Circular economy and sustainability
SUSTAINABLE CIRCULARITY AND CRM RECOVERY FOR MW RADIATION PROTECTION AND STEALTH DEFENCE APPLICATIONS
MICRAM
Motivation
The military relevance of this project lies in its contribution to both resource independence and technological advantage of the solutions proposed. By recovering CRM from e-waste, the project addresses supply risks and enhances the EU’s autonomy over essential resources, crucial for defence applications. Additionally, developing advanced MW shielding materials using these CRMs directly benefits stealth technologies, which minimises detection risks for military assets such as communication systems or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). These shielding materials also protect personnel health and electronic systems from EMI, ensuring operational reliability and communication security in mission-critical environments. Together, these advancements strengthen defence capabilities while promoting environmental sustainability.
Objectives
The main objective of the project is to enable the circular use of critical raw materials (CRMs) from end-of-life (EOL) electronic products, to develop military tactical clothing and Stealth/low-observable systems for electronic devices, to test and validate the resulting prototypes, to assess the environmental impact of the processes, and to establish effective dissemination and exploitation plans for the project results.
Expected results
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To develop technologies for the recovery of critical raw materials (CRM).
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To recover CRM from electronic waste.
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To apply and validate the use of recovered CRM in the defence sector, in particular, achive a shielding efficiency of microwave radiation of at least 20 dB.
Grant number: 01 – 24.ISE.CP.140
Programme: 24.ISE.CP.140 — Proofs of concept aimed at enhancing
Period of execution: April 2025 – May 2026
Status: In progress
Entity: European Defence Agency
The MICRAM project is co-funded by the LIFE Programme of the European Union and the European Defence Agency, under the Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Defence Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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R&D AREAS
New high-performance functionalised materials
Circular economy and sustainability
Advanced manufacturing, smart textiles and digitalisation
High value-added solutions for strategic markets
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