SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

In the trend of globalization and industrial revolution 4.0, universities always focus on promoting scientific research and international cooperation. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, University of Danang has always seized opportunities for international research cooperation.

In the morning of February 20^th, 2023, a symposium on "Sustainable development of composite materials" took place at the office of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, the University of Danang. The symposium took place with the desire to convey the message "We should all try to save the planet" to everyone. Participants in the workshop included Professor Larry Lessard, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Mr. Nataniel Jan Mroczek from Poland; Mr. Marco Blecher and Ms. Tamara Waeber from Switzerland. From the faculty of Chemical Engineering, there were the attendance of the leader of the Faculty, lecturers and students of the Department of Chemical Engineering.

 
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Doan Thi Thu Loan introduces about the faculty of Chemical Engineering, DUT and delegates attending the symposium

Professor Larry Lessard has been working in the field of composite material research for over 30 years. In recent years Professor Larry Lessard has carried out many projects on recycling and sustainable development of composite materials. Professor Lessard has been carrying out a bicycle tour around the world to promote the ideas of sustainable development of composites with the message "We should all try to save the planet" and to make a documentary film on this topic. Professor Larry Lessard has cycled around the world from July 2022 to August 2023 covering more than 20,000 kilometers, visiting around 20 countries and having a talkshow at 25 universities to promote ways of thinking about the reuse and sustainable development of composite materials worldwide.

  In this symposium, Professor Larry Lessard presented 3 topics:

- Topic 1: A solution for replaying endangered wood;

- Topic 2: Recycled composite for eco-friendly construction materials;

- Topic 3: Fiberglass/epoxy composite must not be put into a landfill.

The content of the symposium mentioned issues of social concern about environmental issues. Report topic 1 deals with alternative solutions to natural wood materials to limit deforestation by creating composite products with readily available, abundant, and rapidly renewable materials. such as banana, flax fiber... Report topic 2 deals with recycling waste composite to create useful, environmentally friendly, low-cost composite materials used in the construction field for developing countries. Methods of recycling fiberglass composites from waste wind turbines are typical examples for the recycling of plastic-based fiberglass composites in general and epoxy substrates in particular in order to limit the landfill of composite wastes polluting environment mentioned in the report topic 3.

Here are some pictures taken from the symposium:

At the symposium, delegates, teachers and students participated in the discussion on the content of the report topics. The symposium took place successfully and brought a lot of useful information to the delegates, teachers and students of the faculty of Chemical Engineering as well as has spread the message "We should all try to save the planet" to everyone.