The recovered materials are intended for use in sectors including automotive manufacturing, technical textiles and urban furniture.
Addressing a Growing Waste Stream
Composite materials have become increasingly important in industries such as aerospace, rail transport, shipbuilding and renewable energy. Their combination of low weight, strength and durability has driven widespread adoption across these sectors. However, the manufacturing processes generate significant quantities of waste, particularly from auxiliary materials used only once during production.
Materials such as vacuum bags, release films and absorbent fabrics play a critical role in ensuring product quality. After use, however, most of these materials are disposed of through landfill or energy recovery because recycling options remain limited.
The IMPLICIT project aims to improve resource efficiency by developing recycling solutions for these difficult-to-treat waste streams. The project combines mechanical, physical and chemical recycling technologies to recover materials with a high degree of purity and return them to industrial use.
Consortium Covers the Entire Value Chain
The project is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology and Innovation and receives support from the European Regional Development Fund under the 2024 public-private collaboration programme.
The consortium includes companies Solteco, which coordinates the project, Birziplastik, Faperin and Industrias Alegre. The participating technology centres are AIMPLAS, which serves as technical coordinator, Eurecat, Tecnalia and Leartiker.
The initiative also receives support from the Spanish Composite Materials Association and Airbus. Airbus contributes waste materials generated during aerospace manufacturing processes for use within the research activities.
Multimodal Recycling Technologies
The project focuses on auxiliary materials primarily manufactured from thermoplastic polymers, including polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene and polypropylene.
Researchers are developing a multimodal recycling approach that combines several treatment technologies. Mechanical recycling processes include shredding, sorting and extrusion. Physical recycling methods rely on selective dissolution, while chemical recycling technologies such as solvolysis are used to separate thermoset resins and recover valuable chemical building blocks.
The project also addresses technical challenges associated with heterogeneous waste streams and resin contamination. To improve material quality and industrial applicability, the consortium is developing decontamination, compounding and additive formulation processes designed to enhance the performance of recycled materials.
Industrial Demonstrators
A central element of the project is the validation of recycled materials in industrial applications. The recovered resources will be processed into demonstrator products, including automotive components, urban furniture profiles and multifilament materials for technical textile applications.
The project partners also aim to identify new business opportunities linked to advanced recycling technologies and sustainable manufacturing processes.
Assessing Environmental and Economic Performance
To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed solutions, the consortium will conduct life cycle assessment and life cycle costing studies. These analyses will measure environmental impacts, economic performance and functional suitability, providing a basis for sustainability-focused decision-making.
Through its focus on composite waste recycling, IMPLICIT seeks to support circular economy objectives while improving the management of auxiliary materials that have traditionally remained outside established recycling systems.
The project is registered under reference number CPP2023-010867 and forms part of Spain's 2024 programme for public-private collaboration projects.
