Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (GFRP and CFRP) are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. Composite recycling is a challenging task. Although mechanical grinding and pyrolysis reached a quite high TRL, landfilling of EoL composites is still widespread since no significant added value in the re-use and remanufacturing of composites is demonstrated. The FiberEUse project aims at integrating in a holistic approach different innovation actions aimed at enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products. The project is based on the realization of three macro use-cases, further detailed in eight demonstrators: Use-case 1: Mechanical recycling of short GFRP and re-use in added-value customized applications, including furniture, sport and creative products. Emerging manufacturing technologies like UV-assisted 3D-printing and metallization by Physical Vapor Deposition will be used. Use-case 2: Thermal recycling of long fibers (glass and carbon) and re-use in high-tech, high-resistance applications. The input product will be EoL wind turbine and aerospace components. The re-use of composites in automotive (aesthetical and structural components) and building will be demonstrated by applying controlled pyrolysis and custom remanufacturing. Use-case 3: Inspection, repair and remanufacturing for EoL CFRP products in high-tech applications. Adaptive design and manufacturing criteria will be implemented to allow for a complete circular economy demonstration in the automotive sector. Through new cloud-based ICT solutions for value-chain integration, scouting of new markets, analysis of legislation barriers, life cycle assessment for different reverse logistic options, FiberEUse will support industry in the transition to a circular economy model for composites.

The general objective of the RECREATE project is to develop a set of innovative technologies aimed at exploiting the potential of End-of-Life (EoL) complex composite waste as feedstock for profitable reuse of parts and materials in the manufacturing industry. In the light of this, more specific objectives are: - to develop and validate in relevant environment (TRL6) novel reuse strategies for large EoL composite parts based on smart recognition and inspection for sorting (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy), high precision dismantling (laser-shock) and repair, temperature-assisted reshaping, design for disassembly based on reversible joints, AI-assisted decision support systems; - to develop and validate in relevant environment (TRL6) innovative recycling technologies (catalyst-assisted green solvolysis and electrofragmentation) allowing simultaneous recovery of high quality, integer, clean fibers and of an organic resin fraction reusable as coating material, at the very end of the multiple reuse processes of parts; - to demonstrate at TRL6 the use of smart and green reversible thermoset resins as enabling materials for the realization of the next generation of fiber-reinforced composites with easier repairability and enhanced reusability, facilitating the transition towards recyclable-by-design composites; - to develop digital tools for the quantitative evaluation of the environmental and economic performance of the proposed technologies (LCA/LCC), as well as their circularity assessment and acceleration; - to co-design innovative digital learning resources, based on MOOCs, gamification and digital twins of some specialty technologies developed in the project, with easy adoption and high replicability. The objectives and ambition of RECREATE are fully compliant with the general requirements of the Horizon Europe - Digital, Industry and Space 2021 Work Programme, and with the specific requirements of the call Horizon-CL4-2021-Resilience-01-01.

There is no doubt that the offshore renewable energy exploitation has a great potential to grow, and it will greatly help reach climate goals and CO2 reduction levels and are likely to secure Europe’s technical and economic competitiveness. However, the open sea is a very aggressive environment with may largely affect the maintenance costs of the installations and therefore the overall cost of offshore energy generation. The owners of offshore assets are well aware of that and are paying a steep price. A massive amount of steel goes into those assets, and all this metal is subject to degradation, which explains why corrosion accounts for approximately 60% of offshore maintenance cost. Preventive maintenance is not just expensive but also reduces the operating life of the assets. Despite the convenient immunity to corrosion of Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP), the use of those materials for large marine structures is limited to secondary components. The main objective of the FIBREGY project is to enable the extensive use of FRP materials in the structure of the next generation of large Renewable Energy Offshore Platforms (REOPs) by overcoming the above mentioned challenges. In order to achieve this objective, the project will develop, qualify and audit innovative FRP materials for offshore applications, elaborate new design procedures and guidelines, generate efficient production, inspection and monitoring methodologies, and validate and demonstrate advanced software analysis tools. Clear performance indicators will be designed and applied in the evaluation of two existing REOPs concepts to be re-engineered in FRP in the project. Finally, the different technologies generated in FIBREGY will be demonstrated by using advanced simulation techniques and building a real-scale prototype to validate the materials, tools, solutions, procedures and guidelines to be developed in FIBREGY.