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Up-cycling plastic waste for distributed passive cooling applications

Project description

A green path to cooler environments

Global warming and plastic waste are two of the biggest challenges facing society today. Researchers have found a way to tackle both together. In this context, the EU-funded CoolChips project will rescue used food packaging polymers from the garbage. It will equip aluminium laminate polymer films (such as your chips bags and other plastic wraps for snack food) with an additional coating designed to fully reflect solar radiance. Also, thermal radiation in the mid-infrared range will be efficiently emitted. Foreseeable application cases such as covers for tents, glue-able foils for blinds, or stand-alone parasols will be investigated. The project will make passive daytime cooling materials widely accessible, providing a green and affordable way to cooler environments.

Objective

CoolChips addresses two grant challenges of our modern society: 1) Global warming requires new technologies to mitigate the ever-accelerating consequences of climate change. Passive daytime cooling is such an emerging technology that requires intricate photonic engineering of materials. 2) Plastic waste is evolving as an increasing challenge to keep our environment pollution-free. We, therefore, will investigate an up-cycling strategy to put used food-packaging polymers to an even better use mitigating global warming. Consequently, we outline synthetic strategies to equip aluminum laminate polymer films, widely known for chips bags, etc., with an additional coating. This coating layer combination will be designed so that solar radiance will be fully reflected and thermal radiation in the mid-infrared range will be efficiently emitted. This unique combination of optical properties is the key to using cold outer space as a heat sink for our environment, day and night. We will achieve this goal by using our knowledge in polymer and composite materials synthesis and processing. We will further develop scalable processing strategies to glue or weld the individual recycling pieces to large passive cooling foils. This upcycling is vital for the envisioned transition to end-user products that can then be realized by established roll-to-roll processing technologies. Foreseeable application cases such as covers for tents, glue-able foils for blinds, or stand-alone parasols will be investigated with established industry partners. The development of the required processing steps and material selection will be tightly accompanied by an intellectual property patenting strategy and market analysis to ensure optimum exploitation of this promising novel material development. Overall, CoolChips will make passive daytime cooling materials accessible to various communities providing a green and affordable way to cooler environments.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2022-POC2

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Host institution

UNIVERSITAT BAYREUTH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 150 000,00
Address
UNIVERSITATSSTRASSE 30
95447 BAYREUTH
Germany

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Region
Bayern Oberfranken Bayreuth, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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Beneficiaries (1)

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