Final Report Summary - HYDRUS (Development of cross-linked flexible bio-based and biodegradable pipe and drippers for micro-irrigation applications)
Executive summary:
The main innovations claimed in HYDRUS are:
(a) Use of bio-based materials: A minimum 75 % final product composition will be obtained from renewable resources.
(b) Biodegradability in soil: One of the main innovations of the project is the biodegradability of the final product in soil (aerobic conditions in top layer) which will reduce the cost for removal of the product after the end of its life of use. However, its biodegradable nature will not impair the mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance properties required by the target application, i.e. the pipe must withstand the normal conditions of use, but it has to biodegrade after shredded on site.
(c) Development of a micro-irrigation pipe and a drip using biodegradable materials and standard extrusion pipe line and injection moulding equipment: There is no technical information available accounting for pipe and drips production using a biopolymer as a base material. The melt flow index and the melt strength of the blend have to be adjusted to obtain similar output than when standard polyethylenes are used.
(d) Development of controlled cross-linking and reactive extrusion for biopolymers at pilot plant and industrial level: Controlled crosslinking and reactive extrusion of biodegradable materials have been tried at laboratory level but still does not have any significant industrial application. Reactive extrusion is a process that seems very promising for the blending of biodegradable materials in order to produce a final material with intermediate properties. The major challenge is to control both processes in a 'selective manner', in order to achieve the desired degree of crosslinking and to avoid secondary reactions.
(e) Improvement of the thermal and chemical resistance of biodegradable materials: By means of crosslinking, the molecular weight of polymers can be increased leading to a better thermal and chemical resistance. The thermal degradation that leads to chain scission will be controlled, improving the behaviour of materials exposed to environmental conditions.
(f) Fine tuning of mechanical properties: Reactive extrusion with flexible materials or plasticisers will permit to tailor-made properties.
All the non-confidential information generated so far under the project can be found in HYDRUS website, in the open area.
The new biodegradable and bio-based product developed in the HYDRUS project may have a significant impact on the plastic and agricultural industry; providing an environmentally friendly alternatives to the current micro-irrigation systems based on conventional plastic (polyethylene). True industrial impact will require further investment, mainly aimed to optimise the actual scale-up of the drips manufacturing at scale-up level and the weldability process (manufacturing of the whole micro-irrigation system), making them suitable for a continuous fabrication stage, profitable for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in the production chain. Although the project development is aimed at specific agricultural irrigation system (according to the end-user business field and what was agreed under Annex I of the project), the compound developed (protected by an exploitation agreement under signature process among the whole consortium) plus the industrial procedure for manufacturing pipes and drips will be able to be applied to other type of pipes (such as in gardening, animals farming and reforestation sectors) and even in other applications where concern about the environment is increasing (such as catering, packaging, surgery, hygiene, fishing sectors), provided that the specific requirements of each final product can be fulfilled / adjusted from the starting characteristics of the new material developed.
Project context and objectives:
Micro-irrigation, also known as drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is an irrigation method that applies water slowly to the roots of plants, by depositing the water either on the soil surface or directly to the root zone, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, drippers and emitters. Of the various forms of micro-irrigation, drip irrigation is the one most widely used because it can save water, reduces the use of horticultural chemicals, it is relatively insensitive to environmental effects, can reduce labour, and increases the rate of plant growth. Drip irrigation is an effective irrigation system in terms of water conservation. Using drip-irrigation, water is not wasted by irrigating areas between plants or due to run-off, excessive evaporation, wind-effects, overspray, and the like.
The use of micro-irrigation is rapidly increasing around the world, and it is expected to continue to be a viable irrigation method for agricultural production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), only the 11 % of the total world land area can be farmed without being irrigated, drained or otherwise improved. Micro-irrigation can be used on most agricultural crops, although it is most often used for high value crops such as vegetables, ornamentals, vines, olives, fruit crops and greenhouse plants. The numerous advantages obtained with these systems by the agricultural sector lead to a widespread use all over the world.
The main benefits that are fostering the use of micro-irrigation systems are the following:
(a) low pressure and low area of irrigation;
(b) reduces the water consumption until 60 %, fertiliser and labour requirements due to the water is applied only to the plant roots;
(c) the water-soluble fertiliser may be injected through this irrigation system, increasing the fertiliser efficiency and control.
However, they also have some limitations that burden its use by the farmers:
(a) High cost to remove the product at the end of its useful life. The cost to remove the system running above the ground is approximately 1 050 EUR / hectare. This cost is even higher in the case of buried pipes. After the removal of the pipes, these must be transported and disposed according to the regulations of agricultural plastics disposal.
(b) Its use in combination with a mulching system also increases their removal and disposal costs, by approximately a 30 %. This is due to the fact that the mulch must be removed before the pipes can be removed and then they must be separated from each other and disposed separately.
(c) Non-recyclable pipes due to its conditions of use, water and fertiliser contact and under pressure stress conditions. At the end of its life of use, it is not possible to recycle this material for other applications due to the loss of mechanical properties caused by ultraviolet radiation, the chemical attack and the presence of contaminants such as rests of sand, fertilisers and pesticides, increasing the disposal costs.
Detailed objectives: In order to achieve the main objective of the project, i.e. to develop plastic pipes for micro-irrigation produced with bio-based and biodegradable material, several specific objectives were defined:
(1) Fulfil the traditional micro-irrigation systems mechanical requirements for their use under normal conditions, therefore having mechanical properties similar to those of polyethylene. The requirements of the raw materials for pipe production are well defined in standard UNE 53367:2005 and international standard ISO 8779:2001.
(2) Be processable by traditional plastic processing methods, such as pipe extrusion. The production of the machine using the new material will not be lower than the 85 % of the maximum machine throughput using a standard material, normally polyethylene.
(3) Be completely biodegradable after its useful life according to the standards of biodegradability in soil (ISO 17556:2003).
(4) Be harmless after biodegradation, that is, no metabolites or biodegradation residuals will be formed, so there will not be toxic effects on the ecosystem. (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guideline 208, plus its modifications in Compostability Standard, EN 13432).
(5) Be thermally and mechanically resistant in order to withstand environmental conditions. Pipes must be dimensionally and physically stable at temperatures of use (máx. 60 degrees of Celsius), and be chemically resistant and inert to fertilisers and other chemical substances at moderate temperatures (between 40 - 60 degrees of Celsius) and pressures (up to 2 bars).
(6) Have the required mechanical properties in order to allow to be shredded on site (without removal) after its lifespan using conventional agricultural machinery. These properties will also contribute to increase the biodegradation rate of the fabricated pipes and drips.
(7) Full mechanically recyclable product: It will be possible to incorporate a 20% of the industrial scrap in the fabrication of new pipes and drips with a reduction lower than 10% in mechanical and thermal properties.
(8) The new pipe / drip has to be economically viable tacking into account the full life of the product (production, installation, removing and waste management). This means at least a 5 % cost reduction from the current polyethylene pipe cost including the disposal and removal cost.
(9) The new pipe / drip has to fulfil the related regulatory requirements and to be environmental friendly achieving positive lifecycle assessment (LCA) indicators in comparison with standard polyethylene pipes.
(10) Dimensional stability for accurate water release (to maintain its hydraulic flow versus pressure): The hydraulic flow of the new drips at any pressure has a variation of less than 10 % from the average flow.
(11) Processability in traditional injection moulding machines: The production of the machine using the new material will not be lower than the 90 % of the maximum machine throughput using a standard polymer, normally polystyrene.
(12) The material used for the manufacturing of the pipes and drips will have at least a 75 % of bio-based content, e. g. material obtained from renewable resources. The use of materials based on renewable resources instead of oil-based materials will contribute to the preservation of the environment and to reduce the consumption of oil reserves, reducing also the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the greenhouse effect. The other 25 % could be a biodegradable material from an oil-based source.
(13) To develop an understanding of the crosslinking process over blends of biopolymers: properties achieved versus crosslinking ratio, interphase between crosslinking and non-crosslinking parts, etc.
(14) To overcome the lack of technical knowledge that exists about the pipe extrusion process using biopolymers in combination with an in-line crosslinking process.
Finally, besides its technical objectives, HYDRUS project aims at improving the European Union (EU) plastic industry competitiveness, in particular, but not limited to, companies focusing on the micro-irrigation market.
Although often highly ambitious in their outlook, the vast majority of these SMEs lack the resources to develop innovative materials and methods of work.
The achievement of the objectives listed above may result in an increase of the competitiveness of the participating SMEs which represent the different types of SMEs involved in the co-injected packaging supply chain:
- Compounders will increase their knowledge by the use of processes that until now have not been widely developed at industrial scale, such as the crosslinking and the reactive extrusion between different biodegradable materials and other additives to obtain the final formulation to be processed into pipes.
- Pipe manufacturers and manufacturers of accessories will diversify their offer, giving their activity a more flexible profile as they will offer new products inexistent nowadays for micro-irrigation: a biodegradable pipe and accessories (such as drippers, emitters, etc.), respectively.
- The pipe produced will be used by the micro-irrigation system installers who will be able to offer their customers a new product with the advantage of its biodegradability, maintaining all the properties of current polyethylene pipes.
- End users such as farmers, gardeners or greenhouse farmers will benefit from the biodegradability of the new pipe which will permit the elimination of the cost of collection and removal that traditional pipes present.
As a summary
The specific innovations of the project are:
(a) Plastic pipes (90 % of the micro-irrigation system) obtained at industrial level, fulfil thermal, mechanical and chemical resistance. Drips also obtained at industrial level, in semi-automatic process.
(b) Renewable sources > 72 %.
(c) The micro-irrigation system obtained at industrial scale up. The weldability between pipes and drips has been achieved although working to lower production rates, which is not productive under an actual industrial process.
(d) New biodegradable materials developed pass the biodegradable, compostable and ecotoxicity trials in compostage conditions.
(e) The pipes fulfil the environmental studies, recyclability and LCA.
(f) The economic report is not satisfactory due to mainly the price of the raw material.
(g) Intellectual and property right (IPR) issues: Available the final version of the exploitation agreement under signature process. Finally no patent application, but industrial secret was chosen.
Expected final results:
All the expected final results foreseen initially were practically achieved under the scope of the project, demonstrating the capability of the new micro-irrigation system to be obtained at industrial level, although the only inconvenient was the impossibility of manufacturing a proper industrial tailor-made mould for drips. This activity was out of the scope of the project since its beginning, and it has been proposed a continuation project (ECO-INNOVATION project, call 2012), to try to solve this handicap at industrial level.
(1) The new biodegradable pipe / drip for micro-irrigation systems fulfilling the specific requirements for the application foreseen and the standards of biodegradability.
With the final formulation, with a 72 % of biodegradable material, the final compound at industrial level was obtained. These compounds were used to obtain the final products (drips and pipes) at industrial level. It was concluded that to obtain suitable drips at industrial level it would be necessary to design and optimise the mould taking into account the flexibility and shrinkage of the new biodegradable material developed. This task was out of the scope of HYDRUS project since the beginning of the project. At the project end, the drips have been obtained in a semi-automatic way due to de-moulding problems, being impossible to reproduce the actual industrial full automatic process.
(2) The compound formulation, including the necessary additives and polymer blends, to ensure that the properties of the final products are met.
Finally the same compound formulation was used for pipes and drips. They obtained were fully characterised. In the case of the pipes fulfil all the mechanical and chemical requirements. Note that, although the pipes do not fulfil the internal pressure requirements defined in the datasheet, the pipes do not suffer any break after their validation in soil. Regarding the drips, the requirements on dimensional stability and processability were partially achieved due to the necessity of a tailor-made industrial mould, out of the scope of this project.
(3) The reactive extrusion and crosslinking processes. Reactive extrusion and crosslinking (in fact, branching process) of bio-based and biodegradable polymers have been developed at industrial scale level in a continuous process. The development of that process for the HYDRUS industrial application required not only the optimisation of the different processing parameters and equipment used (e.g. special screw configuration, etc.) but also the selection of the crosslinking / branching agent.
Project results:
Work package (WP)1: Definition of requirements and selection of materials.
- Task 1.1: Definition of requirements to a new and innovate complete micro-irrigation system (pipes and drips).
- Task 1.2: Selection of PLA grades and additives: A study of the current micro-irrigation system during the product´s useful life has been carried out during task 1.1 to determine the mechanical and chemical demands derived from their manufacturing and use.
WP2: Development of the base PLA compound and study of crosslinking conditions at lab level
- Task 2.1: Selection of the best materials combinations (blends).
- Task 2.2: Blend of selected materials base on PLA.
- Task 2.3: Study of the reactive extrusion process.
- Task 2.4: Blend optimisation at lab level.
(a) to develop the functionalised PLA compound by reactive extrusion at laboratory level using discontinuous laboratory equipment;
(b) to develop blends with the additives selected in task 1.2: this compound is the base material for the new pipe and drip manufacturing;
(c) to study at laboratory level of the amount and type of additives to use and the conditions for a suitable reactive extrusion process.
A commercially available biodegradable PLA-based were modified using reactive extrusion process to improve the chemical resistance and the thermal stability of the final materials. Moreover, a plasticiser was also added, to improve flexibility and finely tune the mechanical properties.
It has been possible to control the reaction process at laboratory and pilot plant level and to determine and to know the type of reactive extrusion: chain branching. This means that macromolecular chains resulted not linked in a proper net, but only segments resulted linked to main chains, thus modifying melt viscosity and chain mobility, but not affecting the solubility of the whole sample and biodegradability.
The new biodegradable material fulfils all the established requirements in, chemical, thermal behaviour but the products obtained are too rigid and brittle. It is necessary to improve its elasticity at pilot plant level in WP3 and WP4.
WP3: Development / optimisation of biodegradable micro-irrigation pipe at pilot plant level
- Task 3.1: Development of the biodegradable blends.
- Task 3.2: Modification of extrusion pipe machinery.
- Task 3.3: Development of the micro-irrigation pipe.
- Task 3.4: Mechanical characterisation.
Taking into account the requisites established for the current pipes and the results obtained in WP2, where the pipes manufactured at pilot plant level were still too rigid in comparison with the conventional pipes, new experimental design was carried out to modify the bio-compound developed and to decrease the rigidity of the pipes obtained at pilot plant level in the following pathways:
(a) to increase the percentage of plasticiser;
(b) to use other types of plasticisers-To use other types of crosslinking agents;
(c) to use chain extenders; and
(d) to use other commercial biodegradable materials as plasticisers.
On the other hand, different modifications were done in the conventional equipment:
(a) a new screw to increase the mixing system called 'Barrier Screw';
(b) a new die with central feeding to avoid dead zones, called 'Spider die';
(c) a new biodegradable material with high content of renewable sources (72 %) has been developed to obtain pipes in conventional equipment with the required modifications.
The pipes obtained fulfil all the requirements established in task 1.1 including their biodegradability. Only in the case of internal pressure the pipes obtained does not fulfil the requirement established. The pipes show small holes due to homogeneity problems. This fact can be solved obtained the compound and to make the pipes at industrial level. The new biodegradable material developed in WP2 was modified to obtain suitable pipes at pilot plant level and these pipes fulfils all the established requirements in processability, chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. The pipes obtained show the adequate flexibility.
WP4: Development / optimisation of biodegradable drip at pilot plant level
- Task 4.1: Development of compound for drips.
- Task 4.2: Manufacture and characterisation of the new drip.
- Task 4.3: Pilot plant micro-irrigation system test.
The materials developed in WP2 were processed in injection equipment to obtain the first test standards and to know their processability. With this results and taking into account the requisites established for the current drips, new experimental design was carried out to improve the processability in injection machine of the new biodegradable materials developed. This experimental design include:
(a) different types of mould to mimic the current mould used to obtain flat drips;
(b) preliminary trials at industrial level;
(c) trials using processing aids.
As the materials developed at this stage, require of an improvement to obtain drips at industrial level in an automatic way, it was decided to validate in soil only the pipes to avoid delaying the next WPs and to study weldability preliminary trials in a parallel form. These pipes were used in the crop of ornamental flowers 'Petunia'. The drips obtained fulfil the mechanical and chemical requirements according to deliverable 1. When the moulds used are to obtain pieces with a complicate geometry and tubular drips, it is not possible to achieve a smooth automatically running process, as in the case of the specimens for mechanical testing (tensile bars).
The improvement of the drip compounds have been carried out in WP6, task 6.2. The pipes validate in soil during one month do not show differences in the mechanical behaviour before and after their validation on field. After testing, pipes with fertiliser show a good chemical resistance without any alteration.
The tested pipes do not pass the internal pressure trials due to the folding line problem (existence of a crack). The work to adjust and optimise the industrial process continued in WP6, task 6.2. The drips obtained with the biodegradable material developed in WP2 fulfils the chemical, thermal and mechanical properties but it is necessary to improve its processability.
WP5: Biodegradability and Ecotoxicity evaluation
- Task 5.1: Evaluation of biodegradation of the full micro-irrigation system in laboratory scale test.
- Task 5.2: Ecotoxicity test.
Different biodegradation tests on the different proposed and developed materials for the micro-irrigation system were performed in soil and compost:
(a) biodegradability in soil (ISO 17556);
(b) biodegradability in compost (ISO 14855); L (c) biodegradability under solid anaerobic conditions (ISO 15985);
(d) disintegration in compost (ISO 16929 - EN 14045, industrial and home composting);
(e) soil disintegration test (modified ISO 20200);
(f) plant toxicity tests on compost residuals (OECD 208 and modifications of EN 13432);
(g) plant toxicity tests on soil residuals (OECD 208);
(h) earthworm, acute toxicity test on compost residuals (ASTM E 1676 and AS 4736);
(i) aquatic invertebrate acute toxicity test with freshwater daphnids (OPPTS 850.1010);
(j) weathering;
(k) the final compound passes the 90 % biodegradation in compost, which is often most difficult to fulfil compostability;
(l) referring to biodegradability in anaerobic conditions the new material as the PLA material has only a low biogas potential;
(m) Dd: There is not degradation in soil during one crop season;
(n) the new biomaterials do not show a negative influence on the germination and growth of plants;
(o) the addition of the new biomaterial does not show residuals;
(p) the biomaterial is not toxic for Daphnia;
(q) the pipes remained still intact showing a high resistance to sunlight degradation;
(r) the objective was 100 % successful from the industrial compostability point of view, not in soil, as already highlighted almost since the project beginning.
Remark: It was known since the project beginning that the PLA is not biodegradable in soil according ISO 17556. Many different triggered methods were tested and some good results were obtained, but without the level of success expected.
WP6: Industrial scale-up and product validation
- Task 6.1: Scaling up of compounding process.
- Task 6.2 Scaling up of pipe and drip manufacturing processes.
- Task 6.3: Characterisation of the obtained products.
- Task 6.4: Installation of the pipe and drip in the farmer facilities.
- Task 6.5: Functional test of the final products.
WP6 was focused in to achieve three objectives:
- Task 6.1: Scaling up the compounding process: Adjusting the parameters at industrial level taking into account the parameters optimised at pilot plant scale. To obtain the news biodegradable products at industrial level, in the following feedback system:
(a) scaling up and optimisation of pipe and drip manufacturing processes;
(b) characterisation of the obtained products.
To determine in situ that the new products satisfy the expectations of irrigation assemblers and farmers, doing the following tasks:
(a) installation of the pipe and drip in the farmers facilities and end-user installers;
(b) functional test of the biodegradable micro-irrigation products.
In this WP was possible:
(a) to achieve that the production of the compound runs stable with low pressure and low torque, in semi-industrial equipment;
(b) to obtain pipe at industrial scale up with the requirement established in task 1.1;
(c) to obtain drips with the requirement established in task 1.1.
Related to the processability in injection process, the drips were obtained in semi-automatic process due to de-moulding problems. To avoid these problems, it would be necessary to design a tailor-made mould taking into account the structural characteristics of biodegradable material developed and this issue is out of this project. To achieve an acceptable weldability adjusting the pressure and temperature in this step but decreasing the extrusion speed. In this WP, it has been possible to verify that the bio-pipes obtained do not suffer any significant changes after their validation on field during 6 months.
WP7: Environmental, Economic and Regulatory studies
- Task 7.1: Analysis of the material recyclability.
- Task 7.2: LCA.
- Task 7.3: Guide of best practices.
- Task 7.4: Economic analysis.
- Task 7.5: Regulatory analysis.
WP7 was focused on achieving the objectives represented by the 5 tasks:
(a) study of the re-processability of industrial scrap;
(b) complete LCA for the final formulations;
(c) writing a public best practice guide-full economic analysis with the final formulations developed, altogether a market update at the end of the project-Updated regulatory analysis focused on the new product developed at EU level.
Satisfactorily, no effect was found caused by the addition of scrap at industrial level, for mixtures that contained up to 20 % scrap, the maximum amount usually used in the polymers processing, with the final compound formulations. The results of this final study have not shown any significant difference for the overall impacts of the compared pipes, PE pipes. However, there is a large uncertainty from the assumptions related to the production of 'co-polyesters', made in this study to overcome the lack of data due to confidential issues. Non-confidential information was provided on the Guide of best practices and the regulatory assessment issues. On the one hand, basic requirements necessary to produce a bio-based, biodegradable micro-irrigation system were detailed. On the other hand, the most significant specifications and test methods related to HYDRUS new product were collected, being the ones currently applied for agricultural irrigation equipment, in most cases made of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride. Producing biodegradable micro-irrigation pipes based on the modified commercial blend BioFlex F6510 is not yet competitive in price with the polyethylene pipes, at the end of the project. The objective was 100 % successful in all tasks, except for the economic study, since, taking into account the production cost and the end of life cost, the price of a compostable micro-irrigation system is still approximately 2 times higher when compared to a conventional (LDPE) micro-irrigation system.
Potential impact:
Dissemination activities
It is essential to highlight that a considerable number of dissemination activities have been completed during the development of the HYDRUS project (i.e. 16 general dissemination activities plus 2 scientific publications. Moreover, 2 other scientific publications + 1 general event are planned to be carried out before the end of 2012). The project information has been disseminated via three channels:
(a) by partners within their organisations (e.g. internal newsletters, meetings, workshops, seminars, training courses, etc.);
(b) by partners during external events (e.g. fairs, conferences, networking events, etc.);
(c) by partners using media across Europe (e.g. press release, Internet, specialised magazines, etc.).
The use of various channels (internal and external) and methods (mainly written and online) assured an optimal contribution of coverage, visibility and most important set up the scene for better market acceptance in the near future.
The activities in the dissemination plan covers different audiences and channels depending on the type of information to be disseminated, in order to assure the success of the project from a strategic, environmental, technologic and economic direction based on HYDRUS approach.
Dissemination tools and activities could be divided in two main groups:
(a) Industrial level: For the SMEs, the principal objectives are to obtain results that will increase their competitiveness and market opportunities and to show these results to any potential client, in order to have a wider commercial activity and increase the company benefits. Activities such as participation in fairs, seminars, press releases are aiming these results.
(b) Non-commercial level: The research and technological development (RTD) participants of the project are more focussed in non-commercial promotion and scientific aspects of the work. Only non-confidential project results are susceptible of publication or dissemination in journals, web-sites, congresses, workshops, fairs and seminars.
Furthermore, there were two scientific publications related to HYDRUS project, always taking care of the protection of the IPRs, without risking the possibility of applying for a patent, as it seemed to be some partners´ intention. In this way, the scientific field was also addressed in this type of events. It is also foreseen another 2 scientific publications before the end of 2012.
Therefore, it is clear that the dissemination actions for HYDRUS project is continuing after the end of the project, focused on the commercial and scientific audience, aiming the successful exploitation of the project results. Different dissemination tools have been prepared, such as:
- maintenance of the online portal - website: http://www.hydrusfp7.eu(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)
- HYDRUS logo,
- leaflet,
- general presentation of the project,
- press releases.
All these resources are available at the public part of the website and have been and will be displayed in fairs and meetings.
Potential impact and exploitation
The new biodegradable and bio-based product developed in the HYDRUS project may have a significant impact on the plastic and agricultural industry; providing an environmentally friendly alternatives to the current micro-irrigation systems based on conventional plastic (polyethylene). True industrial impact will require further investment, mainly aimed to optimise the actual scale-up of the drips manufacturing at scale-up level and the weldability process (manufacturing of the whole micro-irrigation system), making them suitable for a continuous fabrication stage, profitable for the SMEs involved in the production chain. Although the project development is aimed at specific agricultural irrigation system (according to the end-user business field and what was agreed under annex I of the project), the compound developed (protected by an exploitation agreement under signature process among the whole consortium) plus the industrial procedure for manufacturing pipes and drips will be able to be applied to other type of pipes (such as in gardening, animals farming and reforestation sectors) and even in other applications where concern about the environment is increasing (such as catering, packaging, surgery, hygiene, fishing, etc. sectors), provided that the specific requirements of each final product can be fulfilled / adjusted from the starting characteristics of the new material developed.
All the above-mentioned sectors could be additional business for the SMEs involved in the value chain (compounder, pipe / drip manufacturers, end users / distributors). The owners of the different results defined in the final version of the exploitation agreement will take into account these new niche market sectors.
Therefore, the protection plan of the project results is already initiated with the official signature of the final version of the HYDRUS exploitation agreement. In the final meeting, duration of 10 years after ending of project was agreed. Moreover, in order to have official registration of the foreground developed in HYDRUS, relevant documentation, accompanied by this exploitation agreement, will be registered under notary no later than 3 months after the Official signature of the document in order to have evidence against competitors in the event of development, commercialisation and patenting of the same or a similar technology which may arise a conflict of commercial interests.
Finally, it is important to highlight that one of the SMEs and 2 RTDs coming from HYDRUS consortium have taken part in a new ECO_Innovation proposal (submitted on 6 September 2012) to optimise and industrialise what has been researched within HYDRUS (but respecting the IPR protected by the current exploitation agreement, using the rejected compounds not successfully industrialised within HYDRUS project, for new drips and pipes). Specifically the SME has become the coordinator of such new proposal (currently under evaluation process).
The updated HYDRUS website domain http://www.hydrusfp7.eu(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) was established at the end of the project under the project officer requirement of having a URL friendly, accessible, with its own domain, and with additional improvements, such as a content more structured and accessible to all users, without installing any additional technology, a redesign of the website, and an improved search engine optimisation (SEO).
Deliverable 17 'Project website' (updated final version) gives an overview of the main functionalities and structure of the website. The main structural difference is based on the intended audience: the public at large (industry stakeholders, academia, EU and national officials, etc.) and the beneficiaries involved in the project, the consortium.
Contact details: AIMPLAS (Coordinator)
Tel. +34-961-366040
Fax +34-961-366041
Email: proyectos@aimplas.es
The main innovations claimed in HYDRUS are:
(a) Use of bio-based materials: A minimum 75 % final product composition will be obtained from renewable resources.
(b) Biodegradability in soil: One of the main innovations of the project is the biodegradability of the final product in soil (aerobic conditions in top layer) which will reduce the cost for removal of the product after the end of its life of use. However, its biodegradable nature will not impair the mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance properties required by the target application, i.e. the pipe must withstand the normal conditions of use, but it has to biodegrade after shredded on site.
(c) Development of a micro-irrigation pipe and a drip using biodegradable materials and standard extrusion pipe line and injection moulding equipment: There is no technical information available accounting for pipe and drips production using a biopolymer as a base material. The melt flow index and the melt strength of the blend have to be adjusted to obtain similar output than when standard polyethylenes are used.
(d) Development of controlled cross-linking and reactive extrusion for biopolymers at pilot plant and industrial level: Controlled crosslinking and reactive extrusion of biodegradable materials have been tried at laboratory level but still does not have any significant industrial application. Reactive extrusion is a process that seems very promising for the blending of biodegradable materials in order to produce a final material with intermediate properties. The major challenge is to control both processes in a 'selective manner', in order to achieve the desired degree of crosslinking and to avoid secondary reactions.
(e) Improvement of the thermal and chemical resistance of biodegradable materials: By means of crosslinking, the molecular weight of polymers can be increased leading to a better thermal and chemical resistance. The thermal degradation that leads to chain scission will be controlled, improving the behaviour of materials exposed to environmental conditions.
(f) Fine tuning of mechanical properties: Reactive extrusion with flexible materials or plasticisers will permit to tailor-made properties.
All the non-confidential information generated so far under the project can be found in HYDRUS website, in the open area.
The new biodegradable and bio-based product developed in the HYDRUS project may have a significant impact on the plastic and agricultural industry; providing an environmentally friendly alternatives to the current micro-irrigation systems based on conventional plastic (polyethylene). True industrial impact will require further investment, mainly aimed to optimise the actual scale-up of the drips manufacturing at scale-up level and the weldability process (manufacturing of the whole micro-irrigation system), making them suitable for a continuous fabrication stage, profitable for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in the production chain. Although the project development is aimed at specific agricultural irrigation system (according to the end-user business field and what was agreed under Annex I of the project), the compound developed (protected by an exploitation agreement under signature process among the whole consortium) plus the industrial procedure for manufacturing pipes and drips will be able to be applied to other type of pipes (such as in gardening, animals farming and reforestation sectors) and even in other applications where concern about the environment is increasing (such as catering, packaging, surgery, hygiene, fishing sectors), provided that the specific requirements of each final product can be fulfilled / adjusted from the starting characteristics of the new material developed.
Project context and objectives:
Micro-irrigation, also known as drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is an irrigation method that applies water slowly to the roots of plants, by depositing the water either on the soil surface or directly to the root zone, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, drippers and emitters. Of the various forms of micro-irrigation, drip irrigation is the one most widely used because it can save water, reduces the use of horticultural chemicals, it is relatively insensitive to environmental effects, can reduce labour, and increases the rate of plant growth. Drip irrigation is an effective irrigation system in terms of water conservation. Using drip-irrigation, water is not wasted by irrigating areas between plants or due to run-off, excessive evaporation, wind-effects, overspray, and the like.
The use of micro-irrigation is rapidly increasing around the world, and it is expected to continue to be a viable irrigation method for agricultural production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), only the 11 % of the total world land area can be farmed without being irrigated, drained or otherwise improved. Micro-irrigation can be used on most agricultural crops, although it is most often used for high value crops such as vegetables, ornamentals, vines, olives, fruit crops and greenhouse plants. The numerous advantages obtained with these systems by the agricultural sector lead to a widespread use all over the world.
The main benefits that are fostering the use of micro-irrigation systems are the following:
(a) low pressure and low area of irrigation;
(b) reduces the water consumption until 60 %, fertiliser and labour requirements due to the water is applied only to the plant roots;
(c) the water-soluble fertiliser may be injected through this irrigation system, increasing the fertiliser efficiency and control.
However, they also have some limitations that burden its use by the farmers:
(a) High cost to remove the product at the end of its useful life. The cost to remove the system running above the ground is approximately 1 050 EUR / hectare. This cost is even higher in the case of buried pipes. After the removal of the pipes, these must be transported and disposed according to the regulations of agricultural plastics disposal.
(b) Its use in combination with a mulching system also increases their removal and disposal costs, by approximately a 30 %. This is due to the fact that the mulch must be removed before the pipes can be removed and then they must be separated from each other and disposed separately.
(c) Non-recyclable pipes due to its conditions of use, water and fertiliser contact and under pressure stress conditions. At the end of its life of use, it is not possible to recycle this material for other applications due to the loss of mechanical properties caused by ultraviolet radiation, the chemical attack and the presence of contaminants such as rests of sand, fertilisers and pesticides, increasing the disposal costs.
Detailed objectives: In order to achieve the main objective of the project, i.e. to develop plastic pipes for micro-irrigation produced with bio-based and biodegradable material, several specific objectives were defined:
(1) Fulfil the traditional micro-irrigation systems mechanical requirements for their use under normal conditions, therefore having mechanical properties similar to those of polyethylene. The requirements of the raw materials for pipe production are well defined in standard UNE 53367:2005 and international standard ISO 8779:2001.
(2) Be processable by traditional plastic processing methods, such as pipe extrusion. The production of the machine using the new material will not be lower than the 85 % of the maximum machine throughput using a standard material, normally polyethylene.
(3) Be completely biodegradable after its useful life according to the standards of biodegradability in soil (ISO 17556:2003).
(4) Be harmless after biodegradation, that is, no metabolites or biodegradation residuals will be formed, so there will not be toxic effects on the ecosystem. (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guideline 208, plus its modifications in Compostability Standard, EN 13432).
(5) Be thermally and mechanically resistant in order to withstand environmental conditions. Pipes must be dimensionally and physically stable at temperatures of use (máx. 60 degrees of Celsius), and be chemically resistant and inert to fertilisers and other chemical substances at moderate temperatures (between 40 - 60 degrees of Celsius) and pressures (up to 2 bars).
(6) Have the required mechanical properties in order to allow to be shredded on site (without removal) after its lifespan using conventional agricultural machinery. These properties will also contribute to increase the biodegradation rate of the fabricated pipes and drips.
(7) Full mechanically recyclable product: It will be possible to incorporate a 20% of the industrial scrap in the fabrication of new pipes and drips with a reduction lower than 10% in mechanical and thermal properties.
(8) The new pipe / drip has to be economically viable tacking into account the full life of the product (production, installation, removing and waste management). This means at least a 5 % cost reduction from the current polyethylene pipe cost including the disposal and removal cost.
(9) The new pipe / drip has to fulfil the related regulatory requirements and to be environmental friendly achieving positive lifecycle assessment (LCA) indicators in comparison with standard polyethylene pipes.
(10) Dimensional stability for accurate water release (to maintain its hydraulic flow versus pressure): The hydraulic flow of the new drips at any pressure has a variation of less than 10 % from the average flow.
(11) Processability in traditional injection moulding machines: The production of the machine using the new material will not be lower than the 90 % of the maximum machine throughput using a standard polymer, normally polystyrene.
(12) The material used for the manufacturing of the pipes and drips will have at least a 75 % of bio-based content, e. g. material obtained from renewable resources. The use of materials based on renewable resources instead of oil-based materials will contribute to the preservation of the environment and to reduce the consumption of oil reserves, reducing also the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the greenhouse effect. The other 25 % could be a biodegradable material from an oil-based source.
(13) To develop an understanding of the crosslinking process over blends of biopolymers: properties achieved versus crosslinking ratio, interphase between crosslinking and non-crosslinking parts, etc.
(14) To overcome the lack of technical knowledge that exists about the pipe extrusion process using biopolymers in combination with an in-line crosslinking process.
Finally, besides its technical objectives, HYDRUS project aims at improving the European Union (EU) plastic industry competitiveness, in particular, but not limited to, companies focusing on the micro-irrigation market.
Although often highly ambitious in their outlook, the vast majority of these SMEs lack the resources to develop innovative materials and methods of work.
The achievement of the objectives listed above may result in an increase of the competitiveness of the participating SMEs which represent the different types of SMEs involved in the co-injected packaging supply chain:
- Compounders will increase their knowledge by the use of processes that until now have not been widely developed at industrial scale, such as the crosslinking and the reactive extrusion between different biodegradable materials and other additives to obtain the final formulation to be processed into pipes.
- Pipe manufacturers and manufacturers of accessories will diversify their offer, giving their activity a more flexible profile as they will offer new products inexistent nowadays for micro-irrigation: a biodegradable pipe and accessories (such as drippers, emitters, etc.), respectively.
- The pipe produced will be used by the micro-irrigation system installers who will be able to offer their customers a new product with the advantage of its biodegradability, maintaining all the properties of current polyethylene pipes.
- End users such as farmers, gardeners or greenhouse farmers will benefit from the biodegradability of the new pipe which will permit the elimination of the cost of collection and removal that traditional pipes present.
As a summary
The specific innovations of the project are:
(a) Plastic pipes (90 % of the micro-irrigation system) obtained at industrial level, fulfil thermal, mechanical and chemical resistance. Drips also obtained at industrial level, in semi-automatic process.
(b) Renewable sources > 72 %.
(c) The micro-irrigation system obtained at industrial scale up. The weldability between pipes and drips has been achieved although working to lower production rates, which is not productive under an actual industrial process.
(d) New biodegradable materials developed pass the biodegradable, compostable and ecotoxicity trials in compostage conditions.
(e) The pipes fulfil the environmental studies, recyclability and LCA.
(f) The economic report is not satisfactory due to mainly the price of the raw material.
(g) Intellectual and property right (IPR) issues: Available the final version of the exploitation agreement under signature process. Finally no patent application, but industrial secret was chosen.
Expected final results:
All the expected final results foreseen initially were practically achieved under the scope of the project, demonstrating the capability of the new micro-irrigation system to be obtained at industrial level, although the only inconvenient was the impossibility of manufacturing a proper industrial tailor-made mould for drips. This activity was out of the scope of the project since its beginning, and it has been proposed a continuation project (ECO-INNOVATION project, call 2012), to try to solve this handicap at industrial level.
(1) The new biodegradable pipe / drip for micro-irrigation systems fulfilling the specific requirements for the application foreseen and the standards of biodegradability.
With the final formulation, with a 72 % of biodegradable material, the final compound at industrial level was obtained. These compounds were used to obtain the final products (drips and pipes) at industrial level. It was concluded that to obtain suitable drips at industrial level it would be necessary to design and optimise the mould taking into account the flexibility and shrinkage of the new biodegradable material developed. This task was out of the scope of HYDRUS project since the beginning of the project. At the project end, the drips have been obtained in a semi-automatic way due to de-moulding problems, being impossible to reproduce the actual industrial full automatic process.
(2) The compound formulation, including the necessary additives and polymer blends, to ensure that the properties of the final products are met.
Finally the same compound formulation was used for pipes and drips. They obtained were fully characterised. In the case of the pipes fulfil all the mechanical and chemical requirements. Note that, although the pipes do not fulfil the internal pressure requirements defined in the datasheet, the pipes do not suffer any break after their validation in soil. Regarding the drips, the requirements on dimensional stability and processability were partially achieved due to the necessity of a tailor-made industrial mould, out of the scope of this project.
(3) The reactive extrusion and crosslinking processes. Reactive extrusion and crosslinking (in fact, branching process) of bio-based and biodegradable polymers have been developed at industrial scale level in a continuous process. The development of that process for the HYDRUS industrial application required not only the optimisation of the different processing parameters and equipment used (e.g. special screw configuration, etc.) but also the selection of the crosslinking / branching agent.
Project results:
Work package (WP)1: Definition of requirements and selection of materials.
- Task 1.1: Definition of requirements to a new and innovate complete micro-irrigation system (pipes and drips).
- Task 1.2: Selection of PLA grades and additives: A study of the current micro-irrigation system during the product´s useful life has been carried out during task 1.1 to determine the mechanical and chemical demands derived from their manufacturing and use.
WP2: Development of the base PLA compound and study of crosslinking conditions at lab level
- Task 2.1: Selection of the best materials combinations (blends).
- Task 2.2: Blend of selected materials base on PLA.
- Task 2.3: Study of the reactive extrusion process.
- Task 2.4: Blend optimisation at lab level.
(a) to develop the functionalised PLA compound by reactive extrusion at laboratory level using discontinuous laboratory equipment;
(b) to develop blends with the additives selected in task 1.2: this compound is the base material for the new pipe and drip manufacturing;
(c) to study at laboratory level of the amount and type of additives to use and the conditions for a suitable reactive extrusion process.
A commercially available biodegradable PLA-based were modified using reactive extrusion process to improve the chemical resistance and the thermal stability of the final materials. Moreover, a plasticiser was also added, to improve flexibility and finely tune the mechanical properties.
It has been possible to control the reaction process at laboratory and pilot plant level and to determine and to know the type of reactive extrusion: chain branching. This means that macromolecular chains resulted not linked in a proper net, but only segments resulted linked to main chains, thus modifying melt viscosity and chain mobility, but not affecting the solubility of the whole sample and biodegradability.
The new biodegradable material fulfils all the established requirements in, chemical, thermal behaviour but the products obtained are too rigid and brittle. It is necessary to improve its elasticity at pilot plant level in WP3 and WP4.
WP3: Development / optimisation of biodegradable micro-irrigation pipe at pilot plant level
- Task 3.1: Development of the biodegradable blends.
- Task 3.2: Modification of extrusion pipe machinery.
- Task 3.3: Development of the micro-irrigation pipe.
- Task 3.4: Mechanical characterisation.
Taking into account the requisites established for the current pipes and the results obtained in WP2, where the pipes manufactured at pilot plant level were still too rigid in comparison with the conventional pipes, new experimental design was carried out to modify the bio-compound developed and to decrease the rigidity of the pipes obtained at pilot plant level in the following pathways:
(a) to increase the percentage of plasticiser;
(b) to use other types of plasticisers-To use other types of crosslinking agents;
(c) to use chain extenders; and
(d) to use other commercial biodegradable materials as plasticisers.
On the other hand, different modifications were done in the conventional equipment:
(a) a new screw to increase the mixing system called 'Barrier Screw';
(b) a new die with central feeding to avoid dead zones, called 'Spider die';
(c) a new biodegradable material with high content of renewable sources (72 %) has been developed to obtain pipes in conventional equipment with the required modifications.
The pipes obtained fulfil all the requirements established in task 1.1 including their biodegradability. Only in the case of internal pressure the pipes obtained does not fulfil the requirement established. The pipes show small holes due to homogeneity problems. This fact can be solved obtained the compound and to make the pipes at industrial level. The new biodegradable material developed in WP2 was modified to obtain suitable pipes at pilot plant level and these pipes fulfils all the established requirements in processability, chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. The pipes obtained show the adequate flexibility.
WP4: Development / optimisation of biodegradable drip at pilot plant level
- Task 4.1: Development of compound for drips.
- Task 4.2: Manufacture and characterisation of the new drip.
- Task 4.3: Pilot plant micro-irrigation system test.
The materials developed in WP2 were processed in injection equipment to obtain the first test standards and to know their processability. With this results and taking into account the requisites established for the current drips, new experimental design was carried out to improve the processability in injection machine of the new biodegradable materials developed. This experimental design include:
(a) different types of mould to mimic the current mould used to obtain flat drips;
(b) preliminary trials at industrial level;
(c) trials using processing aids.
As the materials developed at this stage, require of an improvement to obtain drips at industrial level in an automatic way, it was decided to validate in soil only the pipes to avoid delaying the next WPs and to study weldability preliminary trials in a parallel form. These pipes were used in the crop of ornamental flowers 'Petunia'. The drips obtained fulfil the mechanical and chemical requirements according to deliverable 1. When the moulds used are to obtain pieces with a complicate geometry and tubular drips, it is not possible to achieve a smooth automatically running process, as in the case of the specimens for mechanical testing (tensile bars).
The improvement of the drip compounds have been carried out in WP6, task 6.2. The pipes validate in soil during one month do not show differences in the mechanical behaviour before and after their validation on field. After testing, pipes with fertiliser show a good chemical resistance without any alteration.
The tested pipes do not pass the internal pressure trials due to the folding line problem (existence of a crack). The work to adjust and optimise the industrial process continued in WP6, task 6.2. The drips obtained with the biodegradable material developed in WP2 fulfils the chemical, thermal and mechanical properties but it is necessary to improve its processability.
WP5: Biodegradability and Ecotoxicity evaluation
- Task 5.1: Evaluation of biodegradation of the full micro-irrigation system in laboratory scale test.
- Task 5.2: Ecotoxicity test.
Different biodegradation tests on the different proposed and developed materials for the micro-irrigation system were performed in soil and compost:
(a) biodegradability in soil (ISO 17556);
(b) biodegradability in compost (ISO 14855); L (c) biodegradability under solid anaerobic conditions (ISO 15985);
(d) disintegration in compost (ISO 16929 - EN 14045, industrial and home composting);
(e) soil disintegration test (modified ISO 20200);
(f) plant toxicity tests on compost residuals (OECD 208 and modifications of EN 13432);
(g) plant toxicity tests on soil residuals (OECD 208);
(h) earthworm, acute toxicity test on compost residuals (ASTM E 1676 and AS 4736);
(i) aquatic invertebrate acute toxicity test with freshwater daphnids (OPPTS 850.1010);
(j) weathering;
(k) the final compound passes the 90 % biodegradation in compost, which is often most difficult to fulfil compostability;
(l) referring to biodegradability in anaerobic conditions the new material as the PLA material has only a low biogas potential;
(m) Dd: There is not degradation in soil during one crop season;
(n) the new biomaterials do not show a negative influence on the germination and growth of plants;
(o) the addition of the new biomaterial does not show residuals;
(p) the biomaterial is not toxic for Daphnia;
(q) the pipes remained still intact showing a high resistance to sunlight degradation;
(r) the objective was 100 % successful from the industrial compostability point of view, not in soil, as already highlighted almost since the project beginning.
Remark: It was known since the project beginning that the PLA is not biodegradable in soil according ISO 17556. Many different triggered methods were tested and some good results were obtained, but without the level of success expected.
WP6: Industrial scale-up and product validation
- Task 6.1: Scaling up of compounding process.
- Task 6.2 Scaling up of pipe and drip manufacturing processes.
- Task 6.3: Characterisation of the obtained products.
- Task 6.4: Installation of the pipe and drip in the farmer facilities.
- Task 6.5: Functional test of the final products.
WP6 was focused in to achieve three objectives:
- Task 6.1: Scaling up the compounding process: Adjusting the parameters at industrial level taking into account the parameters optimised at pilot plant scale. To obtain the news biodegradable products at industrial level, in the following feedback system:
(a) scaling up and optimisation of pipe and drip manufacturing processes;
(b) characterisation of the obtained products.
To determine in situ that the new products satisfy the expectations of irrigation assemblers and farmers, doing the following tasks:
(a) installation of the pipe and drip in the farmers facilities and end-user installers;
(b) functional test of the biodegradable micro-irrigation products.
In this WP was possible:
(a) to achieve that the production of the compound runs stable with low pressure and low torque, in semi-industrial equipment;
(b) to obtain pipe at industrial scale up with the requirement established in task 1.1;
(c) to obtain drips with the requirement established in task 1.1.
Related to the processability in injection process, the drips were obtained in semi-automatic process due to de-moulding problems. To avoid these problems, it would be necessary to design a tailor-made mould taking into account the structural characteristics of biodegradable material developed and this issue is out of this project. To achieve an acceptable weldability adjusting the pressure and temperature in this step but decreasing the extrusion speed. In this WP, it has been possible to verify that the bio-pipes obtained do not suffer any significant changes after their validation on field during 6 months.
WP7: Environmental, Economic and Regulatory studies
- Task 7.1: Analysis of the material recyclability.
- Task 7.2: LCA.
- Task 7.3: Guide of best practices.
- Task 7.4: Economic analysis.
- Task 7.5: Regulatory analysis.
WP7 was focused on achieving the objectives represented by the 5 tasks:
(a) study of the re-processability of industrial scrap;
(b) complete LCA for the final formulations;
(c) writing a public best practice guide-full economic analysis with the final formulations developed, altogether a market update at the end of the project-Updated regulatory analysis focused on the new product developed at EU level.
Satisfactorily, no effect was found caused by the addition of scrap at industrial level, for mixtures that contained up to 20 % scrap, the maximum amount usually used in the polymers processing, with the final compound formulations. The results of this final study have not shown any significant difference for the overall impacts of the compared pipes, PE pipes. However, there is a large uncertainty from the assumptions related to the production of 'co-polyesters', made in this study to overcome the lack of data due to confidential issues. Non-confidential information was provided on the Guide of best practices and the regulatory assessment issues. On the one hand, basic requirements necessary to produce a bio-based, biodegradable micro-irrigation system were detailed. On the other hand, the most significant specifications and test methods related to HYDRUS new product were collected, being the ones currently applied for agricultural irrigation equipment, in most cases made of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride. Producing biodegradable micro-irrigation pipes based on the modified commercial blend BioFlex F6510 is not yet competitive in price with the polyethylene pipes, at the end of the project. The objective was 100 % successful in all tasks, except for the economic study, since, taking into account the production cost and the end of life cost, the price of a compostable micro-irrigation system is still approximately 2 times higher when compared to a conventional (LDPE) micro-irrigation system.
Potential impact:
Dissemination activities
It is essential to highlight that a considerable number of dissemination activities have been completed during the development of the HYDRUS project (i.e. 16 general dissemination activities plus 2 scientific publications. Moreover, 2 other scientific publications + 1 general event are planned to be carried out before the end of 2012). The project information has been disseminated via three channels:
(a) by partners within their organisations (e.g. internal newsletters, meetings, workshops, seminars, training courses, etc.);
(b) by partners during external events (e.g. fairs, conferences, networking events, etc.);
(c) by partners using media across Europe (e.g. press release, Internet, specialised magazines, etc.).
The use of various channels (internal and external) and methods (mainly written and online) assured an optimal contribution of coverage, visibility and most important set up the scene for better market acceptance in the near future.
The activities in the dissemination plan covers different audiences and channels depending on the type of information to be disseminated, in order to assure the success of the project from a strategic, environmental, technologic and economic direction based on HYDRUS approach.
Dissemination tools and activities could be divided in two main groups:
(a) Industrial level: For the SMEs, the principal objectives are to obtain results that will increase their competitiveness and market opportunities and to show these results to any potential client, in order to have a wider commercial activity and increase the company benefits. Activities such as participation in fairs, seminars, press releases are aiming these results.
(b) Non-commercial level: The research and technological development (RTD) participants of the project are more focussed in non-commercial promotion and scientific aspects of the work. Only non-confidential project results are susceptible of publication or dissemination in journals, web-sites, congresses, workshops, fairs and seminars.
Furthermore, there were two scientific publications related to HYDRUS project, always taking care of the protection of the IPRs, without risking the possibility of applying for a patent, as it seemed to be some partners´ intention. In this way, the scientific field was also addressed in this type of events. It is also foreseen another 2 scientific publications before the end of 2012.
Therefore, it is clear that the dissemination actions for HYDRUS project is continuing after the end of the project, focused on the commercial and scientific audience, aiming the successful exploitation of the project results. Different dissemination tools have been prepared, such as:
- maintenance of the online portal - website: http://www.hydrusfp7.eu(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)
- HYDRUS logo,
- leaflet,
- general presentation of the project,
- press releases.
All these resources are available at the public part of the website and have been and will be displayed in fairs and meetings.
Potential impact and exploitation
The new biodegradable and bio-based product developed in the HYDRUS project may have a significant impact on the plastic and agricultural industry; providing an environmentally friendly alternatives to the current micro-irrigation systems based on conventional plastic (polyethylene). True industrial impact will require further investment, mainly aimed to optimise the actual scale-up of the drips manufacturing at scale-up level and the weldability process (manufacturing of the whole micro-irrigation system), making them suitable for a continuous fabrication stage, profitable for the SMEs involved in the production chain. Although the project development is aimed at specific agricultural irrigation system (according to the end-user business field and what was agreed under annex I of the project), the compound developed (protected by an exploitation agreement under signature process among the whole consortium) plus the industrial procedure for manufacturing pipes and drips will be able to be applied to other type of pipes (such as in gardening, animals farming and reforestation sectors) and even in other applications where concern about the environment is increasing (such as catering, packaging, surgery, hygiene, fishing, etc. sectors), provided that the specific requirements of each final product can be fulfilled / adjusted from the starting characteristics of the new material developed.
All the above-mentioned sectors could be additional business for the SMEs involved in the value chain (compounder, pipe / drip manufacturers, end users / distributors). The owners of the different results defined in the final version of the exploitation agreement will take into account these new niche market sectors.
Therefore, the protection plan of the project results is already initiated with the official signature of the final version of the HYDRUS exploitation agreement. In the final meeting, duration of 10 years after ending of project was agreed. Moreover, in order to have official registration of the foreground developed in HYDRUS, relevant documentation, accompanied by this exploitation agreement, will be registered under notary no later than 3 months after the Official signature of the document in order to have evidence against competitors in the event of development, commercialisation and patenting of the same or a similar technology which may arise a conflict of commercial interests.
Finally, it is important to highlight that one of the SMEs and 2 RTDs coming from HYDRUS consortium have taken part in a new ECO_Innovation proposal (submitted on 6 September 2012) to optimise and industrialise what has been researched within HYDRUS (but respecting the IPR protected by the current exploitation agreement, using the rejected compounds not successfully industrialised within HYDRUS project, for new drips and pipes). Specifically the SME has become the coordinator of such new proposal (currently under evaluation process).
The updated HYDRUS website domain http://www.hydrusfp7.eu(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) was established at the end of the project under the project officer requirement of having a URL friendly, accessible, with its own domain, and with additional improvements, such as a content more structured and accessible to all users, without installing any additional technology, a redesign of the website, and an improved search engine optimisation (SEO).
Deliverable 17 'Project website' (updated final version) gives an overview of the main functionalities and structure of the website. The main structural difference is based on the intended audience: the public at large (industry stakeholders, academia, EU and national officials, etc.) and the beneficiaries involved in the project, the consortium.
Contact details: AIMPLAS (Coordinator)
Tel. +34-961-366040
Fax +34-961-366041
Email: proyectos@aimplas.es
