ReMade@ARI – a Hub for Materials Development for Recycling
The European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan is based on the assumption that up to 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined during the design phase. In order to foster a comprehensive approach to sustainable production and products, the European research infrastructure project ReMade@ARI is about to be launched: it commits to leverage the development of innovative, sustainable materials for key components in the most diverse sectors, such as electronics, batteries, vehicles, construction, packaging, plastics, textiles and food on an unprecedented level.
In order to meet the challenge of designing new materials that are both competitively functional and highly recyclable, the potential of more than 50 analytical research infrastructures of the European ARIE network will be harnessed. The Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons in Forschungszentrum Jülich will coordinate the contribution to the project from the European Distributed Research Infrastructure for Advanced Electron Microscopy . ReMade@ARI started on 1st September 2022 under the leadership of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) .
An illustrative example: In the supermarket, fruits and vegetables are often packaged in plastics to extend their shelf life. In the future, bio-based materials derived from wood could provide a sustainable alternative. This is where ReMade@ARI comes into play: research leading to the development of sophisticated new materials crucially relies on access to the world-class European research infrastructures, which have joined forces in ReMade@ARI.
The ReMade@ARI platform will be the central hub for all sectors and research areas in which new materials for a circular economy will be developed. “We provide scientists who are working on the design of new recyclable materials with analytical tools that enable them to explore the properties and the structure of their material in the smallest details up to atomic resolution. This requires the exploitation of the most diverse analytical methods, involving appropriate combinations of photons, electrons, neutrons, ions, positrons and the highest magnetic fields,” says Dr. Stefan Facsko, the project’s scientific coordinator. “Any scientist in academic or industrial research working on new recyclable materials should get in touch with us.”
A particular focus will be on scientists in research fields in which, up to now, the potential of research infrastructures has not yet been exploited. “We will offer them an all-round service, closely collaborating with them to identify the relevant properties to be analyzed, in order to develop the optimum material for a particular purpose. Based on that, the most suitable research infrastructures to measure these properties will be identified from among the pool of Europe’s unique facilities”.
ReMade@ARI will have a significant impact on the advancement of the circular economy. Overall, 40 partners of the ARIE network are involved in the project. The Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons contributes with access to its unique electron microscopes. This concerns the entire chain from sample preparation to evaluation and interpretation of data.
The project is being funded by the European Union with a budget of 13.8 million euros. The project coordinator is HZDR.
Dr. Barbara Schramm, European Union Liaison Officer at HZDR, explains: “With a pool of highly motivated young researchers, the project will offer a user service of unprecedented quality, which will enable each promising idea to be brought to success. We encourage in particular researchers from industry, for which we have put together an extensive package of support measures tailor-made to industry needs, to get in touch with us.”
Further information:
Dr. Stefan Facsko, Head, Ion Beam Center at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 2987 I Email: s.facsko@hzdr.de
Dr. Barbara Schramm, Head, Research Programs and International Projects at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 2684 I Email: b.schramm@hzdr.de
Media contact:
Simon Schmitt, Head, Communications and Media Relations at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 3400 | Email: s.schmitt@hzdr.de
Contact in Forschungszentrum Jülich:
Prof. Dr. Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski, Head, Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons
Phone: +49 2461 61 9297 | Email: r.dunin-borkowski@fz-juelich.de