Project Title: Robot Efficient Cdw Intelligent CLassifier for Automatic Recycling Management
Time to completion 30 months
TECHNICAL AREA: TECHNOLOGY FOR PROTECTING MAN AND THE ENVIRONMENT > Waste Management technology >
Recycling, Recovery
MARKET AREA: INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS / MANUFACTURING > Industrial Automation > Robotics
The project will provide construction industry with a novel method of sorting Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) into high-purity and small size separated fractions for high-grade applications in building industry.
This will be a “cutting-edge” technology for a modular robotic system, to be easily integrated into tailored end user products. The project will be based upon technology for on-the fly waste classification, and will deliver a demonstrator of the basic technology.
In Europe 750 Mtons of CDW is generated yearly, with a recovery rate below 50%, with consequent environmental issues. Moreover, recovered materials are only used for low grade applications. The proposed system can overcome these limitations, increasing the overall recycled material and maximizing the technical and economic value of recycled materials and products. This will help the EU States achieve the 70% of recycled waste by 2020, as per the EC Waste Framework Directive.
The partners expect to make money from:
- New market for the sale of the whole system the consortium has identified several potential buyers, such as: large building construction or demolition companies, ESCOs and companies operating in the waste recovery and processing.
- RECICLARM and its main technologies (mechatronic architecture, classification and sensor system) can be adapted to other applications, such as: industrial and municipal solid waste sorting, automated warehouses, etc.
Project code: EUROSTARS-2019-E!113891-RECICLARM
Contract number: Ctr. 175/2020
The total value of the budget: 732.720,00 RON
The total value of the contract: 1.083.950,00 RON
The total value of the co-founding: 351.230,00 RON
The start date of the contract: 21/05/2020
The end date of the contract: 30/12/2022
Contract duration – 31 months
Project TOTAL duration – 67 months
Coordinator: BEIA CONSULT INTERNATIONAL
Project manager (coordinator): Dr. Eng. George Suciu (george@beia.ro, 16 Peroni St., Bucharest, Romania, Tel: +40374104901, Fax: +40213323006)
Project financed by UEFISCDI through the European and International Cooperation Program
Phases and activities:
PHASE I – Defining the requirements and architecture of the RECICLARM solution 21/05/2020 – 30/11/2020
A1.1. Definition of the technical and functional requirements
This activity presents in detail the management of construction and demolition waste in Romania, also making a classification of waste resulting from construction and demolition processes. At the same time, the context will be analyzed from the point of view of the management of construction and demolition waste, as well as the detailed description of the hazardous materials present in the construction and demolition waste. This activity was completed by describing the technical requirements of the automatic waste sorting system to be developed.
Activity 2.2. Design and architecture definition of the RECICLARM solution
This activity aims at the detailed presentation of the architecture of the RECICLARM sorting solution, being specified the requirements that will have to be fulfilled by each component within it. A brief comparison of the proposed approaches is provided, in terms of the specific advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Results
- Scientific and technical report
PHASE II – Development of hardware and software components of the RECICLARM solution 01/12/2020 – 30/11/2021
A2.1 Development of the sensor solution for material identification (T3.1 and T3.2)
In this activity, he specifications of the sensor solution related to the RECICLARM sorting system are described, being presented in detail three types of chambers that have potential in such development and innovation activities.
A2.2 Development of the human-machine interface and algorithms for signal processing, classification and process initiation (T4.1, T4.2 and T4.3)
In this activity, the emphasis is on defining the characteristics of the classification and control architecture of the RECICLARM solution, as well as on defining the mechatronic sorting system, consisting of a conveyor belt, drive units and a final effector.
A2.3 Development of the control system, interfaces and connectors (T5.1)
This activity describes the architecture of the sorting and classification system of construction and demolition waste, and will also provide a brief description of the ROS development environment that is used in testing the image processing platform within of this project, as well as the experimental results obtained.
Results:
- Preliminary concept of the filling system
- Operation flow of the classification architecture
- Preliminary architecture of the sorting system
A2.4 Dissemination of the results (T7.2)
Articles
- Bosoc, G. Suciu, A. Scheianu and I. Petre, “Real-time sorting system for the Construction and Demolition Waste materials,” 2021 13th International Conference on Electronics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), 2021, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ECAI52376.2021.9515117.
- Article “Innovative automatic sorting system of the Construction and Demolition Waste materials”, George Suciu, Cristian Beceanu, Andrei Scheianu, Ioana Petre, Denisa Pastea, Smart Cities International Conference (SCIC), 8th Edition, 3-4 December 2020; The abstract book is available at: http://smartcitiesevents.eu/about-scic08/conference-program
Events
- Smart Choices for Smart Cities Conference 2020, September 16th, 2020
- Cities of Tomorrow #8, September 1st, 2020.
- Smart City România LIVE, September 3rd, 2020.
- SCIC 2020, December 3-4, 2020
- BLOCKS webinar, 25th March, 2021
- Agrifood Innovation Summit, 26 May 2021
Phase III – Implementation, calibration, testing and validation of the prototype; Market analysis and definition of business models
- Activity 3.1 RECICLARM prototype implementation
In this activity, the fragments of CDW waste, the used measurement method, the process of spectral data acquisition, as well as the method of handling CDW waste containing dangerous substances were described.
The technical requirements of the software architecture, the CDW fragment classification algorithm, and the training and testing methods of the algorithm for the robotic system were presented and described.
- Activity 3.2 Evaluation, calibration, testing and validation of the RECICLARM solution (T5.3, T6.1 and T6.2)
During this activity, the software modules developed within the RECICLARM project by all partners were presented, as well as their validation and testing methods. The Gazebo simulation environment was used to simulate and validate the integrity of the sorting system.
- Activity 3.3 Market analysis and definition of market exploitation strategy (T7.2)
A market analysis both at European and national level regarding the state of CDW waste management and examples of good practices were presented. For promotional purposes of the RECICLARM project results, the market exploitation strategy of BEIA was described.
- Activity 3.4 Phase 3 dissemination activities
In this acitvity, the communication and dissmination activities of the project were presented.
Dissemination activities
Within Phase I – Defining the requirements and the architecture of the RECICLARM solution, the following activities were organized and performed:
• Participation in the conference Cities of Tomorrow # 8 on September 1, 2020.
http://www.beiaro.eu/beia-consult-participated-in-cities-of-tomorrow-8/
• Participation in the Smart City Romania LIVE conference on September 3, 2020
http://www.beiaro.eu/beia-consult-participated-online-in-smart-city-romania-live/
• Participation in the Smart Choices for Smart Cities Conference 2020 on September 16, 2020.
http://www.beiaro.eu/smart-choices-for-smart-cities-conference-2020/
• Participation in the Smart Cities International Conference 2020 (SCIC) on 3-4 December 2020.
http://www.beiaro.eu/beia-consult-participates-in-scic-2020/
• Participation in the “chiiOnline community” webinars – chiiWebpitches – Spectral Imaging in the Recycling Industry: https://www.chii-online.com/agenda
• Article “CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE BASED ON THE AUTOMATIC RECYCLING MANAGEMENT”, George Suciu, Cristian Beceanu, Andrei Scheianu, Ioana Petre, 20th International Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2020, 16 – 25 August 2020, Albena, Bulgaria, article to be published and ISSN / ISBN in SGEM Proceedings.
• Article “Innovative automatic sorting system of the Construction and Demolition Waste materials”, George Suciu, Cristian Beceanu, Andrei Scheianu, Ioana Petre, Denisa Pastea, Smart Cities International Conference (SCIC), 8th Edition, 3-4 December 2020; The abstract book is available at: http://smartcitiesevents.eu/about-scic08/conference-program
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, CCCDI-UEFISCDI, project number EUROSTARS-2019-E!113891-RECICLARM, within PNCDI III