Page 180 - CW E-Magazine (24-12-2024)

Special Report

Advanced recycling: innovative improvements

and new technologies

lmost 270 delegates attended the
Advanced Recycling Conference
A(ARC) – the leading advanced
recycling conference in Europe – held
in Cologne on November 20-21, 2024
Speakers from leading companies and
academic institutions shared insights
into the current state and future pros-
pects of advanced recycling techno-
logies, including pyrolysis, gasifi cation,
depolymerisation and the emerging
star, dissolution.

From dissolution to multi-faceted
strategies
Recognised as a promising solution
for advanced recycling, dissolution was
discussed in the context of different
materials: ABS and PC (e.g., Trinseo,
Netherlands, and ReSolved Techno
logies, Netherlands), PE and PP (e.g., The challenges of mechanical streams. These technologies excel at
PureCycle, Belgium, and Reventas, UK), recycling breaking down PET into its monomers,
PS (e.g., Polystyvert, Canada) and PVC Attention was drawn to the enabling the production of virgin qua-
(e.g., INEOS Inovyn, Belgium). These mechanical recycling of PET, which is lity recycled PET.
technologies offer shorter, more energy- well established in Europe, particularly
effi cient recycling routes. in Germany through schemes such as Such advanced processes are seen
the bottle deposit programme. While as ideal candidates for meeting manda-
However, the panel discussions and effective, this method faces signifi cant tory recycled PET content quotas,
exchanges with the audience revealed challenges when dealing with complex offering a way to improve recycling
a key lesson: no single technology waste streams such as mixed plastics rates and quality in applications where
can solve all the challenges. A multi- and textiles. From a process perspec- traditional methods fall short.
faceted approach remains essential to tive, the mechanical recycling of these
meet the diverse needs of advanced materials is very demanding and the Pyrolysis as an important recycling
recycling. resulting recyclate is unsuitable for route
contact-sensitive applications. Pyrolysis, although a longer and
As plastic waste continues to chal- more energy-intensive process route
lenge global environmental sustain- Given these limitations, advanced than dissolution methods, has emerged
ability, industry experts are explor- depolymerisation technologies have as an important recycling route for
ing innovative recycling technologies been highlighted as promising solu- polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
to address complex waste streams. tions. Innovations based on solvolysis (PP) waste, particularly for the produc-
In her presentation, Outi Teräs from (e.g., DePoly in Switzerland), solid- tion of virgin quality recycled polymers
Neste (Finland) highlighted the need state hydrolysis (e.g., matterr in suitable for contact-sensitive applica-
for physical and chemical recycling to Germany) and enzymolysis (e.g., the tions. Its ability to handle diverse waste
address all plastic waste streams that EU WhiteCycle project and Plasticen- streams and produce high-quality out-
cannot be managed by mechanical tropy in France) show signifi cant poten- puts makes it an essential complement
recycling. tial for addressing complex PET waste to mechanical recycling.

180 Chemical Weekly December 24, 2024

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