REMADE Announces $19.6 Million in New Technology Research to Accelerate the U.S.’s Transition to a Circular Economy - Institute Selects 14 Projects in Latest Round of Funding

The REMADE Institute is pleased to announce today that it has awarded $19.6 million in new technology research, selecting 14 new research, development and demonstration projects as part of the Institute’s latest round of funding.

Half of the projects involve research at the demonstration phase, responding directly to the nation’s need to meet multiple U.S. energy, environmental, and economic goals.

"These projects underscore the importance of manufacturing and materials innovations toward advancing a circular economy," said Dr. Christopher Saldaña, Director of DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). "The partnership between DOE and the REMADE Institute serves as a conduit for catalyzing transformative practices that not only bolster America's manufacturing expertise but also accentuate our nation's commitment to environmental stewardship."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, manufacturing accounts for 25% of U.S. energy consumption at a cost of approximately $150 billion. Based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, industry is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, at 30%.

REMADE Chief Executive Officer Nabil Nasr said these are just some of the main reasons why a circular approach to manufacturing — “make-use-reuse-remanufacture-recycle” — is so important, and why REMADE is dedicated to the adoption of a Circular Economy.

“A Circular Economy is imperative,” Nasr said. “It’s critical in reducing industry’s energy consumption and emissions in the race to net-zero by 2050. At the same time, a circular approach is vital to increasing U.S. manufacturing’s competitiveness, increasing the resiliency of the nation’s supply chain, and creating new clean economy jobs.”

REMADE Chief Technology Officer Magdi Azer said the Institute’s research seeks to increase circularity for four energy-intensive material classes: metals, plastics/polymers, fibers, and electronic scrap, or e-scrap.

“REMADE’s projects address multiple aspects of the Circular Economy, including systems analysis, circular design, remanufacturing and reuse, recovery and recycling,” Azer said. “These latest R&D projects will, for example, explore better ways to remanufacture cast iron components; remove contaminants from molten aluminum scrap; convert the midsoles of used shoes into a newer, more sustainable foam for footwear; develop machine learning tools to advance the sorting of textiles, design recyclable multilayer flexible packaging; and increase machine learning tools to better determine the state-of-health for used hybrid and electric vehicle batteries.”  

For more detailed information, read the full press release at the button below. A list of all REMADE R&D projects and their descriptions, including the 14 projects announced today, can be found at the “Research” button below.

REMADE Releases New Funding - Up to $20 Million in Funding to Accelerate the Transition to a Circular Economy

The REMADE Institute is proud to announce its sixth Request for Proposals (RFP), representing $20 million in investment to sustain U.S. manufacturing and accelerate the U.S.’s transition to a Circular Economy.

The Institute is seeking technology proposals for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) projects that develop and demonstrate tools and technologies consistent with REMADE’s goals to reduce energy and emissions; achieve better than cost and energy parity; and promote the widespread application of new enabling technologies across multiple industries. RD&D projects must align with one or more of the Institute’s focus areas: systems analysis and integration; design for reuse, remanufacturing, recovery and recycling (design for Re-X); manufacturing materials optimization; remanufacturing; and/or recovery and recycling.

Join REMADE at the Upcoming Webinar: Dynamic Systems Analysis of PET & Olefin Polymers in a Circular Economy

Join REMADE at the Upcoming Webinar: Dynamic Systems Analysis of PET and Olefin Polymers in a Circular Economy: Project Update

March 6, 2023 | 12:00-1:00pm

This webinar will provide an update on progress made after the first year of the project. The goal of this R&D project is to conduct a systems analysis of a circular economy of PET and olefin plastics (HDPE/LDPE-LLDPE/PP) with a U.S. scope and with a Michigan case study. In doing this, the project team will apply the conceptual modeling framework developed earlier in a REMADE exploratory project. 

The project team will predict energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for a circular economy of plastics and compare results to the current baseline linear economy.

The team has convened and engaged with experts from the plastics supply chain in an advisory board for the project. The baseline linear economy for PET and olefin plastics in the U.S., representing over 70% of plastics flows, was completed and showed that the system emitted 1.5% of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, contributed 5.1% to U.S. industry emissions, and accounted for 3.1% of U.S. energy consumption. Emissions and energy demand are mostly from virgin resin production, and secondly from semi-manufacturing processes such as extrusion, injection stretch blow molding, and blow molding.

Only 7% of the end-of-life waste PET and olefin plastics were collected for recycling, and PET was the resin with the highest recycle rate of 19%. As the project enters its second and final year, this webinar will highlight progress toward the final deliverable: a systems analysis of a future circular economy for plastics in the U.S. and the state of Michigan. 

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R&D Project Spotlight: Recycling of Plastic for Sustainable Food Packaging

The food industry is a vital part of the U.S. economy, and the food packaging market has experienced double-digit growth in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical role that the food and packaging supply chain plays to ensure essential products continue reaching millions of consumers safely.

 At the same time, food packaging containers account for 30% of waste generation in the U.S., and less than 50% of this volume is currently recycled. That recycling rate falls to under 30%[1] for the types of multilayer food packaging targeted in this REMADE R&D project, including the brick-shaped cartons commonly used for a wide range of liquid foods including milk, juices, soups, sauces, and more. This multilayered packaging retains the product in a commercially sterile state for months or even years, but is difficult to recycle.

 The R&D project team is working to develop a process by which these multilayer materials can be replaced by a single mono-material packaging solution produced from up to 100% recycled PET (the same plastic that water bottles are made from), which can be recycled back into the same or comparable products with minimal reprocessing, handling, and transportation. The team is validating the performance of materials and manufacturing process at industrial scale and conducting a recycling pilot with the support of a material recycling facility (MRF) to quantify recycling rates and recycled material quality.

 Following the successful completion of the project, implementation is anticipated through the Ohio Safe Food & Packaging Initiative.

Project Participants:

[1] Source: PET Material Flows in the US (MM lbs) - Postconsumer PET Container Recycling Activity Report by NAPCOR and APR.

R&D Project Spotlight: Transitioning to a Circular Economy for PET and Olefin Polymers

Today, the U.S. only recycles 8.4 percent of the plastic waste that is collected. Although new advanced mechanical and chemical recycling technologies hold the promise of a closed-loop circular economy for plastics in the near-term, the anticipated economic, environmental, and societal benefits of a closed loop system are still not well understood.

With a focus on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and olefin plastics, which together comprise nearly two thirds of U.S plastic production, the R&D project team successfully built a model that evaluated how the manufacturing and recycling processes in a plastics circular economy can be configured to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The model predicted that it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 24% compared to current recycling approaches.

In the next phase of the R&D project, the team is expanding the model to include material flow analyses, material transportation and logistics analyses, recycling process modeling, energy and environmental life cycle assessments, techno-economic analyses, and regional / national economic studies.

The model will be validated with a case study in the state of Michigan in close collaboration with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The modeling simulation will be developed using CHEMCAD and UniSim, allowing results to be disseminated broadly to accelerate the U.S. transition a circular economy for PET and Olefin polymers. Doing so would save material, energy, and emissions associated with plastic recycling and close the annual gap of more than 1 billion pounds between the current U.S. supply and projected 2025 demand for recycled PET (rPET) for use in bottles.

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Project Participants:

The Power of a Technology Portfolio: Films & Flexibles Packaging

The Power of a Technology Portfolio: Films & Flexibles Packaging

Films and flexibles packaging is one the fastest growing packaging types, is not readily recyclable, and currently contaminates the U.S.’s curbside recycling system. REMADE is exploring ways to make films and flexibles fully recyclable. 

According to the Recycling Partnership, a REMADE member, film & flexible packaging is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 3%. Today, much of this material is sent to landfills. And even in places where it’s collected, much of it is lost.

REMADE has multiple R&D projects working to address films and flexibles, including projects focused on optimization, collection and separation. Our current portfolio of films and flexibles projects – conducted in partnership with Unilever, Michigan Tech and others - is capable of saving up to 50 petajoules of embodied energy annually, up to 2 million metric tons of materials savings per year, and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 2 million metric tons annually.

For more information, read our 2020 Impact Report here.

Systems Analysis for PET and Olefin Polymers in a Global Circular Economy

A 2019 study by The Recycling Partnership[1] identified an annual gap of more than 1 billion pounds between current U.S. supply and projected 2025 demand for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for use in bottles. To close that gap and support REMADE’s goal to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, a team from Michigan Technological University, the American Chemistry Council, and Idaho National Laboratory is developing a systems analysis framework to predict the environmental, economic, and societal impacts of establishing global closed loop cycles for PET and Olefin polymers. When completed, this framework could be used to analyze how new recovery technologies or strategies for optimizing the use of mechanical and recycling technologies would enhance the recycling of PET and Polyolefin polymers.

[1] The Bridge to Circularity: Putting the New Plastics Economy into Practice in the U.S., The Recycling Partnership (2019)