ACCIONA Construction is a large construction company specialised in construction, engineering, and concessions (transport and hospitals). It is actively involved in far-reaching R&D and innovation aimed at reducing the environmental impact of its activities and taking care of the surroundings wherever it operates. ACCIONA uses cutting-edge technology to develop and apply the most advanced materials, components, systems and solutions for sustainability and in particular for energy efficient concepts, design, construction and operation. ACCIONA has its own R&D Technological Centre in Madrid, composed of a multidisciplinary and international team of 100 highly qualified researchers from a wide range of disciplines. Main research areas are Nanotechnology, New Construction Materials, Products and Systems, ICTs, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Technologies.

Role in REFRESH

ACCIONA Construction will be responsible for infrastructure prototype developments to validate the performance of the new end products developed within the REFRESH project, and to turn them into new useful composites in construction applications.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: ACCIONA.

CETMA (Centro di Ricerche Europeo di Tecnologie Design e Materiali) is a not-for-profit research and technology organisation, whose mission is to support companies in their growth process by the exploitation of research results. It has 65 employees as researchers, engineers, designers and project managers. It is among the largest private non-profit research centres in Italy, with 22 years’ experience in research activities on innovative materials and processes. In the last 20 years, CETMA has strongly invested in the composite materials field in terms of facilities and competencies, becoming more and more a point of reference at European level for those companies that aim to penetrate the composites market.

The REFRESH project activities will be carried out and managed by the Advanced Materials and Processes Department of CETMA, which is organised into four areas: Material and Characterisation, Technologies and Processes, Modelling and Simulation, Diagnostic and Structural Health Monitoring. These areas are specialised in polymeric and composite materials, with a specific focus on composites recycling.

Role in REFRESH

CETMA will lead Work Package 6, dealing with design for circularity strategy and life cycle assessment to validate the holistic approach developed within the project for the recycling of wind blades.
Some of the WP6 activities will contribute to gathering valuable information for the GO-NO GO decision expected to be taken at M18 between Phase 1 of development and customisation and Phase 2 of demonstration and testing. Then, CETMA will guide the design and manufacturing of the final recycled products by considering the end-user requirements, the technical performance of the products and of the secondary raw materials, as well as the environmental and economic parameters of the new products.

Find out more in the article Meet the partners: CETMA

CIRCE is a technology centre founded in 1993, seeking to provide innovative solutions for a Sustainable Development. CIRCE’s research centre consists of a highly qualified and multidisciplinary team.
CIRCE’s mission is to improve the competitiveness of companies by generating and transferring technology through market-oriented R&D and training activities in the fields of sustainability and resource efficiency, energy networks and renewable energies. CIRCE’s activities deal with topics as diverse as smart grids, smart mobility, industry 4.0, energy efficiency and circular economy.

Role in REFRESH

The role of CIRCE encompasses the development of alternative energy-efficient thermal and thermo-chemical processes based on microwave-assisted heating (MWH) technology for the recycling of glass fibres and valorisation of resins from wind blade composite waste. Experimental MWH pyrolysis and solvolysis trials will be conducted at bench-scale MWH units using pre-shredded blade waste. Recycled fibres, pyrolysis oils, chemical building blocks and energy-efficiency of the MWH processes will be characterised to assess the techno-economic viability of the developed solution. The recovered fibres will be sent to the end-users of the consortium for their integration as additives in construction materials.

Find out more in the article Meet the partners: CIRCE

Established in 2016, ENECOLAB is a R&D company focused on finding innovative solutions to improve the eco-compatibility of production processes, with the aim of ‘zero waste.’ The goal is to produce new raw materials and energy from end-of-life materials that are non-reusable, non-recoverable, non-recyclable.

ENECOLAB’s GEOW® (Green Energy from Organic Wastes) technology is a patented thermochemical process to convert a material containing available carbon into syngas and inert residual solids. ENECOLAB has obtained seven patents, two others are pending, and three more will be applied for. The lab has several reactors (two lab-scale, anaerobic pyrolysis, up to 850°C; one lab-scale, gasification, up to 1.050°C; one industrial-scale, anaerobic pyrolysis; one industrial scale, gasification).

ENECOLAB has strong relationships with the University of Trieste (Italy) and other research institutions. The first experimental plant that will convert 1,450 t/year of industrial wastes, generated by HPL production, into syngas (reducing the energy requirement of the plant by 25%) and by-products (200 t/year of by-products) is under construction and will start operation in the Spring of 2025, with a positive thermic energy balance. Later in 2025 a new lab will open in Turin, starting a cooperation with Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and Politecnico di Torino.

Role in REFRESH

ENECOLAB’s mission in the REFRESH project is to turn the non-recyclable portion of the milled wind turbine blades into energy and by-products.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: ENECOLAB.

The ETAT9 group’s mission is to support our clients in crisis situations or situations involving high technical stakes that threaten the sustainability of the company, the health and the integrity of the environment.

Specialised in dismantling, decontamination and waste management, the company was born from the association of specialists in special works, decontamination and emergency intervention. As experts, we bring you a global and personalised solution for any project related to environmental risk.

ETAT9 can intervene on the whole French territory and internationally in all the fields relating to the rehabilitation of polluted sites and soils, the dismantling of installations and their reconstruction.

ETAT9 has the human skills and material resources to carry out projects from the technical study to the completion of the work:

• Air treatment
• Water treatment
• Depollution of works
• Waste treatment
• Demolition of installations
• Asbestos removal
• Soil decontamination

Role in REFRESH

Our role is to develop an advanced dismantling system design in the first instance, and then prototyping of the dismantling solutions.

This task will be realised by designing and selecting material for the enhanced saw system and water-based dust control for the initial cutting of large blades. We will consider one or more solutions, suitable to manage different size blades, but with a specific target of efficiency for the range of 50-80 metre long blades. The design review will mainly consider: the motors and actuators (electrical and hydraulic systems), the geometric design and the material selection, to decrease the cost of initial manufacturing and improve the lifetime (and maintenance).

Find out more in the article Meet the partners: ETAT9

Headquartered in Brussels, the European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA) represents European national composites associations and industry-specific sector groups at EU level. With the support of its members, EuCIA is actively contributing to building an economically and environmentally sustainable European composites industry. EuCIA closely monitors relevant standards and legislation, actively communicates the ways in which composites contribute to a more sustainable world, and promotes educational activities. Our initiatives aim to ensure the healthy growth and continued competitiveness of more than 10,000 companies and an estimated 150,000 employees involved in composites manufacturing across Europe.

EuCIA actively supports initiatives to promote the sustainability of composite materials and improve their circularity. Its projects include the development and regular updating of the Eco Impact Calculator, a free, online tool which enables composites companies to calculate the environmental impact associated with the production of their composite products.

Role in REFRESH

EuCIA is leading Work Package 7: Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation, which will focus on making results of the project available to key stakeholders from the market, industry, science, and policy domains. Activities include:

• Planning and development of the exploitation, dissemination and communication activities;
  Engagement of key stakeholders and their involvement to steer the process of long-term project exploitation, creating real business opportunities;
• Management and distribution of the knowledge to maximise the return on research investment;
  Granting the maximum exploitation potential to partners, preventing disputes related to results ownership;
• IPR management for the innovations developed, and consequent exploitation path.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: EuCIA.

Gees Recycling is a private company, founded in 2010 in North-Eastern Italy, with the objective to find and develop industrial methods for recycling composite materials like fibreglass. Years of work and testing led to the conception of a mechanical recycling process with European and international patents (WO2014132184A1). The process was initially developed in a small plant in Budoia (PN) and from 2018 in a bigger, industrial pilot plant in Aviano (PN) where the 3500 m2 shed and 15000 m2 area are fully equipped for recycling of above 1900t.

A large variety of composite wastes are disposed in our facilities by authorised transporters: trims and scraps from laminates used in freezer trucks and campers, granules and powders from finishing, waste from SMC from automotive or electrics, carbon composites from bicycles and aerospace are shredded, milled, classified, then with the appropriate mixtures, a minimal percentage (3-8%) is added and the obtained material is press-moulded at high pressure to obtain panels of various densities and thickness.

Role in REFRESH

Gees is the only company in Europe capable to industrially recycle composites and give a circular economy new life to these materials. Our process has demonstrated its success with multi-component wastes like fibre reinforced composites, and the big flexibility of the system makes it adaptable to many other kinds of polymeric wastes, too mixed, too multipolymer composed, or simply not suitable for successful thermoplastic recycling. We are already processing many thermoplastic wastes like printer cartridges or furniture laminates with the presence of different and incompatible polymers.

Gees Recycling is an active industrial company. Our experience of the essential steps of producing a new material with a new process, with entire plants and machines to develop from scratch, make us confident in the realisation of the components, adaptations or modification to processes eventually required by REFRESH.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: Gees Recycling.

Gjenkraft is a Norwegian company offering composite recycling services for waste wind turbine blades and selling the recovered raw materials from the recycling process. The company’s sustainable and cost-effective composite waste recycling technology enables the recovery of glass and carbon fibres and synthetic fuels from the waste.

The company is also active in promoting the sustainable recycling of wind turbine blades and developing new products using these materials. We have successfully produced skis and climbing holds with partners as an example of the possibilities inherent in recycled materials from wind turbines. Gjenkraft is working toward becoming a critical part of the European infrastructure, with the aim of covering 40% of recycling of wind turbines waste by 2032.

Role in REFRESH

Gjenkraft’s scope in the project is to test, further develop and build a pilot line based on its technology for recycling composite waste from wind turbine blades. First, small-scale tests will be carried out in continuous and batch processes. The aim of the research is to compare the properties of the materials obtained and to improve the second stage of the process – fibre purification.

Based on the results, Gjenkraft will design and build a pilot line to supply project partners with material for testing and development of new products based on materials derived from recycled wind turbine blades.

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MTB Group and its affiliates are an industrial group in the recycling industry providing high added value and low environmental impact solutions, technologies and services. Our goal is the treatment of complex waste products, in particular those containing metals. We are specialised in waste pretreatment technologies (such as shredding and mechanical separation), but we rely on our large network of partners to reach players across the entire value chain.

Our subsidiary MTB Manufacturing designs, manufactures, integrates and sells industrial equipment, solutions and lines to recycle various waste products. From electrical cables to tyres, including WEEE and electric vehicles batteries, our mission is to develop waste treatment solutions for today and tomorrow.

Our subsidiary MTB Recycling operates our 9-line recycling plant. Thanks to our industrial-scale Test Centre, we study the shredding and sorting of complex waste streams. These studies are used to develop new recycling processes and channels.

By combining the skills of all its affiliates, MTB also supports manufacturers in their eco-design approach to improve the recyclability of their future products.

Role in REFRESH

Composite materials present a challenge when it comes to tackling their end of life. Shredding fibre reinforced composites generates dusts and fines that need to be limited and captured. MTB will design a shredder adapted to the treatment of composite materials. The several approaches and designs will be tested at a prototype scale on a shredder of the MTB Test Centre.

MTB will also study the sorting of the materials composing a wind blade. The sorting tests will be performed on our dry-way mechanical sorting machines. If necessary, other technologies will be used within our network of partners.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: MTB Manufacturing.

We are more than 5,300 people around the world, committed to simplify complexities with a focus on energy transition, ESG and digitalisation. In 2000, we inherited a legacy from one of the world’s first ship classification registers (Registro Italiano Navale) and turned it into a ‘business-to-society’ company that helps clients stay ahead of changes and grow sustainably. We specialise in testing, inspection, certification and engineering solutions across a wide range of markets including, among others, marine, energy and mobility, real estate and infrastructure, space and defence, and industry 4.0.

At RINA, we engage in partnering with customers in developing solutions to complex problems, while leveraging our expertise to anticipate and address any challenges along the way. Improving the quality of life and building sustainable values for future generations is the ultimate purpose that moves us every day. Our people come from diverse cultures, countries, and backgrounds. By respecting, embracing, and making the most of these differences, we become stronger.

Role in REFRESH

RINA-C, leader of Work Package 8, is coordinating the whole consortium and project. RINA-C is also leading Work Package 3, developing the business model of the project, and the LCA activities, contributing to gather valuable information for the GO-NO GO decision expected to be taken at M18 between Phase 1 of development and customisation and Phase 2 of demonstration and testing. RINA-C will also lead the Work Package 7 exploitation activities.

Read more in the article Meet the partners: RINA Consulting

TECNALIA is a private, independent, non-profit applied research centre of international excellence and a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA). Legally a foundation, TECNALIA is the leading private and independent research and technology organisation in Spain (over 777 patents and promoted more than 30 spin-off companies, participates in 352 H2020 projects, coordinating 73 of them, and in 35 Horizon Europe projects under negotiation, coordinating 6 of them) and one of the largest in Europe, employing around 1,472 people (266 PhDs) and with income of €113.5 million in 2020.

We collaborate with companies and institutions to improve their competitiveness, people’s quality of life and achieve sustainable growth. We do it thanks to people who are passionate about technology and committed to building a better society. Our main areas of action are fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Smart Manufacturing, Digital Transformation, Energy Transition, Sustainable Mobility, Personalised Health and Urban Ecosystem.

Role in REFRESH

TECNALIA’s main role in REFRESH is to develop and validate a novel digital Blockchain Traceability Platform (BTP), covering the whole supply chain, along the decommissioning and recycling processes of wind blades, their components and materials, and test its efficiency in the assessment of materials performance along the circular value chain by means of a laboratory pilot.

Tecnalia will also develop and validate (by means of printing and testing a scaled wind tower) novel cement-based materials for 3D printing using recycled fibres obtained by both mechanical and thermal processes.

Find out more in the article Meet the partners: TECNALIA.