Eco Sustainable Rail - Valuation of mixed plastics in the development of eco-sustainable railways

Co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the COMPETE 2020 Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization of Portugal 2020.

Total eligible cost | € 1,317,809.57
EU financial support | € 845,477.90
Self-financing | € 472,331.67

Location | Portugal

Consortium
Extruplas - Recycling, Recovery and Manufacture of Plastic Products, Lda. (Lead Promoter)
CVR - Center for the Valorization of Waste (Copromotor)
PIEP Association - Innovation Pole in Polymer Engineering (Copromotor)

Synthesis
Description

The ECO SUSTAINABLE RAIL project aims to value mixed plastics in the development of eco-friendly railroad trains, which will be tested in a real working environment at Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) .Globally the project will contribute to reduce the deposition of mixed plastics In landfill, respond to a need of the railway sector and allow the expansion and differentiation of the product portfolio of EXTRUPLÁS, allowing to reinforce its position in its sector of activity.

Goals
This project intends to explore the possibility of producing a new product, with high technical requirements and specific characteristics, from a mixture of plastics from the mixed plastics industry. The intention is to act in the level of the valorization of this residue, to produce a product of high technical value - the crossings for railway lines. The final objective will be the development of eco-friendly railroad tracks (in the prototype phase), which will be tested in a real working environment.
The project also has the following specific objectives:
- Research and development of a new material mainly of mixed plastics;
- Investigation of a beam geometry (product specification) that allows to answer functional assembly, damping and vibration questions;
- Investigation of a new production process that meets the requirements defined for this type of production;
- Development of the life cycle and cost analysis, as well as the environmental evaluation of the sleepers tested in the real scenario;
-Testing and testing of sleepers in actual operating situation.