The Basque city of San Sebastian hosted the opening meeting for the European project ECOXY — Bio-based recyclable, reshapable and repairable (3R) fibre-reinforced EpOXY composites for automotive and construction sectors. This is a 42-month project starting in June 2017 within the Horizon 2020 framework. With a EUR 4.8 million budget it brings together 13 partners from Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Poland and Denmark. Coordinated by the Basque technology centre CIDETEC, it aims to develop two prototypes demonstrating the prospects of these new materials for construction and automotive.
ECOXY will go further, providing advanced solutions
"We will develop tailor-made bio-based epoxy monomers, upgraded and functional bio-based fibres (natural and PLA), specific formulations for FRTC manufacturing processes (RTM, wet compression moulding and pultrusion) and finally additional functionalities such as flame-retardancy for 3R resins and self-healing for fibres," states PhD Aratz Genua, project coordinator.
The selected prototypes will be validated for automotive and construction sectors. An environmental (LCA) and socio-economic assessment of the results will also be carried out.
Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking
This project has received funding from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the EU's Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No 744311. The BBI is a EUR 3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential.
