BIO4SELF
 
 
http://www.risk-technologies.com/home.aspx?pst=bl&pag=1329&BlockID=-454
BIOBASED SELF-FUNCTIONALISED SELF-REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS BASED ON HIGH PERFORMANCE NANOFIBRILLAR PLA FIBRES
Acronym: BIO4SELF
Start date: March 1, 2016
End date: June 30, 2019
Total project value: 6.8 Million €
Project coordinator: CENTEXBEL (CTB), Dr. Guy Buyle
Total number of partners: 15
Contact person (name/email): Ms. Parva Chhantyal, pchhantyalrisk-technologies.com
Project webpage R-Tech/EU-VRi: http://risk-technologies.com/
Official webpage (coordinator): http://bio4self.eu/
Description: BIO4SELF aims at fully bio-based self-reinforced polymer composites (SRPC). To produce the SRPCs two polylactic acid (PLA) grades are required: a low melting temperature (Tm) one to form the matrix and an ultra high stiffness and high Tm one to form the reinforcing fibres. To reach unprecedented stiffness in the reinforcing PLA fibres, we will mix PLA with bio-LCP (liquid crystalline polymer) for nanofibril formation. Further, we will increase the temperature resistance of PLA and improve its durability. This way, BIO4SELF will exploit recent progress in PLA fibre technology. We will add inherent self-functionalisation in the bulk of the composite material via photocatalytic fibres (self-cleaning properties), tailored microcapsules (self-healing properties) and deformation detecting fibres (self-sensing).
Prototype composite parts for automotive and home appliances will be demonstrators to show the much broader range of industrial applications, e.g. furniture, construction, sports goods. Our developments will enable to use biobased composites for high end applications, thus contribution to using sustainable and renewable raw materials. Being able to produce, process or sell these novel SRPCs and related composite intermediates will be a clear competitive advantage. First estimates predict a market of at least 20kton/year (corresponding to ca. €400M).
The BIO4SELF consortium is a well balanced mix of end-users (large enterprises to maximise impact), technology providers (mainly R&D driven SMEs), R&D actors (RTDs and universities) and innovation support (specialised SMEs). It covers the required expertise, infrastructure, and industrial know how to realise the innovation potential of the novel high performance biobased SRPCs, both during and beyond the project.
R-Tech Specific Role: R-Tech will contribute this by tackling the aspects related to sustainability of the materials and products developed within BIO4SELF. This implies the environmental and cost assessment, end-of-life scenarios and safety analysis. In the environmental assessment, a cradle-to-grave approach will be used to assess the investigated system (biobased composite structure and conventional fossil fuel based materials). The cumulative environmental impact resulting from all stages in the product development, includes raw materials’extraction (using secondary and tertiary data for the evaluation of specific impact) and the ultimate product disposal by investigating the benefits/constraints related with different scenarios defined by the compositions and characteristic of final products.
Furthermore, risk management studies in the project will be carried out by R-Tech. The risk management will follow the principles established at ISO 31000 and consider the main steps of risk assessment (risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation) together with monitoring and communication.

Presentation