UC researchers develop new sustainable materials for the automotive industry
The main goal of the project is to develop innovative processes by using more sustainable raw materials
English version: Diana Taborda
A research team of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (DEQ-FCTUC) is developing new products with low emission of volatile organic components (VOCs), in cooperation with TMG Automotive.
This work is being carried out under the scope of the project “DeVOC –New, greener and more sustainable functional PVC-based plasticised materials presenting lower Volatile Organic Compounds emissions”, led by the company TMG Automotive in partnership with the Chemical Processes and Forest Products Engineering Research Centre (CIEPQPF - DEQ).
Hermínio Sousa, project coordinator at FCTUC, explains that “as the name suggests, the main goal of the project is to develop innovative processes by using more sustainable raw materials as well as greener and safer processes that allow to obtain plasticised materials with low emission of volatile organic compounds, VOCs, responsible for what we usually call “new car smell”. Our focus is to reduce the overall emissions by about 25%, as well as to minimise the emission of specific VOCs, deemed by industry and consumers as the main sources of some of the most undesirable and unpleasant odours.”
According to the UC research team, due to the promising results obtained so far, many details about the innovative approaches used cannot yet be made public.
Dr Sousa says that “although we are currently addressing several issues related to the industrial property protection regarding this project, we can disclose that we have managed to attain overall reductions in VOC emissions ranging from 10 to 40%, and we are also getting a very significant reduction in some specific volatile compounds responsible for the most undesirable odours”, further adding that “both lab scale and semi-pilot scale results are already established. Moreover, we are using molecular simulation to study the fundamental mechanisms associated with these results, which is an approach not typically explored in industrial projects”.
The project is funded by the programme Portugal 2020/COMPETE 2020 and is the result of a long and successful strategic partnership between TMG Automotive and researchers of CIEPQPF, namely Hermínio Sousa, Ana Dias, Pedro Simões and Maria da Graça Rasteiro.