Among the more than thirty products on competition, ERT, a Portuguese multinational car interior component manufacturing company, was the winner of the Natural Fibrenamics Award 2019 with the design of a natural fiber reinforced composite for door panels.

Developed from natural fibers, this composite with excellent mechanical characteristics and natural appearance, with the ability to be reused at the end of its life cycle, acts as a replacement for conventional plastic.

Developed in partnership with the University of Minho / Fibrenamics the project aimed to combine polypropylene with jute fibers and other natural fibers, generating a composite multilayer structure, one of these is the finishing / aesthetic layers and several layers of mechanical reinforcement with insulation capacity.

Another of its advantages is the possibility of molding, resulting in a car interior part with a predominantly natural fiber appearance while maintaining the mechanical properties of strength and insulation.

Since the first edition of the International Conference on Natural Fibers (ICNF) in 2013, the Natural Fibrenamics Award has highlighted innovations in the field of natural fibers in a competition that evaluates the functionality, innovation, design and cost effectiveness of candidate projects.