Deliverables Development of new more ecological , environmentally friendly resins The development of resins with lower organic solvent (methanol) contents and reduction of free phenol and formaldehyde levels to minimise the environmental impact has been an important aspect of this project. Standard resins currently applied in the impregnation process of glass fibres are most frequently based on methanol at levels of up to 40%. Furthermore, free monomers present in the resin do contribute to VOC emissions. This goal was to be achieved by altering the molecular structure of the resin and/ or its weight distribution, i. e. by changing the catalyst, its quantity or percentage, the phenol/ formaldehyde ratio, etc. All the applications where phenolic resins are used nowadays are suitable for these newly developed resins. The primary users are FRP producers supplying mainly into the abrasive manufacturer, transport, electrical, and the building sector, among others. The production process of prepregs is basically applied in this form all over Europe, even the entire world. Large quantities of organic solvents are emitted into the atmosphere. Furthermore the working environment in the production sites will be largely improved by any reduction of organic solvents used in the process. It can be concluded that the objective has been mostly achieved. A number of resin systems were developed which do contain largely reduced amounts of free monomers and thus emit less organic volatiles in the manufacturing process, without compromising its impregnation properties. A reasonable compromise between flexibility and surface tack could be achieved only by modifying the novolac resins. Modified novolac resins were developed and subsequently tested in the prepreg manufacturing and the grinding wheel production process to ensure that their performance in the process. The idea to move to water based resins would eliminate most of the organic volatile compounds present in the resin, but does have severe limitations as the commonly applied phenolic resins are insoluble in water. The objective to replace organic solvents by water borne systems has not quite been met, as the newly developed dispersion systems do still lack storage stability and do not provide acceptable product qualities. The obvious target has to be to develop lower viscosity dispersion with improved impregnation properties. More development work will have to be invested beyond the scope of this project to further improve the properties of water-borne and low solvent impregnation resins. Development of a technique to recycle glass-fibre reinforced phenolic prepreg waste as reinforcing filler in PP and PA6 A technique to recycle glass-fibre reinforced phenolic prepreg waste as reinforcing filler in PP and PA6 was developed. The large amount of phenolic prepreg waste, generated in the production of grinding wheels, is currently disposed of in landfills. A technique was developed to use the wastes as filler in thermoplastics, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of the phenolic grinding wheel production. The results particularly point out the possibilities to control the interfacial properties, and hence the composite mechanical properties, using various chemical coupling agents and interfacial compatibilisers. In addition, the most important parameters of the production, e.g. size reduction of recyclate and compounding procedures, were identified and optimised. Development of an on line control system for the prepreg manufacture process suitable to control and regulate on line the prepregs properties, mainly: resin/fibre rate, and solvent content - Development and manufacture of a measuring system - a near-infrared spectrometer with adapted wavelength range to control the parameters of the prepreg manufacture process to get a more homogeneous product and reducing wastes. - Development of a software for control of measurement as well as for test evaluation of samples: 3 programmes have been created: one to create calibrations for various fabrics, as well as another one for the validation of the system and an on-line measuring program, which automatically carry out continuous measurements and quantitative determinations of resin and volatile content. - Calibration of the on-line system. 11 calibrations for yellow and black fabrics were created - Selection of an application model (the Partial Least Squares method) and automatic computer programmes to determine continuous characteristic parameters of the prepreg. - Design and manufacture of a system for data acquisition. - Design and manufacture of the control system A first evaluation shows the need of the development of a enhanced sensitivity -Redesign the measuring optics and the radiation source - Analysis of the response against the range of simulated input. Validation and implementation of the complete on-line system in the process of the prepreg production. The developed calibrations were tested on the prepreg production line. The system shows during the production the contents of resin and the volatile content continuous on a monitor. The development of this control system guarantee a constant quality in the final product and a high productivity (it is capable to reduce the number of out-of-specifications products by up to 80%). This increases the company's competitiveness and generates a reduction of waste and scraps (that up to now have been discarded in landfills), as well as a better use of raw materials. This system is being adapted for industrial applications Resin systems providing reduced tack and more flexible prepregs The target of reducing the organic solvents contents and levels of free phenol and formaldehyde was to be met by altering the molecular structure of the resin and/ or its weight distribution, i.e. by changing the catalyst, its quantity or percentage, the phenol/ formaldehyde ratio, etc. This rather drastic modification of the resin systems commonly used in the manufacturing of glass fibre prepregs had to take place while the processing and handling properties of the impregnated glass fabrics had to be maintained. The application of impregnated glass fibre fabrics in highly automated production processes is nowadays often compromised by insufficient storage properties of the prepregs. Upon extended storage and increased temperature the prepregs transported in stacks tend to stick to each other. In order to improve the surface tack of impregnated glass fibre fabrics a number of internal and external additives were tested. A new internal separating agent stood out in significantly improving the surface tack. It was of particular interest to verify that the internal separating agents did not harm the internal bonding of the glass fabric to the abrasive mix, resulting in lower burst strength of the grinding wheels. The safety aspect of grinding wheels operating at high rotational speed is of foremost importance in any evaluation of these tools. Thus it was necessary for every newly developed resin to pass a test procedure involving the manufacturing process of the prepregs as well as the production of grinding wheels. Consequently, it was ensured that the burst resistance of the grinding wheels was by no means negatively affected by the use of the internal separating agents. The processing properties and long term storage stability of the prepregs manufactured were evaluated and quantified by particularly developed test methods. In this process, resin systems were designed which provide a wider processing window for manufacturers of glass fibre fabrics and grinding wheels. The tack of the impregnated glass fibre fabric was significantly reduced, while the prepreg maintained sufficient flexibility and workability in automated manufacturing processes. Resin systems imparting improved storage stability and processing properties to the glass fibre prepregs can now be offered to the market. The application of these resins can be envisioned in the production of prepregs for various composite applications. System for gas current treatment Development of a combustor with heat recovery: a plant for the recovery of the energy from methanol burning. This methanol is generated during the prepreg manufacture process. Up to now, these emissions were sent into the atmosphere. As soon as the plant is set up at TEVESA's facilities, these emissions will be treated and the energy reused. The advantages of applying this system are numerous. On the one hand, emissions are avoided, improving the work environment and the health of workers. On the other, there is an economic improvement because emissions that were lost up to know will be used to generate energy. The choice of an oxidiser with heat recovery has been driven by the following factors: 1. Economic convenience in the valorisation of the calorific value (heat input) of the pollutant (methyl alcohol). Using a standard boiler to produce the same energy the fuel consumption would be 34 Nm3/h 2. Possibility to have a single chimney that discharge into the atmosphere, therefore a smaller quantity of pollutants (NOx and CO) if compared to a different system with a solvent treatment and a thermal oil boiler. 3. Lower capital cost 4. Easy operation by non-specialised personnel 5. Performance are constant in time The innovations are: 1. Compliance with PED, the new code for pressure equipments, in our case the heat recovery unit. 2. Compliance with the spirit of the Kyoto agreement. Specifically, the plant will be fitted with inverters so to reduce the electric consumption during the phases of low load. 3. Ecological materials: we will use a new type of ceramic fibre lining that is not dangerous (cancer risk) and follows the principle of the future directive on pollutants so that while treating the effluent we don't produce another polluted stream (as it would have been the case with condensation or solvent recovery), we simply discharge clean exhausts via the chimney. Development of a recycling plant to separate fibre and resin coming from the prepreg manufacture process Design and Development of the concept of the system to separate the fibre and resin coming form phenolic prepregs. An industrial scale equipment has been designed, tried and set up. This system separates the fibre from the resin in such a way that the resin can be used in the process itself. Even than this resin is suitable to our process there are some characteristics that are being adjusted for better processing properties. The fibre has proved to be a clean fibre that can be used for different applications. Henceforth, different treatments are applied to the fibre so as to prepare it for usage with thermoset and thermoplastic materials. Exploitable results System to treat the gas current (volatile solvents mainly) producing energy and reusing it. Development of a combustor with heat recovery: a plant for the recovery of the energy coming from the methanol burning. This methanol comes from the prepreg manufacture process. Up to now these emissions were sent to the atmosphere. As soon as the plant was set up at TEVESA facilities, these emissions will be treated and the energy reused. The advantages of applying this system are several, on the one hand, the emissions are avoided, improving the work environment and workers health, on the other there is an economic improvement because, these emissions lost up to know, will be treated getting energy from them. The choice of an oxidiser with heat recovery has been driven by the following factors: 1. Economic convenience in the valorisation of the calorific value (heat input) of the pollutant (methyl alcohol), if we would use a standard boiler to produce the same energy the fuel consumption would be 34 Nm3/h 2.Possibility to have a single chimney that discharge to atmosphere, therefore a smaller quantity of pollutants (NOx and CO) if compared to a different system with a solvent treatment + a thermal oil boiler. 3.Lower capital cost 4. Easy operation by non specialised personnel 5. Performance are constant in time The innovations are: 1. Compliance with PED that is the new code for the pressure equipments, in our case the heat recovery unit. 2. Compliance with the spirit of the Kyoto agreement, in particular the plant will be fitted with inverters so to reduce the electric consumption during the phases of low load 3. Ecological materials, we will use a new type of ceramic fibre lining that is not dangerous (cancer risk) follows the principle of the future directive on pollutants so that while treating the effluent we don�t produce another polluted stream (like it would have been with condensation or solvent recovery), we simply discharge clean exhaust to chimney Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
