Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), are relatively new to mass-oriented applications, resulting in a still limited waste stream: however, this scenario allows for a peculiar position to anticipate the wave and act to set up a cradle-to-cradle value chain dealing with the composite waste further than its end-of-life and up to its correct disposal and re-use. This work will present the journey of recycling complex Polymer-based carbon fiber reinforced polymers starting from basic research up to an industrial plant, FIB3R, dealing with 320ton/year which started up in Imola (BO) - Italy last november¹, and offers a perspective on ReCF upcycled reuse.
Besides a mere energy recovery approach, the attempt at recycling and re-use of CFRPs is economically viable when the reinforcing fraction is gathered, since CFs production is highly energy-requiring². The most promising approach is pyrolysis, followed by a slight oxidation treatment to provide a fully functional fiber that could maintain at least 90% of the original mechanical performance, thus delivering commercial grade reCF³. In a preliminary pilot plant based LCA this process attested to a reduction of 40 kgCO₂ eq per kg of recycled CFs, compared to virgin CFs⁴, which, upon industrial scale-up (presently under evaluation on the FIB3R plant) envisages an estimated reduction of the carbon footprint up to 15%.
Finally, reuse of ReCF in car component compliant with pedestrian impact requirements will also be presented, validate the potential for an upcycled closure of the circularity loop.
This work was funded by Ecosyster under NRRP, M4C2I1.5 CUP J33C22001240001.

In the last decades, the proportion of plastics in passenger vehicles has been steadily increasing, reaching an average of around 12–15 wt% today.[1] However, just 8 % of these plastics are made from recycled materials and only small quantities are recycled again after end-of-life.[1] This is a major environmental problem, as the production and thermal recovery of these plastics push the carbon emissions up. For an enhanced use of recycled materials in the automotive industry, a consistent material quality is particularly challenging. Especially for high-quality engineering plastics with safety-relevant applications this is often reason for concern. The influence of the use phase on the material state of engineering plastics from vehicles is mostly unknown,[2] whereas commodity plastics have already received been explored.[3–5] Here we show that the molecular, thermal and mechanical characteristics of a polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) composite (acquired from control units from the engine compartment) exhibit no significant change during their use phase with respect to the mileage and year of construction of the vehicles. Our results highlight a remarkable resistance of the material towards aging-related degradation. The study provides a comprehensive assessment of the aging behavior of engineering plastics during their use in vehicles. We believe our results lay a groundwork for further research on the stability of engineering plastics and contribute to exploit the enormous potential of end-of-life vehicles for recycled plastics.

Fiber-to-fiber recycling is still in its infancy, with significant challenges still hindering large-scale implementation. Notably, around 67% of textile fibers are derived from petrochemical sources with polyester (PET) accounting for 57% of global fiber production alone. Systems for polyester textile-to-textile recycling are in development, but unlike bottle-based feedstocks, textile waste generally requires additional separation, and purification steps [1]. Elastane, a poly(urethane-urea) copolymer fiber, also known as spandex or Lycra®, is a known prohibitive for many recyclers as it poses technical challenges even if present in small amounts.
This study presents a solvent-based approach for selectively dissolving elastane from polyester textile blends, facilitating efficient fiber recovery. Traditional solvents for polyurethane such as dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethylacetamide (DMAc) are effective but toxic and environmentally hazardous. Here, we demonstrate a novel alternative solvent blend of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) combined with biobased ether 2-methyl tetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), demonstrating excellent elastane dissolution at room temperature [2,3]. Using advanced characterization techniques, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and melt rheology, we evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment in removing elastane while preserving the integrity of the remaining fibers to be recycled.

Recycling innovations are essential for a sustainable future, addressing environmental challenges related to plastic consumption. With a wide variety of plastic polymers being used such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropelyne (PP), nylon/polyamine (PA) and high-performance plastics like polyether ether ketone (PEEK), finding a single recycling solution for all is challenging. In this work, we present recycling results using 3devo’s Filament Maker (Figure A) to process thermoplastic waste into 3D-printing filament for additive manufacturing.

This study emphasizes the recycling of nylon powder from Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing. In SLS printing and multi-jet fusion (MJF) processes, up to 60% waste is produced per print.[1] Using the Filament Maker, the SLS waste powder was melted during extrusion through four distinct heating zones (Figure B). Maintained at temperatures between 180 and 190 °C, the nylon powder was successfully extruded into 1.75 mm filament with tolerances below 0.2 mm. In Figure C, the produced filament spools are shown along with a printed Benchy. The mechanical recycling method of extrusion is suited for thermoplastics with processing temperatures up to 450 °C. For example high-performance PEEK, which has a melting temperature of 343 °C was successfully extruded into a high-quality filament of 1.75 mm using 3devo’s Filament Maker TWO (Figure A). Additionally, incorporating composite materials further enhances the potential of extrusion-based plastic recycling, expanding its applicability to a wider range of thermoplastic materials.[2,3]

Epoxy resins are integral to the coating industry, yet they are mostly petroleum-based and non-recyclable due to their crosslinked structures. This study presents a cradle-to-cradle approach to creating biobased, and recyclable epoxy resin wood coatings using the heavy fraction of liquefied wood (HLW). HLWis a lignin-like compound with a high content of aromatic structures and acts as a hydroxyl donor, reacts with three different diglycidyl ethers (of polyethylene glycol (DGEPEG), glycerol (DGEG), and bisphenol A (DGEBPA) as a control). By employing the same liquefaction process, the crosslinked product of HLWand DGEG is depolymerized and recycled with an 88% yield, producing the heavy fraction of recycled coating (HLC). HLC is then crosslinked with DGEG, and its performance is thoroughly compared to the original HLW-based epoxy coating. Remarkably, the recycled epoxy coatings exhibit competitive properties to the initial coating and commercial bisphenol A epoxy-amine hardener systems. This HLW-epoxy system highlights the feasibility of recycling wood coatings, with the recycled product retaining its performance, thus offering a sustainable alternative in the coating industry.

Polymer films often require a broad property profile that is achievable only by combin-ing multiple materials and layers. The usability of such composites depends not only on their properties but also on the adhesion between layers. Adhesion is primarily influenced by the surface energy of individual materials. To ensure a stable bond despite differing material properties, adhesives and adhesion-promoter are commonly used. However, these increase the product’s CO2 footprint, hinder recyclability, and are harmful to the environment due to solvent usage [1],[2].
Therefore, in this paper an adhesion-promoter-free two-layer film is investigated. The molten film with lower surface energy undergoes an atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment to increase and match the surface energy of the other binding film. Both films, still molten, are then joined into an adhesion-promoter-free composite. Although preliminary work has demonstrated the feasibility, the composites between a polyeth-ylene and a polyamide produced in this way proved to be rather weak [3]. Hence, this paper describes the optimization of the composite strength between these materials through the investigation of different process gases, settings and positioning of the plasma system. In addition to the primary target value, i.e. the bonding strength, the surface energy was also examined. The results showed an increase in the surface energy of the polyethylene which led to a significant increase of the bonding strength from 0,05 N/mm to 2,92 N/mm after treatment.