During the European Producers of Laminate Flooring (EPLF) event an overview of the CISUFLO project has been done. It is also provided a motivation for the choice of this project and the contribution of CTB, UNILIN and EUFCA to project.

1. CISUFLO presentation
12 May 2021
By
1

2. Meeting etiquette
▪ Participants’ video not activated.
▪ Please mute your microphone to avoid background
noise.
▪ Participation is encouraged so:
o Q&A box to ask questions.
o Raise Hand to speak.

3. CISUFLO scope
Circular Sustainable Floor coverings
‘Laminate’
‘Vinyl’
‘Textile’

4. ▪ Set-up a systemic framework for circular and sustainable floor covering
▪ Minimize the total environmental impact of the sector
▪ From linear to circular flow
CISUFLO main goals

5. ▪ Develop solutions for recycling current Floor Covering
waste streams (open or closed loop)
▪ Adapt the composition and manufacturing of current
products to enable a higher Recycled Content
▪ Design, manufacture and market novel flooring products
and services,
that are fully fit for the circular economy
▪ Demonstration via pilots
CISUFLO key objectives

6. CISUFLO Pilots
Manufacturing Use phase End-of-Life
Pilot 1
‘Circular floor
covering’
Other sectors
WASTE:
incineration,
biodegradation
Shredding
Identification
& sorting
Pilot 2
‘Sorting’
PolySep
process
Energy
recovery
Secondary
Raw materials
Other sectors
Sorted waste streams enriched
for specific component
(wood, PA, PVC, PP, …)
Pilot 4
‘Laminate Recycling’
Pilot 5
‘PVC Recycling’
Pilot 6
‘Circular carpet’
Main streams Minor streams Cross-sectorials streams
Pilot 3
‘Separation’
Primary Raw
materials
Chart simplified from CISFULO
proposal

7. 6 Pilots
▪ PILOT 1 - Manufacturing of CFC (at UNILIN, BIG, EDEL and MOGU)
Expected output: prototypes for the 3 flooring types (laminate, vinyl and textile), maximizing recycled content
and recyclability, including ‘tagging’.
▪ PILOT 2 – Sorting of flooring waste (CentexBel CTB)
Expected output: automated system for inline recognition of floor covering waste.
▪ PILOT 3 – Separation of material fractions from complex flooring waste (CentexBel
CTB-Polysep)
Expected output: batch type separation for complex flooring waste mixtures like PVC/glass fibre for resilient or
PA/PET for textiles.
▪ PILOT 4 - Laminate flooring recycling (UNILIN)
Expected output: ‘defibring’ line for laminates.
▪ PILOT 5 - Vinyl flooring recycling (BIG)
Expected output: production of resilient flooring with increased recycled content, showing industrial symbiosis
with construction sector.
▪ PILOT 6 - Textile flooring recycling (PA carpets, EDEL, CWS, AQUA)
Expected output: demonstration of full circularity of PA carpets

8. Implementation: 8 Work Packages
WP 5 Industrial Uptake
WP 8 Coordination
WP 4 Piloting circularity
WP 1 Technical
aspects
WP 2 Integrated
Product Information
System
WP 3 Socio-
economic aspects
WP
6
Sustainability
and
Economic
assessment
WP
7
Dissemination,
communication
&
exploitation
Take up phase
Pilot phase
Preparation phase

9. Consortium

10. Transition Support Group

11. Transition Support Group

12. ▪ Develop and pilot circular systems in plastics, textiles and furniture
sectors
H2020 call text
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/ce-sc5-28-2020

13. ▪ EUFCA presented a ‘call for action’
for this EC call at ECP4 event
▪ Interested in call because of:
▪ ‘Systemic approach’, involvement of ‘all stakeholders’
▪ Floor coverings covers textile and plastics and furniture
▪ Centexbel and TNO responded and
worked out proposal
Background for CISUFLO

14. ▪ Provide an umbrella / a framework for
past (& coming) projects on ‘circular flooring products’
▪ Examples of past/running projects:
▪ ECOMETEX: Design approaches for circular carpet constructions,
e.g. via mono-material and via easy-to-separate materials.
▪ REMADYL: Recycling of PVC, identification of legacy additives (Pb and
plasticisers), removal of legacy additives (using extractive extrusion processes
and melt filtration techniques).
▪ CIRCULARFLOORING: recovery of PVC from post-consumer PVC floor
coverings and separation of legacy plasticisers to create recycled material for
new PVC floor coverings.
▪ …
▪ These projects cover only a (small) part or a specific aspect
of the (circular) value chain
Motivation for CISUFLO

15. ▪ And the collaboration with EuFCA
Why Centexbel as coordinator
Centexbel
Collective research and
technical centre
Focus on ‘Textiles’ and
‘Plastics’
Membership organisation
180 collaborators - 3 sites
Research and Innovation
Strategy
Close to industry:
▪ Needs
▪ Opportunities
Sustainability:
▪ Resource efficiency
▪ Recycling materials
▪ Biopolymers (industrial
implementation)
Our activities

16. ▪ Call: H2020-SC5-28-2020
▪ Type of action: IA - Innovation action
▪ Grant Agreement: 101003893
▪ Total budget: € 9,03 mio
▪ EC funding: € 7,69 mio
▪ Starting date: June 1, 2021
▪ Duration: 48 months
▪ Coordinator: Centexbel
Project data & acknowledgement
This project has received funding from the European
Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 101003893.

17. CISUFLO genesis
▪ 48 months project (Kick off June 16th 2021)
▪ 19 core partners (up to 32 associate partners)
▪ European budget of 7,7Mio (390k for EuFCA)
▪ Scope: laminate, vinyl and textile flooring
▪ HDF is not yet recycled whereas the particleboards are.
▪ EPLF members involvement is fundamental to make it a global success

18. Concept & approach for Laminate

19. 3 Pilots for Laminate
▪ PILOT 1 - Manufacturing of CFC (at UNILIN, BIG, EDEL and MOGU)
▪ PILOT 2 – Sorting of flooring waste (CentexBel CTB)
▪ PILOT 3 – Separation of material fractions from complex flooring waste
(CentexBel CTB-Polysep)
▪ PILOT 4 - Laminate flooring recycling (UNILIN)
▪ PILOT 5 - Vinyl flooring recycling (BIG)
▪ PILOT 6 - Textile flooring recycling (PA carpets, EDEL, CWS, AQUA)

20. Laminate recycling: Pilot 4
HDF or MDF
Laminate flooring
Recycled Wood fibers
Virgin Wood Fibers
Virgin Wood Fibers
DEFIBERING
RECYCLING
Production
cycle 1
Production
cycles
2,
3,
4,
…

21. WP1: Technical aspects of CFC for various
flooring types
▪ Include installation/removal methods in study
▪ Develop guidelines for design of CFC
▪ Keep floating installation easy to remove (Avoid glue down)
▪ Keep wood content high (Avoid pad attached and all composite build up)
▪ Make CFC recognizable/taggable to make clear waste streams
▪ Make floors with recycled boards
▪ Make floors recyclable – investigate effect of several parameters like
glue, wood species,….

22. WP2: Integrated Product Information System
▪ eProdis system
▪ Product passport
▪ Possible integration with e.g. RFID – tagging – identification

23. WP3: Socio-economic aspects
▪ Common value creation within the whole value chain
▪ Covers the systemic and business modelling and customer
engagement models
▪ Map the altered circular material streams and develop adapted
business models

24. WP4: Laminate flooring recycling: showing
industrial symbiosis with furniture sector
▪ Recyclability of ALL laminate floor coverings
▪ Check possibility to include MDF from furniture industry
▪ Integrate recycled material in new MDF/HDF or other fiber boards
▪ Test on lab scale : add 5 – 10 – 15 – 20 % recycled fibers into the existing
process
▪ Implementation on an industrial scale up to 5%

25. WP5: To lead in Industrial uptake
▪ Take-back program /collection schemes development
▪ Integrate circularity in CEN standardization
▪ Ensure standards are in place to facilitate the systemic circular
approach
▪ Map and develop certification schemes to prove the implementation
of Circular flooring
▪ Economical analysis of these
▪ Workshops with partners

26. WP6: Sustainability and Economic Assessment
▪ Life cycle assessment
▪ EPD calculation
▪ Economical assessments

27. WP7: Knowledge Dissemination
▪ Seminars
▪ Presentation to industry and to federations

28. WP8: Coordination
▪ Centexbel is in charge of the coordination of the project
▪ CTB will ensure alignment among partners and activities, provide risk
management and cover data and ethics aspects

29. Timeline over the next 4 years

30. Main milestones
Pilot requirements collected, DC1
finalized, start WP3
Start of Pilot 1activities
Start of Pilots 2, 3, 4 & 5
Start of Pilot 6 and of 'Take up' activities
Start of specific circular business plans
based on Pilot 1 outcome & LCA & TEA
info
Handover for ‘beyond’ CISUFLO
10/2021
06/2022
12/2022
06/2023
06/2024
06/2025

31. UNILIN’s main tasks
▪ UNILIN will work on a technically feasible concept for Circular
Laminate together with FCBA and will provide a first prototype within
the framework of WP1. An upscale of the Circular Laminate concept
is part of Pilot 1 (WP1).
▪ Running a semi-industrial ‘defibering’ line reusing the recycled dry
fibers for production of HDF/MDF, UNILIN will show the industrial
symbiosis with the furniture sector
▪ Being responsible for Pilot 4 - Laminate flooring recycling in WP4,
UNILIN will test defibering on different scale/cooking technique
▪ Uptake and takeback programs for end-of-life flooring will be
assessed by UNILIN as well as the technology for shredding and
sorting

32. Main targets of Pilot 4 Laminate
▪ Goal: To produce high quality HDF using recycled laminate flooring as a raw
material.
▪ The “cradle to cradle” solution is demanded by the laminate flooring
market. As such the recycling of laminate flooring in the production of new
laminate flooring will be very well accepted, provided the price setting is
acceptable.
▪ Market trend: The use of post consumer recycled material is already very
well accepted in general and for instance in the particle board which can be
recycled as a raw material in the production of new particle boards.
▪ Deployment: The defibering part of the recycled laminate flooring will be
the key to produce new laminate flooring. High quality fibers must be
obtained to produce new high-quality products.
▪ Cost: The total cost of the laminate flooring produced with recycled fibers
from EoL laminate flooring, must be lower than the current total cost to
make it a success. In the beginning we will start with only 1 to 5% of
recycled fibers.

33. UNILIN is committed to use
▪ Full equipped laboratories for wood-based panels and flooring systems
▪ Lab equipment for laminate pressing
▪ Pilot recycling plant for post-consumer wood waste
▪ Full scale MDF/HDF production factory and several laminate
production plants.
▪ UNILIN Corporate sustainability team with LCA experience
▪ R&D knowledge on all wood-based materials from chips, fibers, boards,
laminates, wooden floors.
▪ Membership of MMFA, EPLF, FEP, EUFCA, EPF, …
▪ Activity in standardization (CEN & ISO)

34. Visits to selected pilot plants
CISUFLO partners will organize site visits to the plants to show
the results achieved:
▪ From June 2024 (M36)
▪ At least 3 visits, to most promising/accessible ones
CTB, UNILIN, BIG, AQUA, DEC

35. Knowledge Management and IP protection
▪ For the success of CISUFLO, all project partners agree on explicit rules concerning IP ownership.
Such issues will be addressed in the Consortium Agreement that will be developed in line with the
Grant Agreement
▪ Consortium Agreement (CA). The purpose of the CA is to establish a legal framework for the
project in order to minimize any internal issues within the CISUFLO consortium related to the
work, IP Ownership, Confidential Information, Access Rights to Background and Foreground IP for
the duration of the project and any other matters of the consortium’s interest.
▪ Access Rights to Background and Foreground IP during the project. The partners agree to
grant royalty‐free Access to Background and Foreground IP for the smooth project execution. All
partners will define the Background IP they are willing to submit to the project within the CA
before the project starts.
▪ IP Ownership within the consortium. Foreground IP shall be owned by the project partner
carrying out the work leading to such Foreground IP. Any such joint inventions and all related
patent Applications and Patents shall be jointly owned by the Contributing parties. Details
concerning the Exposure to jointly owned Foreground IP, joint inventions and joint patent
applications will be addressed in the CA.
▪ External Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Any company interested in CISFULO during the
project must write a LOI (Letter of Intent) to the consortium indicating its intent and purpose for
their contribution and the committed resources for the project. Once the LOI is approved by the
consortium, the company has to sign an NDA for establishing a legal framework with 3rd parties
who contribute or utilize project results and related work, Confidential Information or Access
Rights.

36. A lot of open questions so far
▪ Do we need to characterize the type or amount of glue used in the MDF/HDF
before the defibering operation?
▪ Will the recycled fibers be usable as the virgin fibers (mechanical properties,
geometrical characteristics, bonding, …)?
▪ What will be the impact of the defibering process on fiber quality and on VOC
emission?
▪ How many recycling can the HDF fibers withstand? Will the optimized process
enable to reach social and economic targets?
▪ Batch defibering process vs. continuous HDF production process => unknown
process consistency
▪ What can be done with the non-recyclable part ?
▪ Can the only potential use be burning for heat recovery (because the quality of
the fibers might not be good enough)?

37. Conclusions so far
▪ Good opportunity for a transition to climate-neutral industry
▪ Laminate flooring industry offers quite a homogeneous
output compared to other industries
▪ Potential cross-sector opportunities

38. CISUFLO contact persons within UNILIN
▪ Caroline Van de Populiere
R&D Director (FIL: Flooring Industries Limited)
▪ Geert Coudenys
R&D Director (FIL: Flooring Industries Limited)
▪ Lasse Six
Sustainability Expert (UNILIN BV, Corporate)
▪ Benjamin Clement
Innovation Manager (UNILIN BV, division Flooring)
▪ Sebastien Combey
Global Technical Services Manager (UNILIN BV, division Flooring)

39. Thank you
info@eufca.org
info@eplf.com
sebastien.combey@unilin.com
gbu@centexbel.be
ivi@centexbel.be