AGROCOM Operational Group: Manufacturing of AGROCOMPOSITES through waste recovery applying Circular Bioeconomy

The main activities to be carried out within the project will be the following:

• PHASE 1. ANALYSIS OF INPUT ELEMENTS: In this task, the current requirements, materials and designs will be analyzed, as well as the products and manufacturing processes by injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming or, occasionally, 3D printing, to identify the necessary requirements that the materials that are intended to be selected as additives in the final composition of the ACs must have.
• PHASE 2. SELECTION OF SUCOR AS ADDITIVES/REINFORCEMENT AND POLYMER MATRICES. This task will select additives with the potential to form ACs that could successfully replace PMs used to manufacture capsules and closures by injection molding, extrusion, or 3D printing.
• PHASE 3. ADJUSTMENT OF ADDITIVES TO MAKE THEM COMPATIBLE WITH THE POLYMER MATRIX. In this phase, the chemical and physical processes that the additives must undergo will be studied so that they can be properly integrated into the PM, so that they can be manufactured correctly, and so that the final product meets the specifications required in the manufacturing process of the closures or capsules, with the bioactive coatings and the BACs.
• PHASE 4. MANUFACTURING AND CHARACTERIZING THE BACS AND COATINGS. In this task, the sugars selected in the previous task as capable of forming suitable mixtures with conventional materials typically used in the manufacture of closures and capsules are manufactured and characterized, selecting only those whose characteristics make them viable options. This task involves performing physical-chemical characterization and evaluating the mechanical, thermo-mechanical, and other properties required by the products in service. Similarly, the BACs selected as viable according to the previous task are manufactured for in-vitro testing.
• PHASE 5. PROTOTYPING BY INJECTION, EXTRUSION, 3D PRINTING, AND PRODUCT VALIDATION. Finally, this task involves manufacturing and validating prototypes of successful solutions tested in the previous phases. To this end, small-volume molds will be manufactured for testing on an injection molding machine, extruder, or 3D printer.