ReMade@ARI – A European hub to develop materials for the circular economy
Linear vs Circular economy.
Designing sophisticated new materials - competitively functional, durable and highly recyclable – is the common goal of the 50 analytical research infrastructures of the European ARIE network, which joined forces in ReMade@ARI.
The ILL will bring its expertise to the project, which launches on 1 September 2022 after receiving 13.8 million euros funding under the European Union’s (EU) Horizon Europe programme.
The European Union’s (EU) Circular Economy Action Plan is based on the assumption that up to 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined during the design phase.
ReMade@ARI therefore commits to enhance a material design focusing onsustainability, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling - in order to preserve the value of the resulting components and products throughout their use.
For example, bio-based materials derived from wood could provide a sustainable alternative to the packaging of fruits and vegetables, which are currently often stored in plastic to extend their shelf life.
"We, at the ILL, are excited to provide our technical expertise and guidance to develop innovative materials and processes that will use raw materials more efficiently while reducing waste, throughout the products' life cycle," says Dr. Peter Fouquet, coordinator of the neutron studies at ILL.
“This project provides a truly unique platform for research on sustainable materials. It will foster exchanges across the ARIE consortium and with our longstanding partners at the other neutron facilities in Europe, notably ISIS, MLZ, PSI and BNC – all members of the LENS initiative."
The ReMade@ARI platform will be the central hub for all industrial sectors (such as electronics, construction, packaging or textiles) and research areas in which new materials for a circular economy will be developed.
“We provide scientists who are working on the design of new recyclable materials with analytical tools that enable them to explore the properties and the structure of their material in smallest details up to atomic resolution. This requires the exploitation of the most diverse analytical methods, involving appropriate combinations of photons, electrons, neutrons, ions, positrons and the highest magnetic fields,” says Dr. Stefan Facsko, the project’s scientific coordinator. “Any scientist in academic or industrial research working on new recyclable materials should get in touch with us.”
A particular focus will be on scientists working in research fields in which, up to now, the potential of research infrastructures has not yet been exploited. “We will offer them an all-round service, closely collaborating with them to identify the relevant properties to be analysed in order to develop the optimum material for a particular purpose. Based on that, the most suitable research infrastructures to measure these properties will be identified from among the pool of Europe’s unique facilities”
40 partners of the ARIE network are involved in the project, which is being coordinated by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).
Additional information
- Dr. Peter Fouquet
Coordination of neutron studies at the Institut Laue-Langevin
Phone: +33 476 20 7204 I Email
- Dr. Stefan Facsko
ReMade@ARI scientific coordinator at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 2987 I Email
- Dr. Barbara Schramm
Research Programs and International Projects at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 2684 I Email