Technological watch

Aditya Birla Advanced Materials, a part of USD 48.3 Billion Aditya Birla Group, and US-based Vartega recently signed a memorandum of understanding to partner on recycling and developing downstream applications for composite products based on Aditya Birla’s patented Recyclamine® Technology. The collaboration aims to develop an ecosystem of recycling & recycled epoxy-based thermoset products using Recyclamine®.
Circular Thermoset Composites Supply Chain
Every application that uses thermoset composites faces the compelling issue of non-recyclability at the end of its useful life. This issue can be addressed by Recyclamine® Technology that enables a fully recyclable epoxy thermoset. The technology is a step into a new era, where thermosets can be recycled in simple and cost-effective ways. When Recyclamine® is recovered, both reinforcement & matrix can be reused enabling a circular supply chain. As a platform chemistry, Recyclamine® technology is applicable across industries as well as manufacturing processes including infusion, compression molding, hand layup, HPRTM, VARTM, and pultrusion.
Pradip Kumar Dubey, senior president, Aditya Birla Advanced Materials, said, "Recyclamine® is a groundbreaking technology in the Epoxy Composites space, which will drive the industry towards a more sustainable future. This partnership can provide solutions to a critical piece of the puzzle for us, as our customers will know how to deal with end-of-life and process waste coming from using Recyclamine® and know where they can send their composite waste to create value."
Vartega’s Service Recycling Platform
Vartega is making composites more sustainable by solving some of the world's toughest recycling challenges to create circular supply chains and enable a prosperous future. Across its broad technology portfolio Vartega recycles various composite materials including wind turbine blade manufacturing scrap, bicycle scrap, and waste carbon fiber.
Vartega’s patented recycling system was specifically developed to recover high value fiber reinforcements as well as resin systems such as Recyclamine®. Through this collaboration Vartega will leverage its modular hardware as a service recycling platform to connect a captive supply in the waste stream to an unmet demand for low-cost composite materials downstream in applications such as sporting goods, additive manufacturing, and lightweight automotive applications.
“It’s been exciting to watch the development of the Recyclamine® Technology over the past several years,” said Andrew Maxey, CEO, Vartega. “We knew very early on in working with Recyclamine® that it was special and has the potential to fundamentally change the sustainability of composites. The investments that Aditya Birla has made in this technology are critical for the innovation of recyclable thermosets. This collaboration will further accelerate those efforts.”

The partnership will serve to build circular supply chains for composite materials in the North America region. This will solve the problem of recyclability of thermoset composites, making the recycling process more efficient and enabling downstream usage of recycled materials for high-performance applications.

Source: Vartega