Project description
Chemical recycling technology to tackle EU plastic waste
Plastic is ubiquitous because of its performance, cost and durability. However, nearly 26 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated in Europe every year. Plastic waste is a top EU priority: the aim is to recycle 50 % of all post-consumer plastics by 2025. An attractive option is to transform polymers back into monomers and purify them for repolymerisation – a form of chemical recycling. This will result in a circular economy for plastics. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PolyRec project will develop a novel class of recyclable, high-performance polyurethane plastics. After being depolymerised into their basic building block monomers, they will be repolymerised back into polyurethane plastics.
Objective
Since the development of the first fully synthetic plastics in the early 20th century, these materials have become ubiquitous in our daily life. The production of plastics has increased considerably, reaching 368 million tons in 2019 and it is expected to double again by 2035. Today’s plastics are designed for performance, cost and durability without taking into consideration their life after use. This has resulted in an annual generation of plastic solid waste of 150 million tonnes. Tackling plastic waste problem is one of the top priorities yet most challenging objectives of the European Union, which has set ambitious policies (i.e. Green Deal) and aims to recycle 50 % of all post-consumer plastics by 2025.
The design of plastics with recyclability built into their performance aiming for a circular plastics economy is gaining a lot of attention. With specifically designed monomers, reaction conditions can be used to select the direction of the monomer-polymer equilibrium. Therefore, chemical recycling to monomer presents an attractive alternative since the polymer waste is employed to close the loop in a circular economy process that recovers the economic value of the material.
Through PolyRec, Dr. Ainara Sangroniz proposes to tackle this growing global challenge, by developing high-performance polyurethane (PU) plastics that exhibit a closed-loop circular lifecycle while also having performance properties comparable to those of today’s poorly or non-recyclable commodity plastics. In the outgoing phase, the fellow will develop an innovative class of intrinsically recyclable PUs at the Colorado State University under the supervision of Porf. Eugene Y. X. Chen. In the incoming phase, these will then be depolymerized into their building block monomers and repolymerized back into the PU’s at POLYMAT (University of the Basque Country), supervised by Prof. Haritz Sardon.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences polyurethane
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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.
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
48940 Leioa
Spain
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.