The Polymer Composite Group (PCG) at the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros (ICTP-CSIC) has been recognised with the Award for Most Innovative Technology in Composite Manufacturing at the Advanced Manufacturing Awards 2025, for the development of Akelite, a liquid thermoplastic resin system designed to enable full circularity in composite materials.
Unlike conventional thermoset resins, which are notoriously difficult to recycle and frequently end up in landfill, Akelite allows both fibre and matrix to be recovered without degradation. As a liquid thermoplastic resin, it can be processed into composite laminates using existing industrial equipment, an important advantage over other thermoplastic composite systems that typically require significant capital investment. The resin is one of the circular resin systems being developed within ECORES WIND to deliver genuinely circular material solutions for the wind energy sector and beyond.
The award was received by Prof. Miguel Ángel López-Manchado and Prof. Raquel Verdejo, principal investigators at PCG-ICTP-CSIC (on the photo below).
