New Danish super material will improve the competitiveness of Danish industry

A new groundbreaking project, FUTURPLAST, will develop the next generation of circular, ultra-strong and lightweight materials that can reduce material consumption and CO₂ footprint, and in the long term replace both conventional composite materials and metals. Innovation Fund Denmark is investing DKK 19.5 million in the project through Grand Solutions.

Behind the project are two of the Danish business community's innovation beacons, Grundfos and SP Group, as well as the materials technology company Nanocore, in close collaboration with three renowned professors in chemistry from the University of Copenhagen.

Industrially driven hunt for stronger, lighter and more sustainable materials

Global demand for materials is increasing, and material consumption accounts for a significant portion of total greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for new, stronger materials with a smaller climate footprint – which are also cheap and efficient to produce in large quantities.

With FUTURPLAST, the partners will develop a new class of easy-to-use and cost-effective plastic composite materials based on Nanocore’s patented “LASSO technology”. This groundbreaking technology results in an extremely strong material with superior tensile strength, stiffness and fatigue strength. It is still fully recyclable and very suitable for mass production, for example injection molding. It also has the advantage of having a significantly lower CO2 footprint than the high-strength composite materials used today.

The goal is a new supermaterial that is stronger than traditional fiber-reinforced materials, which can provide significant material savings and accelerate the phasing out of costly composite materials and metal components with a high CO2 footprint.

From pumps to metal replacement - two strong industrial tracks

For Grundfos, material advancement is about performance and efficiency:

"At Grundfos, we have a continuous focus on reducing our climate footprint, and we see great potential in the collaboration with Nanocore. The development of stronger and more efficient materials opens up new design solutions that can both improve the energy efficiency of pumps, reduce material consumption and support more cost-effective and sustainable products," says Martin Vad, Chief Engineer, Polymer Materials & Processing, Grundfos.

For SP Group, the perspective is to enable metal replacement on a larger scale:

- If we can replace metal in more applications with strong, lightweight, scalable and recyclable plastic composites, it opens up opportunities for both lower weight, more efficient production and a lower climate footprint, says Ole Tietze, Market Development Manager, SP Group.

Nanocore's role is to provide the technology platform for what is otherwise difficult to get to function stably on an industrial scale, namely to get extremely strong carbon nanotubes to interact with a production-suitable plastic material - with properties that can enhance both design freedom and performance.

- The products of the future need stronger materials that can be recycled. Nanocore's technology - which originates from biotech - makes it possible to produce industrially applicable, ultra-strong materials, which are now being rolled out in everything from pumps and aircraft, to cars, ships, wind turbines, and much more. We look forward to the FUTURPLAST project contributing to this, says Henrik Pedersen, CEO, Nanocore.

A research team across the subdisciplines of chemistry

FUTURPLAST brings together three professors with competencies ranging from organic and supramolecular chemistry to polymer chemistry - in close collaboration with Nanocore's scientific team and the industrial partners who conduct prototyping and application-driven tests.

The project will also strengthen Danish and ultimately European competitiveness within advanced materials, increase security of supply and contribute to the green transition through material technologies that can be recycled and used everywhere in industrial production.

- It is a pleasure to contribute to the FUTURPLAST project's ambition to develop future carbon nanotube composite materials, based on a solid understanding of the interaction between the molecular structure of materials and how we can design their properties. The project is particularly attractive because it involves both advanced materials research as well as the manufacture of industrial prototypes. The hope is that we can put materials research in Denmark on the world map, and perhaps with this project as a precursor, help create a Nordic "Materials Hub" for a future with green, strong materials, says Professor Michael Pittelkow, Department of Chemistry.

Facts

• Innovation Fund Denmark's investment: DKK 19.5 million.
• Total budget: DKK 26.2 million.
• Duration: 3 years
• Official title: FUTURPLAST – The circular and production-ready composite of the future
• Partners: Grundfos, SP Group, Nanocore and University of Copenhagen.

About the partners

Innovation Fund Denmark accelerates research and innovation into solutions that strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of Danish society. The fund invests in ambitious research and innovation collaborations through Grand Solutions, among other things.

Grundfos

Grundfos is a pioneer in solving the world's water and climate challenges and improving the quality of life for people. As a leading global pump and water solutions company, we are committed to respecting, protecting and promoting the flow of water by offering energy and water efficient solutions and systems for a wide range of applications in water supply, industry and buildings.

SP Group

SP Group is a listed Danish industrial group specializing in plastic processing and the production of technical components. SP Group develops and produces advanced solutions for customers worldwide – with a focus on healthcare, foodtech and cleantech. The group has 15 production companies in 13 countries with approximately 2,800 employees.

About Nanocore

Nanocore is a Danish deeptech company with a patented technology for reinforcing composite materials with carbon nanotubes. The solution, the “LASSO technology”, makes it possible for the first time to exploit the full strength potential of carbon nanotubes in industrial production.