Abstract
Performance is the main concern in the design of motorcycle helmets, and for this reason there is a continuous search for new materials (especially polymer-based) that can increase their performance. However, while the plastic materials used in the production of motorcycle helmet components are crucial in ensuring the required characteristics of the finished product, they pose a problem when the helmet reaches the end of its life and must be disposed. To date, there are no valid industrial-scale solutions available to recycle these products, which consequently are disposed primarily through landfill and incineration. The reason for this end-of-life scenario is due to the very complex composition of helmets, especially motorcycle ones. Indeed, although the plastics of which they are made are individually recyclable, they are bonded into the finished product by processes that make mechanical separation and recycling very difficult and not industrially and economically feasible. The enormous production of polymeric materials required for helmet manufacturing thus results in a disproportionate accumulation of plastic waste. LIFE IMPACTO wants to act as a frontrunner in proposing an effective solution to reverse the linear life cycle of this product category, as it aims at the creation of a circular process based on dissolution recycling, targeting directly post-consumer motorcycle helmets, collected by means of a take-back campaign. The project will develop an innovative industrial-scale plant which will allow the separation of the different plastic materials of which the helmet is composed through the action of bio-based solvents (limonene and ethyl acetate) obtained from food-industry waste. In this way, it is possible to recover, without loss of quality, the main plastic materials (ABS, EPS and PC), to be reused within the same value chain for the production of new helmet components having the same mechanical and safety features of actual non-sustainable ones.
Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Martino Colonna
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica, Ambientale e dei Materiali
Coordinator:
Soggetti Diversi(Italy)
Other Participants:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna
(Italy)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 2.069.716,83
Project Duration in months: 36
Start Date:
01/06/2024
End Date:
31/05/2027
Cordis webpage
Project website
This project has received funding from the European Union's LIFE Programme under grant agreement No 101148331