It's a link between academia and the business world with positive results. A pilot study developed by a group of researchers from the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) allowed the reduction of production costs and its environmental impact on a company of fiber glass plastic.
Investigators from the ISEP and FEUP developed the project called "Pultreficaz ', which aimed to support a company to optimize energy resources, usually consumed in the manufacture of materials. On the other hand, they also sought to find new solutions to the waste resulting from production. With this innovation the company will be able to reduce the energy bill of the manufacturing process of the materials used increasingly in the sanitation areas and construction of more than 50%, reusing waste as new raw material. Stairs, bridges, dams and structures, train and metro stations are some of the equipment and infrastructure where there is an increased use of pultrudites profiles. This is a material made from plastic reinforced with fiberglass which replaces the steel, aluminum or wood, more easily corrosive products.
In economic terms, this project helped to improve production efficiency, namely a 57% reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, by cutting and milling waste, it was possible to incorporate them in plaster to ensure a safe and beneficial use therefore minimizing the economic and environmental impact. This reuse of waste as new raw material avoids also the payment of respective fees for waste disposal in landfill. For both faculties, this study "helped to create a performance model that can in future be used in other companies or industries sector", concludes Ana Castro Meira, lecturer and researcher at the ISEP.
