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Angeloni Group (Venice Italy), a composite materials producer part of the Michelin Group, and Herambiente (Hera Group, Bologne, Italy) have formed an agreement that aims to expand the use of recycled carbon fiber (rCF) in high-tech sectors — such as automotive, motorsport, aerospace, renewable energy and marine — building closed-loop systems between the customer, manufacturer and recycler.

The partnership will involve carbon fiber recycled by Herambiente at a facility in Imola, Italy, which is currently in the process of being opened. The multi-utility services provider, an operator in waste treatment and recovery, has recently turned its recycling expertise to the fiber reinforcement. Herambiente will receive composites waste at the Imola facility from customers. Then, using a pyrogasification process, carbon fiber-reinforced composite materials will be separated from any resins. 

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Angeloni’s part involves transforming this regenerated composites waste, including treating with new resins, to then be made available as a second-used raw material to the same customer who originally disposed of it, achieving a closed-loop system. Angeloni, with offices and plants in Quarto d'Altino, Castano Primo, Lesmo and Fregona (TV), produces composite materials, collaborating with car manufacturers, shipbuilding brands, industrial and sports sectors. 

Of additional note, this project will apply rCF into various parts and structures in order to better understand what opportunities it can provide to industry. In its first phase, regenerated fiber will be used as a filler for non-structural elements and for the production of molds used in parts manufacturing — for example, part of a car’s bodywork or a dashboard section. Angeloni notes that its customers, in close collaboration, have also already started their own rCF tests to validate the material’s specific mechanical characteristics. The company expects that these results will be useful for homologation of the materials in relation to reference standards in each sector. 

Therefore, the future horizon of this research will be a progressive extension of applications for rCF. Angeloni says that this is a path that follows some sector-specific rules, such as the new Regulations of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which come into play in 2026 with a series of measures to make motor racing increasingly sustainable, including (among other things) the introduction of recycled parts on cars.

“The partnership is of great importance because it consolidates our carbon fiber recovery project, developed in recent years together with technological and university partners, and will see its launch in the coming days with the inauguration of the Imola recycling plant,” explains Andrea Ramonda, Herambiente CEO. “Our model provides for a very close collaboration with customers, both to accelerate research together in an area such as the recycling of composite materials, and to create real closed-loop cycles, which prevent the production of waste by making the most of all discarded items/materials.”