EVERPV’s objective is to provide EU with efficient solutions for a sustainable treatment of end-of-life PV panels and recovery of high purity and high integrity materials. Based on the grinding of PV panels waste from the backside and/or the use of IR lamps heating, EVERPV will demonstrate two innovative technologies to delaminate the different layers of the PV panel. Combined with recycling processes, it will enable to recover glass with less than 1% impurities, encapsulant and backsheet polymers with a purity over 99%, and silver with a purity of 99%. Besides, the project will cluster with other EU-funded consortia already addressing the recycling of silicon (e.g. PHOTORAMA) to provide with a global solution. The new delamination technologies will be respectively demonstrated at ENVIE recycling plant and at 9TECH to reach TRL7. The technology demonstrated during EVERPV project targets to process more than 3000 tons of solar panels per year, thus recovering enough raw materials recovered to produce more than 350 000 new panels per year by 2030. EVERPV will finally demonstrate the potential for reusability of recovered materials in several industrial value chains in particular in the PV industry. The project will lead a strategic analysis on the potential of new EoL panels circular value chains based on estimated PV waste generation together with environmental and societal impact assessments. EVERPV has gathered a consortium of 16 participants from 8 countries whose expertise ranges from solar PV materials and recycling processes (CEA, CSEM, ENEA, TEC), recyclers (ENVIE, 9TECH), process industries and materials suppliers (SGB, DTF, DPL, JBR), PV modules manufacturing (VAL), collecting and waste treatment organizations (SOREN, ERION), policy-making, business and training facilitators (SPE, UNITAR, BI).
COATED is a collaborative industrial research project which aims to demonstrate a novel current collector in commercially viable lithium-ion battery pouch cells. The project includes a significant element of stakeholder engagement and techno-economic assessment to accelerate commercialisation with the identified supply chain.
The key objective of this project and demonstrator technology is to create a circular economy for polyester (PET) plastic, remove all types of PET from the current waste stream and prevent environmental pollution: by doing so, the environmental impact is heavily reduced. This is due to the processing of waste that is currently either going to landfill or incinerated and producing recycled products that are currently only available from fossil fuel sources.This will have an invaluable impact on GHG emissions and climate change.
The world is facing a plastic waste crisis because of an industrial and consumer mindset where plastic is viewed as 'cheap' and 'disposable'. However, this issue is not _with_ plastic, it's how _we_ deal with plastic - we must create a circular economy for this reliable and versatile material that has transformed our lives and is a superior material choice for packaging and extending the shelf-life of food. These waste PET products are currently deemed 'single-use' or 'unrecyclable' due to their multi-layer or multi-coloured nature. Our 'enhanced recycling' technology is capable of converting this PET waste into BHET, which is the building block for PET production. Our enhanced recycling can provide an effective and economical solution to the waste plastic crisis, and also has the benefit of carrying out this process whilst producing negligible emissions.
The objective is to initially recycle 10,000 tons per year of waste PET into rPET to displace the conventional PET products. This product will be directly used to create rPET for use in sensible applications. This process supports and enhances 'The UK Plastic Pact' goal for creating a circular economy for essential plastic products, whilst also educating the consumers and brand owners towards optimizing the reuse, recycling and reduction of plastic use and production.
The true circularity of this innovative approach is demonstrated by (i) the fact that low quality 'single-use' PET waste can be processed and upcycled into a higher-quality grade of material, and (ii) since the PET is converted back to the base ingredients, this cycle can be repeated indefinitely without loss of quality or properties. Through construction of this UK-first demonstration facility it is expected that the landscape for PET recycling will be changed forever and the goals of the UK Plastics Pact will be achievable.
This project involving Applied Graphene Materials, a rapidly growing start-up producing graphene nanoplatelets and dispersions , and DuPont Teijin Films, a leading polyester film manufacturer with a track record of innovation, will assess the feasibility of using graphene as a performance enhancer in polyester films . Dispersion techniques as well as polymerisation and coating methods will be investigated as possible routes for the incorporation of graphene in or on top of polyester films. The project will perform the first comprehensive characterisation of graphene containing polyester films including mechanical, electrical, thermal, chemical and barrier properties. This broad range of tests, matched with the available knowledge of commercial opportunities in the polyester film industry, will allow the partners to assess the benefits of graphene containing polyester films across a broad range of potential applications and to prioritise future development work.
Picture Window will demonstrate an electrically controllable optical film for the built environment able to change its reflectivity characteristics to enable the control of solar radiation entering the building and to provide digital display of information at low-resolution. Using a new generation of high performance smectic A liquid crystal materials and recently developed know-how in the fabrication of LC device structures on plastic, the project will extend the applicability of the technology into the built environment.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership
To generate a new range of polyester films with improved surface properties for applications in solar cells and other electronic applications.
Develop printable semi-conductors capable of powering overt displays. Develop a process based on conventional or semi-conventional equipment. Make the components ultra low cost