The Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials and Sustainability (CEAMS), working alongside Cygnet Texkimp, SHD Composites, NCC and Teledyne CML Composites, has won the Sustainability and Circularity Award at the Composites UK Industry Awards.

The award-winning project demonstrates the power of collaboration across industry and research partners to solve complex manufacturing and sustainability challenges.

Together, the organisations delivered a world-first demonstration of 100% recycled continuous carbon fibre prepreg and its use within an aerospace component. The project successfully showed that recycled carbon fibre can achieve performance comparable to virgin fibre while providing substantial environmental benefits.

Using established industrial processes throughout the supply chain, the partners recovered carbon fibre from composite waste, produced recycled prepreg material and manufactured an aircraft access panel demonstrator, proving that circular approaches can be adopted without significant changes to existing aerospace manufacturing methods.

The project also has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of carbon fibre production by up to 80% compared with virgin material, while creating new opportunities for higher-value reuse of composite waste.

This achievement highlights the importance of collaboration between industry, research organisations and innovation centres in accelerating the development and adoption of sustainable manufacturing technologies.

To find out more about the award and CEAMS' award-winning work in sustainability and circularity, visit the Composites UK Industry Awards website or read the full winning case study.

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