BiCEPs
Over the last few decades, plastics have found their way into modern society. These materials can be produced at low manufacturing costs and yet comprise outstanding performance. Many of these lightweight materials are disposed after single-use, leading to enormous amounts of waste materials that increasingly have a negative impact on the environment.
Here, we propose an approach to recycle plastic waste stream materials into new applications of high value. More specifically, we aim to use polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) waste stream materials as a raw material feedstock in combination with readily available biobased raw materials, to produce high performance thermoplastic elastomers that can be used in a wide variety of applications. This unique combination of recycled PET with biobased raw materials gives rise to develop high performance materials via circular upcycling of waste materials.
Timeline: 01/01/2020 – 31/12/2021
Contact: Gijs de Kort or Jules Harings
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Research
The BiCEPs project will be executed along four main research lines:
- Process development to produce high-performance thermoplastic elastomers from r-PET and bio-based raw materials
- Identification of the effect of residual PET and biobased species on the polymerization process
- Identification of the effect of residual PET species on polymer properties
- Carbon Footprint Analysis
