Currently, the use of bio-composites is limited to less critical applications that do not have significant requirements in terms of mechanical performance. However, the use of synthetic composites made from carbon or glass fibre has several difficulties in terms recycling and in terms of dependence on third countries. About 98% of these synthetic composites still end up in landfills and about 80% of the raw materials are currently manufactured outside of Europe. To improve this situation, the project addresses the challenges of using bio-composites for structural parts and aims to increase the range of applications in which bio-composites can be used. This will be achieved by developing an accurate draping process to control fibre orientation, by creating material models that capture the natural variability of the material and by integrating nano-structured, bio-based sensors for load monitoring. Through the increased accuracy and additional control loops in the manufacturing process the consortium expects to achieve predictable properties and constant quality. Within the project use cases from wind energy and boat-building will be investigated, aiming at the manufacturing of a full size rotor blade and a ship hull to demonstrate the technical feasibility and achieving TRL7 for the manufacturing technologies. In addition to the end users, the consortium consists of partners from automation, machine building, measurement technology, material manufacturing and simulation software to cover all aspects of the developments. Based on the predicted growth of the bio-composites market, which is expected to increase by a factor of 2.5 by 2030, the consortium expects a market potential of about 100M€ by 2030.

Each year about 110.000t of carbon fibre composite parts and 4.500.000t of glass fibre composites are used. 98% of these parts end up in landfills at the end of their life. To address this problem the MC4 project aims at establishing a multi-level circular process for carbon and glass fibre composite. Multi-level means that processes will be developed for short-term implementation with immediate impact and for the longer term with a wider impact on industry. Carbon and glass fibre have substantially different costs and the project takes this into account by developing economically feasible procedures that are based on chemical matrix/fibre separation for carbon fibre and on a new type of resing for the direct re-use of the composite for glass fibre. Quality grading of the recycled material will be a key element to ensure a proper use in the different domains. Within the supply chain investigated in the project the goal is to achieve a recycling rate of at least 60%. As an additional benefit, the project will enable European material manufacturers to develop their own, patented processes for manufacturing of recycled material. Currently, 80% of the manufacturing of virgin carbon and glass fibre is taking place outside of Europe and the manufacturing technologies used inside of Europe are often licensed from foreign countries. MC4 puts particular emphasis on the design and manufacturing of best practice examples of parts made from recycled materials. For five different domains, including automotive, aerospace, sports equipment, boats and urban furniture, composite products will be manufactured, with the aim of demonstrating the use of recycled material and enhancing the demand side for recycled material in the different domains. The consortium includes process developers, material manufacturers and SME end users, who manufacture composite parts. It covers the whole value chain and thus enables the creation of real circular process for composites.