Beyond State-of-the-Art

• Nanomaterials (NM) SoA: Current methods for synthesis of NMs are by solvothermal batch and flow chemistry using metal precursors coming from mined sources, with a high price and poor sustainability.
  
  
• NM beyond SoA: SaP aims for a more sustainable production using either recycled or renewable sources for NM production, and a lower environmental impact overall by reducing material consumption. At least 90% of valuable NMs should be resynthesized upon recycling with scalable methods.
  
  
• Polylactide Acid (PLA) substrates SoA: Common substrates used in PE include PET and paper, but no studies have yet been published for the holistic recycling paradigm of both NMs and substrates from PE.
  
  
• PLA substrates beyond SoA: PLA is an eco-friendly polymer that needs 65% less energy to be produced and generates 68% fewer greenhouse gases. SaP will develop PLA-based substrates for PE to enhance processability while maintaining either biodegradable or recyclable properties fulfilling IEU specifications.

• Conductive and dielectric inks SoA: There are no biodegradable conductive inks on the market or recyclable dielectric inks.
• Conductive and dielectric inks beyond SoA: The ambition is to develop ink formulations that can enable easy extraction and recycling of the precious base conductive materials and focus on alternative materials to silver. The main innovations will achieve beyond SoA electrical properties, using bio-based and recycled sources.
• Adhesives SoA: Currently these are produced from fossil fuel-based acrylate resins and cannot be de-bonded; no register of bio-based ones.
• Adhesives beyond SoA: The main innovation will be to develop adhesives with de-bond-on-demand properties, that will allow for the removal of discrete and recovery of components and the recycling of inks and substrates.

• Printing production SoA: Screen printing is the standard method; Inkjet printing equipment exists mainly for R&D level.
  
  
• Printing production beyond SoA: The main ambition is to implement and upscale a fully digital printing process to an industrial level. This innovation will:

– automate the production of printed foils for low-volume applications

– demonstrate a 30% lower material usage

– reduce the curing time by 20%

• Recycling of electronics SoA: Despite the many different types of studies in recyclable and biodegradable PE only a few studies have successfully managed to demonstrate production, usage, and product End of Life (EoL), and even fewer addressed the scalability of the processes.
  
  
• Recycling of electronics beyond SoA: SaP will develop a holistic product design based on lifecycle analysis (LCA) implementing recycling methods for electronic and potential nano waste, aiming to increase sustainability further by finding greener alternatives and combining recyclability and degradation into electronic designs.
  
  
• Recycling of NM beyond SoA: SaP ambitions to improve the separation of materials at EoL including the separation of NMs into relevant fractions for resynthesis/recycling. It will be able to extract and recycle over 90% of the metal used in PE reducing the carbon footprint of the technology by around 95-98% when compared to PE based on mined metal sources.
  
  
• Component recycling SoA: The separation of discrete components such as chip capacitors and resistors is labor intensive, a safety hazard, and liable to damage the component and possibly the underlying substrate.
  
  
• Component recycling beyond SoA: SaP will develop a de-mounting process that allows improved separation of components from PE during recycling by utilizing de-bond-on-demand solutions, aiming to reuse demounted components (remounting).