Objectives

The general objective of ATRIUM Project is to ensure a sustainable use of 6 bio-based materials to produce 4 bio-composites for the development of 5 consumer-oriented products for the construction sector, transforming the EU construction industry and creating 5 novel biotechnological value chains.

The products will be developed following the SSBD methodology (promoting the cascading use of biomass for the material sources, together with the fostering of reusing and recycling of components where possible) and they will at least outperform their fossil-based counterparts to reduce environmental footprint, while offering economic benefits to the actors involved.

Methodology

1. Identification and up-scaling of 6 bio-based materials suitable for the construction sector from bio-based EU sources aligned to end-user requirements to be used as raw materials following the cascading use of the biomass principles and adjusted to their specific innovative processes.

2. Up-scaling of 4 intermediate bio-based intermediate products based on bio-polymers and natural sourced materials.


3. Adapt and optimize the 4 processing manufacturing technologies making the main effort of the biotechnological approach to transform the individual materials into intermediates and final products drafting guidelines for their safe handling and industrial manufacturing.


4. Design, develop and validate 4 final products by combining them in 3 different DEMO sites (BZR, IBE, BGU):

  • Terrace decking,
  • Flooring tiles (with protective Bio-PU top coat),
  • Acoustic Panels with improved fire retardancy,
  • Green walls: planting pots and water collection systems and Building blocks by applying SSBD principles.

5. Codesign of creative & Innovative solutions by adapting and applying novel digital solutions based on the integration of 6 project materials and the 4 intermediate biocomposites (and their processes) into an existing Materials Database. The database will predict the optimized material properties based on the outputs obtained from the developments. The database of bio-based composites and processes will be improved allowing data interoperability of the manufacturing process, so that the data obtained from the different stages of the overall process can be correlated by and improve the SSBD design of the final products, increasing overall production quality, energy efficiency and minimum energy use processes.


6. Validate the overall Safety, Sustainability & EoL of the obtained products by adapting and adding H&S recommendations to the safety during production stages of materials and chemicals (e.g.: REACH) and products (e.g.: fire resistance) but also to the safety of the final end-user experience (e.g.: VOCs, flammability)). In terms of EoL, the materials and products will be subjected to the associated recycling technologies.