Engineering a Circular Revolution
At GREENBOATS, Research & Development is the engine driving our mission to pivot a $100 billion industry away from structural waste and toward a true circular economy. We engineer high-performance, lightweight solutions that meet global industrial demand while radically shrinking manufacturing footprints.
To achieve this, our R&D strategy attacks the problem from two angles:
Sustainable Material Innovation: We aggressively replace carbon-heavy synthetics with bio-based, renewable, and recycled materials to fundamentally lower a product’s ecological footprint from day one.
Circular Business Models: We design for the entire lifecycle. By building frameworks that facilitate product sharing, repair networks, structural reuse, and second-life repurposing, we extend material longevity and foster sustainable consumption.
Current Projects
NURTURE — Circular Natural Fiber Composites
The Challenge: Natural fiber composites (NFCs) are rapidly gaining traction in sustainable engineering due to their excellent ecological benefits. However, recycling these materials remains a major industry roadblock because current disposal and processing methods are either highly inefficient or environmentally harmful.
Our Innovation: Bringing together leading industry experts and research institutions, the NURTURE project is pioneering viable, closed-loop recycling concepts for NFCs. We focus on developing bionically optimized joining and disassembling systems for component reuse, automating pure-grade separation of sandwich structures, and using digital twins to optimize "Design for Recycling" from day one. By integrating RFID chips and material databases, we ensure long-term traceability and a permanent boost in production resource efficiency.
StyrolFREI — Styrene-Free Bio-Composites
The Challenge: While bio-based unsaturated polyester resins offer excellent ecological benefits, they currently require hazardous, petroleum-based styrene as a reactive diluent. Existing acrylic alternatives compromise the material's mechanical properties.
Our Innovation: This project investigates biogenic alternatives to styrene. By utilizing specialized composite engineering, tailored semi-finished fiber layups, and bionically optimized component design, we compensate for potential performance drops and unlock entirely non-toxic bio-resins.
BioPul — Next-Generation Natural Fiber Pultrusion
The Challenge: Pultrusion is a highly efficient continuous profile manufacturing process. However, integrating natural fibers introduces challenges like high moisture absorption and inconsistent material properties, limiting production to rudimentary profiles.
Our Innovation: By gradually scaling process complexity and integrating real-time quality assurance systems, we optimize the processing windows for bio-based resins and natural fibers. This allows for complex, multiaxial structural profiles.
TEcoNaut — Deep Tech Materials Education
The Challenge: Accelerating the green transition in boat building requires overcoming significant skills gaps, fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, and integrating complex "Deep Tech" sustainable materials into standard education.
Our Innovation: Co-funded by the EU, this project revolutionizes the industry by focusing on natural and recyclable Deep Tech materials. We are collaborating with higher education institutions and VET centers to develop targeted courses, Train-the-Trainer programs, and hands-on traineeships that advance the Deep Tech Green wave.
rCF4NCF — Recycled Carbon Fibers for Sustainable Fabrics
The Challenge: Carbon fiber waste from manufacturing and end-of-life parts represents a massive loss of high-value material. Transforming fluffy, loose recycled fibers into aligned, structural fabrics is notoriously difficult.
Our Innovation: We are developing technical pathways to process recycled carbon fibers (rCF) into structurally sound, continuous Non-Crimp Fabrics (NCFs). This bridges the gap between high-performance structural requirements and true circular material loops.
Past Projects
GreenBox — Bio-Composites for Mobility (2024)
The Challenge: The broader mobility sector needs scalable, mass-producible composite materials that can drastically reduce CO2 footprints without sacrificing structural integrity or production efficiency.
Our Innovation: Funded by the ERDF and in collaboration with Bremen University, we are developing highly efficient composites using natural fibers and bio-plastics. Through advanced manufacturing techniques and rigorous material testing, we are bringing scalable, eco-friendly sandwich panels to mass-production readiness.
Eco-Boats — Green Skills for Boat Building (2025)
The Challenge: With over 6 million pleasure boats in Europe predominantly built using unsustainable methods, there is a pressing need for the maritime sector to adopt eco-friendly practices. This transition requires a workforce trained in entirely new manufacturing methods.
Our Innovation: We are bridging the knowledge gap by promoting essential "green skills" across the broader boat building industry. By developing educational frameworks, we are equipping the next generation of boat builders to confidently work with recyclable and sustainable materials.
NaMat — Sustainable Materials for Aviation (2023)
The Challenge: Reaching the aerospace industry's ambitious 2030+ "ZeroEmission" target demands a radical departure from conventional, carbon-intensive aviation materials.
Our Innovation: Partnering with Airbus and FIBRE (supported by the ERDF), we are translating our maritime bio-composite expertise to the skies. This project focuses on developing highly advanced, renewable, and recyclable eco-materials engineered specifically for the next generation of sustainable aircraft.
NILUMA — Maritime & Modular Housing Panels (Completion 2025)
The Milestone: Improving the long-term durability of natural fiber composites exposed to aggressive environments.
The Outcome: We successfully engineered highly durable, eco-friendly sandwich panels designed for demanding maritime settings. Additionally, these lightweight, resilient panels were adapted for structural components in tiny houses, modular homes, and energy-efficient building roof renovations.
GraNaTex — Graphene & Advanced Bio-Textiles (2024)
The Milestone: Investigating graphene treatments, ultra-high bio-resins, and functional textile blends to push the boundaries of natural fiber performance.
The Outcome:
Matrix Boost: Formulated a new resin system pushing bio-content up to 70% for hot-pressing panel materials. Graphene-enhanced resins achieved a 22% increase in in-plane shear strength.
Textile Innovation: Developed a cost-effective flax-cotton blend tailored for sustainable vehicle/trailer interior panels. High-performance yarn modifications via specialized radiation treatments were validated to elevate structural safety in elite marine racing applications.
MarineCare — Recycled Carbon & Bio-Powder Prepregs (2023)
The Milestone: A Eurostars international project creating high-performance maritime composites out of recycled carbon fibers (rCF) and bio-based solid powder resins.
The Outcome:
Zero-Cooling Prepregs: Developed Solid Resin Prepregs (SRPs) using a custom screen-printing mask process. Unlike liquid prepregs, these can be shipped and stored at room temperature without energy-intensive cold storage.
Optimized Infusion: Designed specific geometric breathing patterns into the resin application to allow air and moisture to escape seamlessly during out-of-autoclave processing.
Industrial Scaling: Successfully shifted production to advanced press molding to achieve a precise 2mm thickness and high fiber volume fractions, resulting in premium-grade, ultra-sustainable foil boards and marine sandwich structures.
Join the Movement
We're on a mission to transform our industry and we believe in the power of collaboration to achieve this vision. If you're an organization or innovator driven by sustainability, we invite you to join us. Together, bound by common values and a shared vision for a better future, we can create impactful change. We're keen to explore new projects and partnerships that align with our goals. Let's innovate and work together towards a greener, more sustainable world. Reach out to us and be part of this transformative journey.