Simonelli Group is currently undertaking a research and development project to reuse composite materials, that nowadays have a vast range of uses and applications thanks to their durability and longevity, but which are also very difficult to dispose of.
The De-Manufacturing research project, developed by Delta srl and Simonelli Group, is part of the Marche Region’s Marche Applied Research Laboratory for Innovative Composites (MARLIC) platform in the context of ‘Sustainable manufacturing: eco-sustainability of products and processes for new materials and de-manufacturing’.
“We are truly delighted to take an active part in this virtuous synergy, promoted and developed also within the MARLIC platform as advocates of a dual objective, to make a strong contribution to the transition towards a circular economy and to grow and develop the local industrial system,” says Fabio Ceccarani, Simonelli Group Managing Director.
“The De-Manufacturing project is another addition to a series of development projects that over the years have enabled us to improve our machines’ extraction performance through an extensive use of emerging technology and to cut energy consumption that represent over 90 per cent of the environmental impact of all coffee machines.”
According to Simonelli, it will be possible not only to reduce flows, but also to identify technologies that can make composites into re-usable materials for products or usable in various supply chains. This also offers a solution to the need, which is particularly urgent at this period in our history, for energy saving and new resources.
“In cooperation with Delta srl, Camerino University, Marche Polytechnic University, CNR and ENEA we have developed different working methods and processes for the re-use of composites using recovered raw materials in partial substitution of virgin materials,” says Mauro Parrini, COO of Simonelli Group SpA.
“We carried out innovative moulding tests for the side panels of the Victoria Arduino Eagle One coffee machine using recovered composites from Delta products, and we obtained a really sustainable fairing with very interesting features. It is antibacterial, and has a very high surface hardness, thus with long durability and the colour stays unaltered and stable over time.
Parrini says Simonelli also transformed into a new resource during the development phase, obtaining a new raw material from the composite material of a drip-tray which produced the bean hopper lid for the Mythos grinder.
“These are two examples of the possibilities that arise from what we can effectively call ‘industrial symbiosis’, where a material, produced by a company, does not end its life cycle by becoming waste, but is returned to the productive cycle and becomes a resource, a raw material for production by another company,” says Parrini.
For more information, click here.
