Surface Engineering

UNLOCK project, coordinated by CIDETEC Surface Engineering, work to transform waste from the poultry industry into bio-based products for agricultural applications.

 

The European poultry sector generates 3.6 million tonnes of waste feathers each year, of which only around 25% are collected separately and valorised for feather meal and fertiliser applications. A new European funded collaborative project – UNLOCK – was launched on 1 May to generate new value from a waste stream that contains nearly 90% keratin, a valuable protein that can be a source for biodegradable materials.

“In line with the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the UNLOCK project will valorise chicken feathers to manufacture high-added value bio-based products for agricultural applications. Our solution will reduce this waste generated by the poultry sector while also substituting fossil-based materials currently used in agriculture by renewable ones.” – highlights Sarah Montes from CIDETEC Foundation, coordinator of UNLOCK.

In the course of the four-year project, funded by the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), UNLOCK’s partners will design economically and environmentally sustainable innovative value chains to create a feather-based bioeconomy. Four different processes will valorise the feathers: from mechanical treatment to steam explosion, microbial fermentation or chemical hydrolysis, depending on the type of end products desired.

The bio-based products generated will be tailored to the needs of the agriculture sector, with the creation of seed trays, nonwoven geotextiles, mulch films and hydroponic foams. Furthermore, the keratin contained in those innovative materials will bring additional environmental benefits at the end of the product’s life: keratin-based materials are targeted to be zero waste and allow for controlled biodegradability, while also enriching soils with organic nitrogen.

To start working on this challenging but promising initiative, the 15 European partners held an online kick-off meeting on 28 April. This made clear the strength of UNLOCK’s well-balanced consortium, that covers the whole value-chain, from feedstock and supply chain analysis to equipment, processes, end-product fabrication and sustainability assessments.

The journey to transform traditional poultry systems to circular, sustainable ones may just have started, but by the end of the project two first-of-a-kind commercial biorefineries will be established.

Building on the success of the KaRMA2020 project, UNLOCK aims to make further strides toward a more sustainable European agricultural sector.

The UNLOCK project has received funding of €5 million from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement nº 101023306. It officially started on 1 May 2021 and will run until April 2025.

The AIRPOXY project develops a new family of reprocessable, repairable and recyclable thermostable composites

The AIRPOXY project, coordinated by CIDETEC Surface Engineering, is making steady progress in its goal of reducing the cost of producing and maintaining composite parts in the aeronautical sector, thanks to the introduction of a new family of thermostable composites. This new material not only maintains all the benefits of conventional thermostables, but can also be easily reprocessed, repaired and recycled, leading to it being called 3R technology. This is made possible thanks to the introduction of dynamically interchangeable bonds in the epoxy resin, producing a new material known scientifically as vitrimer.

Two and a half years on from the start of the project, CIDETEC Surface Engineering continues to work on three main activities. Firstly, on formulating and characterising aeronautical-grade 3R resins, which are subsequently used to obtain 3R composites through the RTM process. Secondly, on obtaining enduring prepregs, which are then used to produce 3R composites through thermoforming. Finally, 3R adhesives are being developed to produce components manufactured entirely under the 3R concept.

Based on CIDETEC’s results, other project partners, including IVW, Eurecat, the University of Ioannina, Coexpair and Altair, are now developing thermoforming, repair and welding technologies that will cut the cost of producing and maintaining all parts that include this technology. The project is now busy producing two demonstrators through its industrial partners Idec, Sonaca and Eire, in order to validate the materials and processes developed.

The AIRPOXY project is part of the H2020 programme, funded by the European Union. This project started in September 2018 and is expected to last 42 months.