The REMADE Institute will award $19.6 million in new technology research to fund 14 new research, development, and demonstration projects. The projects are designed to help America meet its energy, environmental, and economic goals and help the nation transition to a circular economy. Half of the projects involve research at the demonstration phase and “underscore the importance of manufacturing and materials innovations toward advancing a circular economy," according to Dr. Christopher Saldaña, Director of DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO).
Circular manufacturing, aka ‘make-use-reuse-remanufacture-recycle,’ is an important component of reducing industry’s energy consumption and emissions. REMADE Chief Executive Officer Nabil Nasr said, “At the same time, a circular approach is vital to increasing U.S. manufacturing’s competitiveness, increasing the resiliency of the nation’s supply chain, and creating new clean economy jobs.”
In a recent quote, REMADE Chief Technology Officer Magdi Azer said, “REMADE’s projects address multiple aspects of the Circular Economy, including systems analysis, circular design, remanufacturing and reuse, recovery and recycling. These latest R&D projects will, for example, explore better ways to remanufacture cast iron components; remove contaminants from molten aluminum scrap; convert the midsoles of used shoes into a newer, more sustainable foam for footwear; develop machine learning tools to advance the sorting of textiles, design recyclable multilayer flexible packaging; and increase machine learning tools to better determine the state-of-health for used hybrid and electric vehicle batteries.”