Page 37 - Aircraft Interiors Today - June - July 2024 Issue

SUSTAINABILITY

waste and meet aggressive them down and building exercise in making design
net-zero emissions targets,” them back up again with no decisions that prioritise
says Nico den Ouden, chief compromise to performance circularity and reduce the
technology officer and gen- or passenger experience. embedded carbon of the
eral manager, seating of Gen “We worked with Gen materials used,” says Gary
Phoenix. “Helios, our latest Phoenix to develop a lami- Doy of Doy Design. “One of
material innovation, provides nated system that could be the most difficult areas of
a revolutionary new circular fully recycled, using an alter- an aircraft seat to recycle is
solution for airlines looking to native to the traditional foam the cushion and dress cover
eliminate a significant waste stack up. Gen Phoenix had system. To solve this prob-
stream and lower the carbon successfully proven the pro- lem, we needed to reevalu-
footprint of aircraft interiors. cess to recycle these dress ate the construction of the
It’s a win for sustainability covers, and this was one of system and design a product
and a win for airlines.” the major technical break- with recycling in mind. We
Early life cycle analysis throughs from the team,” worked closely with Sabeti-
shows the Circular Dress Cov- says Nick Wain, director, Wain Aerospace to develop
er reduces the carbon emis- Sabeti Wain Aerospace. a cushion system that can be
sions footprint by approxi- The Circular Dress Cover readily disassembled at the
mately 30% as compared will be featured on the Ultra- end of life whilst delivering a
to traditional dress cover slim, low carbon seat concept long-lasting product.”
manufacturing. For a typical designed by Gary Doy of The Aircraft Interior Re-
airline with 180 aircraft, it Doy Design, which has been cycling Association (AIRA)
could prevent over 3 tons of adapted in collaboration with employed their AIRA Q
landfill waste per year. Impressions Technologies, to system to all the materials in
Created with 100% compo- demonstrate the possibilities the seat. They calculated the
nents designed for recyclabil- of recycling the entire seat embedded carbon and iden-
made from a mix of non- ity, the Circular Dress Cover frame and structure at the tified the material for every
recyclable materials that are meets all performance speci- end of its life. This has been individual part to support its
hard to separate and end fications for aircraft seating, achieved by manufacturing recycling at the end of life.
up in landfills or incinerated including the 12-second ver- the seat backs out of recy- “One of the successes of this
after their typical service life. tical burn certification. A new cled aluminium and employs project has been the collabo-
In contrast, Gen Phoenix’s bio-based coating provides a new pressing technology ration of very different busi-
patent-pending technol- a premium soft touch for a (Hot Form Quench) from Im- nesses who have a genuine
ogy allows airlines’ old seat luxury passenger experience, pression Technologies. This passion to make a difference.
covers to be fully recycled, while maintaining all the allows for high strength and The seat is just a catalyst to
in their entirety, and repur- required durability. Through deep draw parts to be used focus attention, the real win
posed at the end of their a take-back programme, in a monocoque construction is getting people to work to-
lives through the company’s Gen Phoenix will collect which reduces part count gether to generate innovative
innovative process. and recycle their customer’s and weight. solutions and push for a more
“Airlines are under im- dress covers at the end of “The Ultra Slim Low Car- sustainable approach,” says
mense pressure to reduce their useful life, breaking bon Demonstrator Seat is an Nico den Ouden.

www.aircraftinteriorstoday.com June / July 2024 37