Innovation and sustainability are two of the characteristics which best define Fibrenamics Green, a platform focusing on creating sustainable products based on industrial waste. From textile of natural fibres, there are various types of self-sustainable final products.
“This is not actually a research project. What we aim for in Fibrenamics Green is to incorporate all scientific knowledge into a specific situation related to waste valorisation. Waste will then be converted into marketable products”, Raul Fangueiro, professor at the EEUM and project coordinator, explains. Waste is mostly used only as filling, but Fibrenamics Green intends to give it a new life.
The project will focus on four specific types of waste, namely fibrous waste – coming from textile and apparel industry -, waste from wood industry, polymeric waste and plastic and mineral waste. “Fibrous waste can be used for thermal and acoustic insulation, whereas mineral waste is being explored for buildings’ exterior façade surfacing. Therefore, we are trying to use each waste type in a specific application”, the researcher informs.
Led by the Fibrenamics platform and the Centre for Waste Valorisation of the UMinho, Fibrenamics Green counts on a total funding of 550 thousand euros, 85% of each from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Norte 2020 Programme.
Also linked to sustainability is the Travetec project, which promises to revolutionise the railways.
Developing railway sleepers using mixed plastic waste was the goal of the project Travetec. This project aimed to present a technical application which will contribute to the reduction of plastic waste. The goal of the Travetec project was thus to give a new life to mixed plastics that have no other solution than landfill. The project ended in October 2014.
Railways usually use beams made of wood or concrete. However, as they are subject to complex chemical treatments or even due to their weight, these materials were no longer viable for this type of structure. Conceição Paiva, professor of the Department of Polymer Engineering and coordinator of the project, explains that "the railways’ wooden beams have to be replaced due to legislative obligations”. The researcher reinforces that there are already adequate prototypes for this substitution as far as thermal and mechanical characteristics are concerned, but there are still some challenges ahead until its definitive implementation.
Mixed plastics have been a solution adopted in countries such as the USA, Australia and India. Conceição Paiva believes that the next challenge will be internationalisation: "This is a way of replacing and saving wood and, on the other hand, extending the life time of these materials, that last much longer," the researcher highlights.
The Travetec project was developed at the UMinho’s Polymers Engineering Innovation Centre (PIEP) and was funded by the Sociedade Ponto Verde in a total of 260 thousand euros. It also counted on the support of a Portuguese waste treatment company, Extruplás, as well as the Centre for Waste Valorisation of the UMinho.
