The decarbonization of industry requires the massive deployment of new low-carbon energy production technologies, which raises the question of the availability of abiotic resources (rare earths, nickel, cobalt, etc.) and the incorporation of renewable carbon as a substitute for fossil carbon in raw materials. In this context, promoting the recycling of components at the end of their life cycle is an important lever for the ecological transition.

 

RAPSODEE focuses on: 

• the recycling of end-of-life materials (used tires, composites, batteries, etc.)
• the use of agricultural by-products or industrial waste as adsorbents for the purification and/or recovery of liquid or gaseous effluents, or as catalysts
• the recovery of bio-based molecules for high value-added applications (peptides, proteins, biopolymers, etc.)
• the design and development of low environmental impact processes (solvent-free processes: mechanochemistry, coating, hot extrusion, etc.) for new high value-added applications (upcycling)
• the environmental assessment of processes and products
   

Scientific objectives

To preserve resources, reduce waste and limit environmental impact, the main challenges are:

• the characterization and pre-treatment (grinding, drying, torrefaction, etc.) of materials whose composition is essentially heterogeneous
• the understanding of the impact of heteroelements on the transformation (pyrolysis, gasification, ...) of contaminated biomass, residues, and waste: positive (catalytic) or negative (inhibitory) for the formation of the various co-products and the distribution of these elements in the final products
• the preservation of the integrity of biomolecules during processing
• the combination of biomolecules to achieve synergistic effects in terms of use properties, while controlling undesirable interactions