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We are excited to share with you the fifth newsletter of the r-LightBioCom project, which proposes a paradigm
shift in the way high-performance composites (HPC) are manufactured and
recycled, unlocking sustainable-by-design production of lightweight HPC.
In this issue, you will be able to find out about two project milestones we have reached recently:
- Sustainable HPC components ready for use cases: Essential groundwork for the development of new high-performance composites for meeting our sustainability requirements.
- Environmental impact analysis of materials and recycling processes: Evaluating the ecological performance of materials and end-of-life options developed in the project.
Additionally, we are sharing updates on
our research activities in Advancing Sustainable Composites: Innovative
Hybrid Nonwovens, as well as news on our events, collaborations, and
more. Happy reading!
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HPC Components ready for Use Cases
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In March 2025, the r-LightBioCom project reached a major milestone: Identifying sustainable High-Performance Composite (HPC) components ready for use case implementation.
These materials will be demonstrated in four applications: two in the
automotive sector, one in infrastructure, and one in aeronautics.
Automotive: bio-based composite in the form of a sustainable spoiler and an eco-friendlier trunk floor using flax and basalt fibres.
Infrastructure: tunnel lining panels using bio-resins and non-glass reinforcements to enhance fire and water resistance.
Aeronautics:
replacing conventional CFRP panels with bio-based resins and recycled
fibres for secondary aircraft structures, promoting lightweight and
recyclable alternatives.
This
achievement marks a critical step toward developing next generation
composite materials, aligning high performance with recyclability and
sustainability.
Read more about the milestone here: r-LightBioCom reaches Milestone: Sustainable High-Performance Composites components ready for Use Cases
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LCA of Materials and Recycling Processes
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Led by our project partner CIDAUT,
the life cycle assesment (LCA) evaluated the environmental footprint of
materials developed in the project — from raw material production to
end-of-life — using high-quality data from partners Hochschule Kaiserslautern (University for Applied Sciences), AEP Polymers, Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe, AITEX, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), FeyeCon, and FECSA.
Key findings include:
- Up to 90% reduction in CO₂ emissions for some bio-based epoxy systems
- Negative carbon footprints for flax and hemp fibres, thanks to carbon sequestration
- Superior performance in human and ecosystem toxicity categories
- Innovative supercritical CO₂ recycling recovered up to 90% of fibres while preserving quality
This
milestone confirms that bio-based materials and recycling innovations
developed in r-LightBioCom offer a significantly lower environmental
impact than conventional alternatives.
In
the next phase, the project will conduct cradle-to-grave LCAs on our
demonstrators and processing technologies, further guiding the
development of greener composite solutions.
Read more about the LCA applications here: r-LightBioCom reaches sustainability milestone: LCA of materials and recycling processes successfully completed
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Advancing Sustainable Composites:
Innovative Hybrid Nonwovens
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Project partner Hochschule Kaiserslautern (University for Applied Sciences)
successfully developed and tested hybrid nonwoven materials made from
flax, hemp, and basalt fibres with polypropylene as a matrix. Using
compression moulding, these materials were transformed into composites,
achieving a 20-30% increase in bending strength and impact resistance
compared to natural fibre composites.
This
pioneering approach marks a major step toward resource-efficient,
high-performance lightweight materials, with potential applications in
automotive, aerospace, and beyond. As research continues, these
materials could set new standards for sustainable composite design.
Read more about these innovations in our article here: EU Project r-LightBioCom pioneers innovative, sustainable High-Performance Bio-Composites with Natural and Basalt Fibres
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Why is this innovation important?
✅ Hybrid Strength
Basalt fibres enhance durability and corrosion resistance, while flax and hemp contribute lightweight, CO₂-neutral properties.
✅ Long Basalt Fibres
Unlike
traditional short fibres (4-12 mm), these composites use 100 mm long
basalt fibres, unlocking new mechanical benefits and industrial
applications.
✅ Sustainability & Efficiency
Basalt fibres, derived from volcanic rock, require no chemical additives, making them eco-friendlier than glass fibres.
✅ Recyclability
Project partner FeyeCon has successfully recycled these composites, recovering both natural and basalt fibres.
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EcoComposites Cluster Networking at JEC World
At the JEC World 2025 in March, the EcoComposites Cluster representatives from MC4, Repoxyble, FOREST, SUSPENS, FURHY, and
r-LightBioCom engaged in insightful discussions on synergies between projects, challenges and solutions in making composites more sustainable and planned on the next steps in potential collaborations.
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The meeting provided a
platform for all partner projects to exchange on ideas and innovations
for making composites more sustainable.
Read more about the EcoComposites Cluster on our website.
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r-LightBioCom 30-Month Review Meeting
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On September 4, the partners and evaluators of the EU Project r-LightBioCom convened for the 30-Month Review Meeting.
The
consortium presented progress on key milestones, recent innovations,
and upcoming activities as the project enters its final phase.
Constructive feedback and valuable recommendations from the evaluators
will help guide the next steps and strengthen the impact of our work.
We
look forward to building on these achievements and continuing our
mission to deliver sustainable, high-performance composite solutions.
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5th r-LightBioCom Project Meeting
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During the 5th Project Meeting held in April at the CIDAUT
headquarters, the project partners reflected on the latest progress and
achievements. We are excited to share key highlights from our project’s
progress on developing sustainable, high-performance composites:
Bio-based resins, additives, formulations for use cases:
- Continued optimisation
of bio-based resins, bio-based additives and corresponding formulations
according to use case evaluations with the aim to further increase
bio-content and optimise viscosity and properties of the resin
systems/vitrimers.
- Functionalised
nanoparticles with specific properties have been optimised, and the
production process has been successfully scaled up to larger volumes of
up to 10 litres.
Sustainable fibres and textile intermediates:
- Nonwoven fabrics
incorporating up to 50% bio-based fibres (such as basalt, flax, and
hemp) in polypropylene or recycled polypropylene matrices have
demonstrated very good results.
- Certain material blends
revealed significant potential for enhancing recycled content in the
composites while preserving desirable material properties.
- The technical
feasibility of incorporating recycled aramid into technical yarns for
pultrusion applications has been successfully demonstrated.
New fast curing technologies:
- Tests of optimised
bio-based resins for the photopolymerisation curing process were carried
out using the silicon mould previous to test in the newly developed RTM
mould.
- Upon studying a
commercial bio-based and optimised bio-based resins reinforced with
flax, glass, or basalt fibres for the vacuum infusion system with
microwave curing, processing parameters were successfully optimised.
Innovative Recycling Methods:
- The application of
recycling techniques from r-LightBioCom to the bio-resins and
bio-composites developed in the project has begun.
- NF/ bioepoxy and CF/ PA-6 composites were successfully recycled at room temperature;
- It was demonstrated that the solvent can be re-used to recycle NF/ bioepoxy and CF/ PA-6 composites.
- Rection time was decreased 2 times to recycle NF/ bioepoxy and CF/ PA-6 composites.
- Ballistic helmet recycling was successfully scaled up to 20 litres reactor.
Composite optimisation:
- Several quasi-static and
dynamic test campaigns have been conducted testing different honeycomb
sandwich structures developed in the project. Flax-based composites
showed best results.
- Key advancements of the Coupled Ecological Optimisation (CEO) developed in the project.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA):
- Selected bio-resins and
natural fibres, as well as the new processing technologies developed in
r-LightBioCom were successfully modelled and integrated into the
project's comparative LCA.
- Their environmental impact was analysed, demonstrating a significantly lower footprint compared to conventional alternatives.
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AITEX participates in ECOSYSTEX Insights Series
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On March 21, EU Project r-LightBioCom participated in the 13th edition of the ECOSYSTEX Insights webinar series.
At the webinar, Pau Pascual from our technical coordinator AITEX presented the latest developments in r-LightBioCom on bio-based and sustainable high-performance lightweight composites.
This webinar, hosted by Textile ETP, also showcased leading Horizon Europe projects on textile sustainability, namely DigInTrace, BioSusTex, and CRAFT-IT4SD.
The presentation is available for viewing on YouTube.
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International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM21)
06.-11.07.2025Bologna, ItalyDr. Andrew Harrison from our project partner DLR
– German Aerospace Center gave a presentation titled “Numerical
Calibration of Tensile and Compressive Failure of Bio-Epoxy Foam Core
for Explicit Analysis using a Simplified Testing Approach” highlighting
the innovative bio-based epoxy foams developed within the r-LightBioCom
project.
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EU Green Week 2025
10.06.2025
Online
r-LightBioCom was represented by AITEX
at the #EUGreenWeek partner event webinar "Contributing to the circular
economy by clean, competitive & industrial-scalable solutions
coming from EU-funded projects" hosted by LIFE POLITEX and LIFE ANHIDRA
on June 10. The session spotlighted real-world examples of waste
recovery, closed-loop systems, and resource-efficient technologies
across sectors.
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Open Campus Day at HSKL
05.04.2025
Kaiserslautern, Germany
Hochschule Kaiserslautern (University for Applied Sciences)
hosted the "Tag des offenen Campus 2025" (Open Campus Day 2025),
providing prospective students with an excellent opportunity to explore
and experience a vibrant academic environment.At
this year’s Open Campus Day, the EU-Project r-LightBioCom was presented
as part of the strong, hands-on and sustainability-driven research
culture at the university.The
event showcased bio-based composite materials made from natural fibers,
polypropylene and basalt fibers. These innovative materials are being
developed within the project and show great potential as structural
components in the automotive industry.
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3rd EuReComp Workshop
19.03.2025
Athens, Greece
Mohamadreza Nasirzade Tabrizi from Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW) presented the latest advancements from r-LightBioCom at the 3rd EuReComp Workshop.His presentation covered key developments, including the processing and dispersion of recyclates in collaboration with FeyeCon, as well as the enhancement of bio-epoxy resins using Lignin NPs, developed in partnership with Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
He also explored the upscaling potential of these solutions for
industrial applications, demonstrating how tailored bio-composites can
deliver high-performance properties while significantly reducing
environmental impact.
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Follow us on social media, and share the information with your colleagues and friends.
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Contact: info-r-LightBioCom@dlr.de |
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Funded
by the European Union under Grant Agreement Project No 101091691. Views
and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do
not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. The European Union
cannot be held responsible.
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Copyright © 2023 r-LightBioCom, All rights reserved.
Imprint
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