Project description
Innovative recycling technologies for fibreboard waste
Medium-density fibreboards have become the backbone of furniture building. As such, fibreboard waste has been growing exponentially. However, there are no commercially viable recycling methods for end-of-life fibreboards. The EU-funded EcoReFibre project will develop and demonstrate innovative environmentally sound and commercially viable recycling technologies for fibreboard waste. The consortium will involve leading research institutes, companies and European associations. The project will validate and demonstrate these technologies in an operational environment as system prototypes or in the relevant industrial environment. EcoReFibre is significant to Europe's wood-based panel and wood recycling sectors due to various interlinked market challenges in creating secondary materials from wood waste. These technologies will be transferrable and exploitable for many other biobased industries.
Objective
The goal of EcoReFibre is to develop and demonstrate innovative demos for environmentally sound and commercially viable recycling of end-of-life fibreboards, which currently have no commercially viable recycling methods. The quantities of fibreboard waste are growing exponentially in line with the growth in production capacity, and it is highly likely that more than 60 million tons of fibreboard waste have been created in Europe the last 5 years. This has caught the European recycling sector off-guard. EcoReFibre is crucial to Europe's wood-based panel and wood recycling sectors because of various inter-linked market challenges of the current situation for creating secondary materials from wood waste. EcoReFibre builds a strong pan-European consortium bringing together leading research institutes, companies and European associations who will develop and demonstrate a range of recycling technologies for waste fibreboard. Validation and demonstration of the technologies will take place in an operational environment as system prototypes (TRL7) or in the relevant industrial environment (TRL6). These include a sorting line that is able to efficiently sort post-consumer wood waste, extraction technologies for secondary materials (calibrated wood fines and wood fibres) from the sorted waste fractions, and conversion to valuable products, i.e. various fibreboard and insulation products, particleboard and novel biocomposites. As a major impact, the secondary fibres will substitute up to 25% of the virgin fibres currently used in the manufacture of new fibreboard. The economic viability of the technologies is achieved through a synergistic circular economy approach that exploits multiple valorisation pathways of secondary raw materials. The novel fibreboard recycling technologies are transferrable and exploitable for many other biobased industries. Environmental and social impacts and benefits are integrated into a life cycle perspective.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcompositesbiocomposites
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestry
Keywords
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinator
750 07 Uppsala
Sweden
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Participants (20)
44306 Nantes Cedex 3
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77420 Champs Sur Marne
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1430 Aas
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01217 Dresden
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100 31 Stockholm
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1000 Bruxelles / Brussel
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
1000 Bruxelles / Brussel
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20121 Milano
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70599 Stuttgart
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75031 Eppingen
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49716 Meppen
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66679 Losheim Am See
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1630 Gamle Fredrikstad
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67100 STRASBOURG
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59013 Montemurlo Po
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
61100 Pesaro
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61121 Pesaro
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
75008 Paris
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15341 AGIA PARASKEVI - ATHINA
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
3530-066 ESPINHO MGL
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