Objective
The demand for biobased polymers is growing fast. According to the current state of the art, metal-containing catalysts are needed to improve the polymerisation rate of lactones, posing a hazard to health and the environment. InnoREX will develop a novel reactor concept using alternative energies for the continuous, highly precise, metal-free polymerisation of PLA.
In InnoREX, metal-containing catalysts will be replaced by organic catalysts. These have been shown to efficiently control the polymerisation of lactide, but their activity must still be improved to meet industrial standards. This will be achieved by the low-intensity but highly-targeted application of alternative energies (microwaves, ultrasound, laser light). These energies increase catalyst activity and enable precise control of the reaction by exciting only small parts of the reaction mixture without response time.
To ensure short market entry times commercially well-established co-rotating twin screw extruders will be used as reaction vessels. The reason commercial polymerisations are not yet carried out in twin screw extruders is the short residence time and the static energy input of the extruder, which allows no dynamic control of the reaction. Again, these obstacles will be overcome in InnoREX. The project will utilise the rapid response time of microwaves, ultrasound and laser light to achieve a precisely-controlled and efficient continuous polymerisation of high molecular weight PLA in a twin screw extruder. Additionally, significant energy savings will be achieved by combining polymerisation, compounding and shaping in one production step.
For a deepened scientific and engineering understanding of the reaction, the effect of the alternative energies on the reaction kinetics and the potential applications for alternative energies in reactive extrusion, offline chemical and polymer analytics and online characterisation and simulation of the process within the reactor will be carried out.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics polylactic acid
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
- natural sciences physical sciences acoustics ultrasound
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-NMP-2012-SMALL-6
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
80686 MUNCHEN
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.