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DESIgning and REcycling sustainable Electronic boards for a EUropean circular economy

Project description

Sustainable, circular printed circuit boards for the European industry

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are used in nearly all electronic devices. However, the waste generated during their production calls for innovative and sustainable approaches. The EU-funded DESIRE4EU project aims to develop sustainable, circular PCBs in Europe using bio-based materials. The project seeks to reduce waste and CO2 emissions by integrating material science, green chemistry, and environmental microbiology. It envisions assembling bio-based multilayer PCBs and creating guidelines for sustainable electronics solutions. Additionally, the project aims to develop a cost-effective, advanced proof of concept that will engage up to 5 000 students, responsible citizens, and industries, ranging from learners to prosumers. The consortium consists of eight partners from five European countries.

Objective

DESIRE4EU aims at proving the concept of a radically new sustainable approach to produce, use and recycle electronic printed circuit boards (PCB) that combine technical performance, economic and ecological efficiency throughout their life cycle.
The project’s vision is of sustainable, circular PCB manufactured in Europe using bio-based and biodegradable materials. It disrupts current paradigms and significantly reduces harmful waste, enabling fast and ecological copper recovery, above 70wt% of PCB ultimate waste elimination and 1-2% electronics sector CO2 emissions decrease by combining material science, green chemistry, electronics, environmental microbiology, Life Cycle and Value Chain Assessments.
Our holistic approach considers boards as a complete system and develops a proof of concept and guidelines for exemplary, fully circular sustainable electronics solutions contributing to European leadership, resilience, and independence. We envision a world-first by 2030: industrially credible, compliant, bio-based, rigid boards, with an innovative and environmentally friendly recycling process for critical metals.
DESIRE4EU has 4 SMART specific objectives: (1) The complete assembly of a technology compliant bio-based multilayer PCB, (2) An environmentally friendly and time-efficient bioleaching process, (3) A circular by design approach, materialized by guidelines for further uptake, (4) An advanced, cost-effective but large proof of concept attracting 2000 – 5000 students, responsible citizens and industries, from learners to prosumers.
The consortium gathers 8 academic and private partners from 5 European countries, including 2 SMEs and 1 start-up. DESIRE4EU is managed by GINP, represented by Full Professor P. Xavier, who has extensive scientific and management experience. The partners expect at least 7 Open Access articles and 3 patents for this disruptive technology to be exploited in the field of class 2 rigid boards, with a potential market of €436 million.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC 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) HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01

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Coordinator

INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLE
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.

€ 756 826,25
Address
AVENUE FELIX VIALLET 46
38031 Grenoble Cedex 1
France

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Region
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes Isère
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
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.

€ 1 098 037,50

Participants (10)

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