El R3TORNADO collaborative innovation project, with the participation of the Toy Valley Innovative Companies Cluster (CEIV), Related and Related Toy Industry Research Association (AIJU), IDONIAL Foundation, Acteco Productos y Servicios, S.L., Promak Selling Solutions, S.L. and the Spanish Center for Plastics (CEP), is underway, with the aim of researching the recycling ecosystem of thermoplastic waste for its revaluation, as raw material, in advanced processes of large format 3D printing and high productivity.
Currently, plastic waste to be revalued to be used by the most widespread additive manufacturing technology, that based on filament extrusion, must go through a series of phases: grinding, melting, extruding, drawing, winding... with a high energy cost in detriment of the environmental balance of the entire process. And although there are filaments from recycled sources, for practical purposes, 3D printing is not causing a great impact in terms of volumes of transformed recycled material. The R3TORNADO project is based on this problem, which aims to improve the use of recycled plastic materials in additive manufacturing processes, specifically in the large format 3D printing process, since there are equipment that does not depend on filament and works directly with formats. of material in pellets or granules.
Among the objectives of the project is to identify recycled polymers that are likely to be more compatible with the large format 3D printing process and optimize the process for its correct implementation.
In addition, R3TORNADO will identify and establish potential application lines for recycled materials in large products through the proposed technology and will evaluate the life cycle of 3D printing as a sink for thermoplastic waste.
Beyond the technological objectives, the project pursues the future reduction of the volume of non-recoverable thermoplastic waste; enhance the recovery and reuse of this waste within the industrial ecosystem through the use of additive manufacturing; and, disseminate the potential of this transformation process as a tool to recover thermoplastic waste.
The R3TORNADO project with file number AEI-010500-2023-233 is financed by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism through the aid program to support Innovative Business Groups (AEI), within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience, in order to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies.
