BIO-UPTAKE

The project:

The general objective of BIO-UPTAKE project is to ensure a sustainable uptake (increase the use in a 39%) of bioplastic composites through boosting a twin green and digital transformation in the European manufacturing industry. In particular, BIO-UPTAKE solution will focus scientific and technology efforts on developing flexible manufacturing processes to produce biobased end-products for the construction, medical and packaging sectors based on the combination of intermediate formats made of biopolymers reinforced with natural and/or biobased synthetic fibres, which are easily adaptable to new market demands. The novel approach on which BIO-UPTAKE project relies is based on modularity or pre-fabrication: a smart combination of intermediate formats (organosheets, tapes and pellets) into a final end-product which allows to overcome the current technical and environmental limitations to meet the demanding requirements of a specific sector/application where a single biobased material doesn’t. Thus, the synergistic potential of composite materials will pave the way for the integration and uptake of bio-based materials in mass customised manufacturing (manufacturing as a service). Three disruptive manufacturing processes (based on conformal technologies) will be developed within BIO-UPTAKE focused on the plastics manufacturing sector, which is on the centrality of a variety of value chains and being demonstrated in 3 demo cases (bathroom ceiling cabinet, feet orthosis and garbage container lid). Sustainability criteria will be applied since the design phase to reach circularity by design, obtaining products with more than 75% biobased content and decreasing GHG up to 33%. BIO-UPTAKE solution does not request large investment in complex equipment either. Bio-Uptake consortium is formed by 13 interdisciplinar and complementary partners (6 industries, 4 RTOs, 1 academia and 2 Other organizations). The overall budget is 5,994,886 Euros.

CIDETEC’S role in the project:

CIDETEC’s Polymers & Composites unit will work in BIO-UPTAKE project with the aim of developing biobased “enduring prepregs” based on its own patented 3R technology that will then be used for the manufacture of bathroom ceilings. This will allow substituting currently used manufacturing process and materials (vacuum infusion with conventional epoxy resin and glass fibre [a base de aceite] plus a balsa core [con estructura de sándwich]) which is a handmade & slow process with not recyclable materials by a semi-automated process. Endured pre-impregnated organosheets (made of flax fabric pre-impregnated with biobased 3RCANs-epoxy) will be produced by CIDETEC and thermoforming process of the sandwich structure with the balsa core will be used for bathroom ceilings manufacturing. The materials that will be used will not only be biobased, but they will also be reprocessable, repairable and recyclable.