reaching breakthrough performances in terms of wastes avoidance thanks to the deposition of reinforcements only where needed.

ZeroWasteLIFE project is expected to reduce the wastes, improve the materials efficiency, reducing at the same time the costs for the final products and their rate of reusability, thanks also to a modular design. The project outcome is validated through two different optimized demo products, one in the automotive and one in the aerospace segment.

A reduced net impact of 15% energy and CO2 emissions and 40% raw material will be demonstrated, leading to a strong impact on product acceptability.

Specific objectives

Main Objective	Scope
O1. Consolidate the design shapes and parts that must be assembled in the final products.	Reduction of manufacturing wastes to ideally zero-waste.
O2. Design of the parts and sub-assemblies (beams, plates and shells) serving as basic elements for the future complex products	Production of elements leading to the sustainable manufacture confirmed at the product level (net waste reduction). Selection of connectors (mechanical, chemical connection, others).
O3. Demonstration of the product sustainability for high-volume (automotive parts) and low-volume extreme performances (aerospace parts).	Improvement of sustainability (use of material, reduced wastes, responsible production, no increase in lead time, and reusability of the parts after use).
O4. Dissemination and communication of the project results	Creating awareness around the initiative and increase the industrial attractiveness.

Metodology

ZeroWasteLIFE’s dual approach for reducing waste and increasing composite sustainability:

Manufacturing process: High Volume tailored fiber placement – HV-TFP process (stitching of multiple filaments on flat pattern 2D – 3D; reconstruction by moulding; consolidation through hot pressing).
Modular design for replacement –reuse of parts

The deposition of the material and reinforcements only where needed, and reusability allow to reduce:

(i) The use of raw materials (ii) waste and cost for the final material; (iii) CO₂ emissions demonstrated in two products: automotive and aerospace parts.

Expected Results

Avoided landfilled material.
Reduction of non-renewable, non-recyclable materials (thermosetting resins).
Overall reduction of the energy required for manufacturing (implemented process; reusability).
CO2 reduction (not wasted raw materials and new process).
Economic benefits derived from costs savings related to materials costs, reduced energy consumption and reduced landfilling costs.
Societal benefits in terms of health of citizens, quality of the air, reduction of the pressure on the land and water associated to material landfilling, improvement of workers conditions in the facilities implementing the new process; possibility of increasing workplaces and new opportunities for formation.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) under grant agreement N°101114149. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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