Connora Technologies along with partners Ecovative Design (USA), Enjoy Handplanes (USA) were awarded the 2015 JEC Asia Innovation Award in the Recycling category. Join us during the 8th annual JEC Asia - Composites Show and Conferences (October 20-22, 2015) for the awards presentation.
Excerpt from the official JEC press release (read the full press release here):
The unprecedented recycling of thermoset plastic composites will enable composite manufacturers to meet their cost reduction and regulatory compliance needs in the fast-growing composites industry.
The ground-breaking cradle-to-cradle recycling of a thermoset plastic composite structure with a compostable bio-based foam core will be demonstrated as part of this project. The application will be a bodysurfing board, aka “hand plane”, representing typical foam core composite structures used in many sporting, automotive, aeronautics, and marine applications today.
The foam core will be comprised of a mushroom foam fiber board made by Evocative Design. The thermoset composite will be made from Connora’s recyclamine epoxy resin system. All parts of the composite will be reclaimed and reused, while the mushroom foam core will be composted or reused.
This cradle-to-cradle composites recycling demonstration of the surfing hand plane represents the larger general concept of recyclable composites. Recyclable composites have enormous market potential in industries where hundreds of thousands of tons of composite waste are generated annually, including automotive, aerospace, electronics (PCB), wind energy, marine, and sporting products. Based on the current market value of reclaimed carbon fiber and copper, the ability to reclaim and reuse high-value materials from composite waste offers the potential for significant cost savings to composites manufacturers. Additionally, similar to the $60+B thermoplastic industry today, the creation of a secondary market for reclaimed composite materials also has significant market potential.
