From April 13 – 16, 2021 Hanser launches international virtual trade fair D-Expo Circular Economy for professionals with a focus on sustainability, recycling, eco-design, life-cycle, and more.

D-EXPO Circular Economy will take place as a digital event from April 13 to 16, 2021

16:9

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Nachhaltigkeit

Regenerieren

Kunststoff-Regenerate

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Digital Trade Fair for Plastics Sustainability

For a long time, chemical recycling was considered an unfinished addition to established material processes. In the meantime, however, some technologies are making the leap into large-scale industrial use: an overview of the various processes and providers.

Overview of the Various Processes and Suppliers

Polypropylen

Thermoplaste

Polyurethan

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

What Is Happening in Chemical Recycling?

Henkel significantly expands partnership with social enterprise Plastic Bank. The partners opened their first three plastic waste collection centers in Cairo

Henkel and Plastic Bank opened the first three collection centers in Cairo

Polyethylen

Polyethylenterephthalat

Kunststoffhandel

Dienstleistungen

Handel

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Henkel and Plastic Bank Open First Collection Centers in Egypt

A new chemical recycling unit at Borealis production site in Stenungsund, Sweden, is expected to commence operations in 2024.

Aerial view of Borealis production location in Stenungsund, Sweden

More Circular Base Chemicals and Plastic Products

Biodegradable plastics are special polymers designed to biodegrade after use. But conventional granulation equipment cannot handle biodegradable production rejects adequately. The new Bio-Gran technology by CMG Granulators was designed to accomplish this objective.

The range of capacities of the Bio-Gran line spans form 200 kg/h all the way to 2000 kg/h.

Recycling Made Possible with Bio-Gran

LyondellBasell starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at its Wesseling site.

The chemical company starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at Wesseling

Polymers Made from Plastic Waste

PlasticsEurope plans to significantly increase investment in chemical recycling: from EUR 2.6 billion in 2025 to EUR 7.2 billion in 2030. To further accelerate investments in this key technology and the transition towards a circular economy, the Association calls for a strong policy and regulatory framework.

1.2 million t of recycled plastics is the industry’s target for chemical recycling in 2025. By 2030, this figure is expected to rise to 3.4 million t per year

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Verbände

kunststoffe.de

Kreislaufwirtschaft

European Plastics Manufacturers Invest in Chemical Recycling

Initial testing of the material at the Ineos Styrolution laboratory did not show any measurable differences to native material.

EU life project ABSolutely Circular: Indaver and Ineos Styrolution announced production of first ABS with recycled styrene

ABS with Recycled Styrene

Fraunhofer Institute Umsicht, Sabic and Procter & Gamble are collaborating on a pilot project for closed-loop recycling of single-use facemasks.

The pilot project with Sabic and Procter & Gamble demonstrate the feasibility of closed-loop recycling for single-use facemasks

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Recycling of Single-Use Facemasks

PreZero, division of Schwarz Group, is planning the acquisition of Ferrovial’s waste disposal and recycling business in Spain and Portugal and thus will be active on the Iberian Peninsula for the first time.

PreZero is planning the acquisition of Ferrovial’s waste disposal and recycling business in Spain and Portugal

Contract Conclusion between PreZero and Ferrovial

A new process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is able to isolate carbon black ash recovered from old tires – allowing both the carbon black and the minerals from the ash to be reused.

Top, primary product from left to right: raw rCB, clean rCB (96+), pearlized clean rCB (96+). Bottom, secondary products recovered from the ash, from left to right: liquid sodium silicate or “water glass”, precipitated SiO2, precipitated ZnSO4

Pigmente

Additive

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Farbstoffe

Carbon Black Recycled from Car Tires

The circular economy, electromobility and the continuing corona pandemic are influencing color selection for plastics. Kunststoffe asked colorant manufacturers about the resulting color trends. We also wanted to know what effects the increased use of recyclates is having and the extent to which manufacturers are affected by the present supply bottlenecks.

Trend Report on the Coloration of Plastics

Masterbatches

Streifinger, Florian

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farben, flüssig

Colored Mood Enhancers

Both the quantity of recycled plastics waste and of processed recyclates is continually increasing. However, there are still difficulties with the quality of the recycled plastics, which are impeding replacement of virgin material. In recent years, machinery manufacturers and plastics producers have introduced various further developments that improve the properties of recyclates as well as eliminate unpleasant odors and contaminants.

Plastics recycling is a laborious process. For the recycled material to have the necessary quality, it must first be sorted into the different plastics

Overcoming Difficulties in Plastics Recycling

Extruder

Extrusionsanlagen

Trockner

Waschen und Entfetten

Trockner, Granulat-

Sortierer

Inspektion, Analyse und Sortierung von Rohmaterial

QualitÃ¤tssicherung

QualitÃ¤tssicherung Kunststoff

The Long Road to a Circular Economy

The plastics industry has a variety of materials and technologies available for significantly reducing the ecological footprint of products. There are very few applications for which it is not possible to replace at least a portion of the fossil material with recyclates or bioplastics. Various methods, standards and software tools are available to determine what savings this can achieve.

Determining CO2 Savings from Recycled Materials and Bioplastics

Simulation

Software

Normen / Standards

Recht allgemein / sonst.

Biokunststoffe

Reducing the CO2 Footprint

Sorting plays a crucial role in the processing of plastic waste. Systems based on artificial intelligence are one way of improving this. Sorting systems manufacturer Tomra has recently presented corresponding technologies. Kunststoffe spoke about this with Felix Flemming and Valerio Sama from Tomra. In the interview, they explain what progress can be made with it, how important digitalization is for this and what improvements it means for food packaging.

Interview on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Waste Sorting

Deep Learning

Datenanalyse

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

“AI Has Great Potential for  Sorting Food Packaging”

KIT and Audi Launch Pilot Project for Chemical Recycling

Closed loop for plastics from the automotive industry: waste from engineering plastics is processed into pyrolysis oil that can be used for new components.

A large number of components in automobiles are made from plastics. They have to meet high safety, heat resistance, and quality requirements. That is why so far only petroleum-based materials have been suitable for manufacturing plastic components in cars that are subjected to extremely high wear. In most cases, such materials cannot be recycled. Whereas plastics of the same type can often be recycled mechanically, recycling of mixed plastic waste poses a major challenge. The Thinktank Industrial Resource Strategies of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Audi are therefore launching a pilot project for chemical recycling in order to feed such mixed plastic fractions back into a resource-conserving circular system.

“Recycling automotive plastics has not yet been possible for many components. That is why we are doing pioneering work here together with Audi,” says Professor Dieter Stapf, Head of KIT’s Institute for Technical Chemistry, who also is involved in the Thinktank. “If we want to close these loops, we need to develop suitable methods.” So far, chemical recycling has been the only method that can be used to convert such mixed plastic wastes into products, whose quality matches that of new products.

As a result, a wider range of plastics can be recovered, Stapf says. “Such closed material loops save valuable resources, because less primary material is required. This, in turn, saves energy and costs – and is beneficial to the environment,” says Dr. Rebekka Volk from KIT’s Institute for Industrial Production.

Pilot Project of the Thinktank Industrial Resource Strategies

The pilot project “Chemical Recycling of Plastics in Automotive Engineering” is conducted by the Thinktank Industrial Resource Strategies that has been established at KIT by the Baden-Württemberg State Government together with industry and the support of academia. “Responsible use of resources is the joint obligation of industry, science, and politics. The Thinktank pools all competencies to master this big challenge and to serve society and the environment,” says Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT Vice-President for Innovation and International Affairs and Spokesperson of the Thinktank.

“Chemical recycling can be a major component of comprehensive plastics recycling. This makes it an interesting proposition for the automotive industry. The Thinktank and Audi are jointly addressing a central issue of making automobiles more sustainable and environmentally friendly in future irrespective of their type of powertrain. The Thinktank is focused on a holistic view of raw material loops,” says Dr. Christian Kühne, Managing Director of the Thinktank.

Audi is among the first automotive manufacturers testing this recycling method in a pilot project with plastics from automotive engineering. “We want to establish smart circular systems in our supply chains and make efficient use of resources,” says Marco Philippi, Senior Director Procurement Strategy of Audi.

“Chemical recycling has a great potential for this: If plastic components can be produced from pyrolysis oil instead of petroleum, it would be possible to significantly increase the proportion of sustainably manufactured components in automobiles. In the long run, this method can also play a role in end-of-life vehicle recycling.”

Pyrolysis Process for More Sustainable Products

The “Chemical Recycling of Plastics in Automotive Engineering” pilot project targets the creation of smart circular systems for plastics and establishing this method as a complement to mechanical recycling and replacement of energetic recovery. Partnering with KIT’s Thinktank, Audi intends to initially test the technical feasibility of chemical recycling and to evaluate the method in terms of its economic efficiency and environmental impacts. For this purpose, the company provides plastic components that are no longer needed, such as fuel tanks, wheel trim parts, and radiator grills, from Audi models returning from the German dealership network, for example.

The plastic components are processed to pyrolysis oil by chemical recycling. In the medium run, components based on pyrolysis oil can be used in automobiles again. If technical feasibility will be demonstrated, Audi will industrialize the technology and progressively apply it to more and more components.

Research and technology development for sustainable circular economy are major topics at KIT. “We are systematically studying the potentials of pyrolysis and how pyrolysis processes have to be designed on a large scale for maximum recycling of resources,” Stapf says. Chemical recycling of plastic wastes can help make modern products more sustainable and prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

Audi AG  

KIT Karlsruher Institut für Technologie Inst. f. Mikrostrukturtechnik (IMT)

https://www.fzk.de

Pyrolysis oil from mixed wastes is to close the loop for plastics from automotive engineering

News KITAudi 16.12.2020

About the Thinktank Industrial Resource Strategies

The Thinktank Industrial Resources Strategies is a joint initiative of politics and industry with the support of science. It provides politics and industry with scientific advice on central technological and strategic aspects of resource efficiency, use of resources, and resource policy. The Thinktank compiles data and facts in an objective way, processes them understandably, and produces results that are recognized equally by politics and industry, thus contributing largely to fact-based decisions of all parties. The Thinktank was established on January 09, 2018 and is located at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Spokesperson of the Thinktank is Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT Vice-President for Innovation and International Affairs. Operative management of the Thinktank lies in the hands of Managing Director Dr. Christian Kühne. The Thinktank Industrial Resource Strategies is financed from funds of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Environment, Climate Protection, and the Energy Sector.

Virtual Event on Chemical Recycling

The virtual event “Highway or Holzweg – Chemisches Recycling von Kunststoffen“ on January 25, 2021, 18.00 hrs, at the Baden-Württemberg State Representation in Berlin will provide a platform to discuss opportunities and challenges of chemical recycling of plastics. The event will be organized by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Environment, Climate Protection, and the Energy Sector.

<a href="https://um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/en/home/ " target="_blank">um.baden-wuerttemberg.de</a>

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