Researchers from the University of Coimbra and TMG Automotive create products that reduce the “new car smell”

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Researchers from the University of Coimbra in collaboration with the component manufacturer TMG Automotive are developing new products with low emissions of volatile organic compounds, the so-called VOCs, for application in the automotive industry.

The project is entitled “DeVOC – New plastic products that are functional, greener and more sustainable, based on PVC, and with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)”, involves the Research Center in Chemical Process Engineering and Products of Floresta, from the Department of Chemical Engineering and is financed by the Portugal 2020/COMPETE 2020 Program. It is in the industrial property protection phase.

“The main objective is to develop innovative processes, based on the use of more sustainable raw materials and greener and safer processes, which allow obtaining plasticized materials with low emissions of volatile organic compounds, the so-called VOCs, which are responsible for for what we normally associate with the “smell of a new car””, explains Hermínio Sousa, responsible for the project at the Faculty of Science and Technology, which also involves Ana Dias, Pedro Simões and Maria da Graça Rasteiro.

The researchers aim to “reduce total emissions by around 25%, as well as reduce to a minimum the emission of certain specific VOCs, which are considered by industry and consumers to be primarily responsible for some of the most undesirable and unpleasant odors” .

Hermínio Sousa reveals that he has managed to “obtain global reductions in VOC emissions ranging from 10 to 40%” and, in some specific volatile compounds, responsible for the most undesirable odors, they are also achieving “very significant reductions”.

“The results are already consolidated, both on a laboratory scale and on a semi-pilot scale. In addition, the fundamental mechanisms associated with these results are being studied by molecular simulation, which is a typically unexplored approach in industrial projects”, he adds.

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