Profile & expertise
Certech is a research & development partner and supplier of analytical and technological services for companies involved in activities related to chemistry: polymers, pharmaceutical, medical and health care, environment and energy, automobile and transport, packaging, construction. Certech mission is to provide innovative solutions for the improvement or development of products and processes, in agreement with the principles of sustainable chemistry and circular economy to meet industrial and societal needs.
Certech is a multidisciplinary team of 40 highly qualified and experienced, responsive and customer-focused employees in the field of materials, processes and environment. Certech has four main areas of expertise detailed in the following sections.
ENVIRONMENT : Air quality – Health & safety – Energy – Circular Economy
For more than 35 years, Certech has been developing its expertise in the fields of gas emission, process optimisation and improved materials with reduced environmental impact.
Certech is recognised as an independent and reliable research institute, servicing industries, authorities and population. R&D activities in the field of environment are mainly covering:
- Health & Safety/Air quality: evaluation of the quality of air, risks assessment and environmental impact
- Energy: advanced materials, sustainable technologies, renewable resources
- Circular Economy: waste management and valorisation into materials and/or energy
MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY : (Bio-based) polymers & composites – Emissions and odours from materials – Barrier materials – Mechanical Recycling
Among the different materials developed at Certech, polymers and composites as well as sol-gels constitute the major part of the activity. Certech expertise goes from materials analysis and development (formulation, synthesis, blends,…) to transformation and forming processes.
As green management has become a major topic for industrial companies within the last years, Certech has developed a strong expertise in materials and processes with reduced environmental impact, ranging from biobased materials to plastics and composites recycling processes.
CHEMISTRY AND INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES : Intensified / continuous processes – Micro/Meso fluidic technologies – Catalysis and synthesis – Chemical Recycling
In a chemical industry that becomes more challenging every day, process intensification is a key-approach to improve the cost efficiency and the competitive advantages: use of small volume reactors, continuous process, improved quality products, increasing yields, reduction of investment costs, lower energy consumption and reduced environmental and safety risks. Micro/mesoreactors are an emerging technology that address today’s economical requirements while also being more flexible and with a lower environmental footprint than more conventional industrial solutions. This expertise is also dedicated to the field of chemical recycling and solid waste valorisation in a continuous mode.
ANALYTICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL SERVICES: Extended characterization platform / reverse engineering – Pilot equipment – Products and processes improvement
Certech strategy is to focus on high intellectual value-added services, i.e. activities requiring the interpretation of measurements by specialists who combine instrumental expertise with a deep knowledge and understanding of the customer activity. We develop sophisticated measurement techniques such as GPC-MS, TREF, GPC HT 3D, … for materials characterization in order to understand the correlation between structure and properties and are expert in the field of VOCs and odour since 35 years.
Role in the Project
In WP1 (collection of scraps and pre-treatment), Certech will characterize the incoming stream(s) of PMMA waste in terms of composition (polymers, fillers, fibers, additives, etc.). This will lead to PMMA scrap categorization and standardization in order to generate guidelines for the PMMA scrap producer/supplier.
In WP3 (purification),CERTECH will evaluate the recycled MMA monomer (rMMA) VOC/odour profile in order to screen and identify substances and (legacy) additives which could require further fine-tuning of the purification process (distillation, crystallization …). Further, Certech will also evaluate the rMMA monomer VOC/odour profile for composite application (mixtures comprising rMMA and glass fibres) in order to assess the impact on workers exposure (health safety and environment aspects). When necessary, solutions will be proposed, for instance either considering modifications of the purification process or treat the monomer with odour scrubbers and/or similar approaches.
In WP4 (exploitation, end-users tests, business analysis) Certech will characterize the sensory properties (VOC and odor) of optical grade PMMA prototypes as well as PMMA composite materials obtained by polymerization of the rMMA delivered by WP3. Certech will also give further support to determine other characteristics like physical and mechanical properties, chemical and temperature resistances, in order to constitute technical datasheets for the products.
