Sustainability Engineering Assessment Research for Recycled Composites with High value – SEARRCH

To answer the objectives of SEARRCH, the four SEARRCH partners will follow a framework structured in 5 work packages (WP):
• WP1 : Specify the recycling industry to be assessed and model it.
• WP2 : Define relevant assessment criteria, not only on environmental aspects but also social and economic, with a special focus on accountable management of resources, the key driver of recycling.
• WP3 : Design and develop evaluation models for each criteria, using both quantitative and qualitative assessments.
• WP4 : Optimize the multi-criteria system and integrate the assessment tool into the decision-making process.
• WP5 : Model the economic impact of the different policies available.
Thus, WP 1 to 4 are used to design the evaluation framework of the considered recycling options, and WP5 identifies policies to implement (laws, taxes, etc.) to encourage a sustainable approach. Throughout this process, it is necessary to analyze the satisfaction of stakeholders to ensure that the results are consistent with their needs and their expectations. This is done through interviews (Figure 1).

First, the boundaries of the system have been drawn (WP1): the global system and the most relevant processes to consider for the recycling of CFRP were identified.
An initial list of «key sustainability performance indicator« (KSPI) was determined (WP2). It shows three environmental and one economic indicators, plus two social indicators and three complementary indicators based on resource assessment methods.
As part of WP3.1, a new indicator of criticality considering factors such as the geopolitical risk and the strategic benefit provided by the creation of a recycling network is developed. Furthermore, the microeconomic bases of multisectoral dynamic general equilibrium model were developed (WP3.2).
Several scenarios were studied (WP4) to quantify environmental and economic impacts avoided thanks to the use of recycled carbon fiber to substitute glass fibers or virgin carbon fibers. These works were then used as building blocks for the construction of a first supply chain model.
In a same time, the interviews with the stakeholders have allowed to define technological and organizational choices to base the study (WP1) and to acquire a more precise knowledge of criteria to evaluate (WP2). This work allowed to initiate modeling of the economic system and is currently continued in order to provide to TBS a better understanding of the challenges of the composite recycling industry.

SEARRCH will give the composite recycling industry stakeholders the opportunity to include sustainability issues in their decision making processes. Potential users of such a tool are e.g. the engineering consulting industry, the aerospace industry, the composite industry, the recycling industry and government or regulatory institutions. The project will produce five innovative assets: 1. a list of Key Sustainability Performance Indicators (KSPi) specially designed to assess the composite recycling industry, 2. for selected indicators, models, data and methods to properly assess or compare composite recycling industry options, 3. multi-criteria optimization methods to find best compromises on contradictory indicators, 4. models to assess the economic impact of the introduction of standards and economic incentives based on our sustainability assessment system, 5. a framework for research projects dealing with sustainability assessment in recycling industries.

The system definition and the results of interviews with stakeholders were presented at the 6Green Aviation Conference (November 2014), at the «salon du Bourget« (June 2015) and at the LCM Congress 2015 (August 2015). Indicators and their selection methodology led to communications in Avnir Congress 2014 (November 2014) and SAM9 (May 2015).
Process modeling was initiated and has also resulted in scientific papers in 2015 Recycling Congress (March 2015) and ESCAPE25 / PSE2015 (June 2015). The methodology of SEARRCH project and its first results were also presented at the following events: Entretiens de Toulouse in 2014 and 2015, Connecting Innovation Show 2014, day of DAS AMP Aerospace Valley (December 2014).

SEARRCH is a pre-normative research project on sustainability. The objective is to design innovative assets (knowledge, models, methods, tools…) to evaluate environmental, economic and social performance of composite recycling industries.
SEARRCH will focus on a specific case – the recycling industry of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforce Polymer) – to take into account real constraints and concerns. This bottom-up approach will enhance the stakeholder's, representing the emerging recycling industry, interest for the practical tool. Later on, the results of our research will be generalized, to enable methodology transfer to other sectors.
The percentage of fiber carbone composites in the aircraft don't stop to increase and reach 50% in the recent programs (A350 and B787). However, the composites industry is suffering a lack of organisation for composite waste management (end of life and production scraps) that are difficult to recycle.
Creating an efficient composite recycling industry is an actual concern. Eleven French clusters (Aerospace Valley, Astech, Axelera, EMC2, Fibres, IAR, I-Trans, Plastipolis, Team², Techtera, Uptex,) have signed the “national charter on composite recycling” together with GPIC (group of plastic industry and composite) and Compositec (resource centre). The waste management and environmental legislations are becoming more and more numerous and restrictive, reinforcing the stakeholders’ awareness of the issue.
Designing the future recycling industry implies to make choices concerning the products to recycle in priority, the decision to recycle or valorise, the dismantling options, the collecting technology and organization, the innovating recycling technologies or chemical processes, the markets to focus for recycled secondary composite,…
But will the emerging recycling industry be sustainable? The growing public concern about the environmental issues and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) justifies choosing or banning a technical option or a way to organize the work. Indeed sustainability is becoming a differentiating factor and thus a matter of industry competitiveness.
Still, this is not possible today to integrate sustainability issues in these decision-making processes because there isn’t a comprehensive and practical tool to do so.
To answer this unmet need of decision makers, the SEARRCH project will produce the tools that will give them the capability to include the sustainability issues in their decision-making process. SEARRCH will provide the engineering consulting firms, the aircraft industry, the composite industry, the recycling industry, the government or regulatory institutions with sustainability assessment means. SEARRCH will result in five innovative assets:
1. a list of Key Sustainability Performance Indicators (KSPi) specially designed to assess the composite recycling industry on the three pillars of sustainability (environment, social or economics),
2. for selected indicators, models and methods to properly assess and compare composite recycling industry options,
3. multi-criteria optimization methods to find best compromises on contradictory indicators,
4. models to assess the economic impact of the introduction of standards and economic incentives based on our sustainability assessment system,
5. a framework for such pre-normative projects, not only for composite recycling but also for recycling in general.
To achieve the goal, SEARRCH is composed by a multidisciplinary consortium of four partners, experts in process modelling, recycling systems, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), material flow accounting, applied mathematics, multi-objective optimization, decision making tools, environmental economy, environmental regulation and sustainable business.