Category "News"

On November 16, PLAST2bCLEANED took part at WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) Forum Plastics working group 2021 virtual session to showcase its state-of-the-art solution for the recycling of this kind of plastics.

Esther Zondervan van-den Beuken, Program Manager Circular Plastics at TNO and coordinator of PLAST2bCLEANED, was the person in charge of representing the project at this conference, with this presentation.

The WEEE Forum is is a not-for-profit association of 43 WEEE producer responsibility organisations across the world and was founded in April 2002.

On November 16, PLAST2bCLEANED was invited, as part as the ongoing collaboration with the NONTOX initiative, to present the latest advancements in the project during their November General Assembly meeting.

NONTOX project is a combination of multiple recycling technologies to recycle hazardous plastic waste generated from Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment (WEEE), End of Life Vehicles (ELV) and Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). The unique combination of mechanical and chemical recycling technologies imparts several techno-economic benefits over single conventional methods.

Both projects have been working together since the beginning in 2019 and are currently seeking synergies as part of the Horizon Results Booster programme, together with Circular Flooring, Creator, and React.

Last June 29, Hans Vercammen, Director Specialty Chemicals at Campine, showcased PLAST2bCLEANED latest goals as part of his presentation Recycling antimony trioxide from industrial waste and beyond at Infohappening.

Infohappening is an annual conference addressing latest developments, devices, and technologies for textile coating, finishing and dyeing organised by Centexbel.

Check out here our latest Newsletter with information on the webinar we held, interviews we carried out, events we attended and much more!

PLAST2bCLEANED held, on July 1st, a webinar entitled Recycling of plastics: Towards a more sustainable plastic treatment in 2030, together with the CIRCULAR FLOORING, CREATOR, NONTOX, and REACT initiatives.  

For two hours, from 10:00 to 12:00 (CEST), the projects provided their different approaches to the current challenge of plastics recycling.

If you missed the day, you can check now the session here.

PLAST2bCLEANED has already achieved the milestone of its two years of life and, to celebrate that it still has two more years ahead, partners presented the main goals of the period.

252 samples were analysed from three Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment fractions using the RAMAN spectroscopy equipment. Studies on the influence of additives as well as colour/additives in the fluorescence effect were performed.

Dissolution experiments of reference samples to test separation of components were carried out, and its dissolution conditions were validated on sorted samples.

Density separation tests along multiple approaches were performed for the antimony trioxide removal, and several tests were held as well for brominated flame retardants and High Impact Polystyrene and Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.

In terms of process design, good additive removal rates have been achieved with reference samples.

Progress was also made in plant concept and design as well as on pilot unit dissolution.

Activity on the performance testing of process and continued as well as on the environmental and economic assessment and dissemination tasks.

PLAST2bCLEANED part of the presentation Next-generation recycling processes for Plastics containing Flame Retardants in automotive as part of a circular economy.

On June 23 to 25, Lein Tange, Sustainability Director at ICL Group attended the International Automobile Recycling Congress (IARC 2021) showcasing PLAST2bCLEANED’s state-of-the-art technologies.

In the presentation (copyright ICM AG), Lein presented the project scope and results obtained so far.

On June 15-16, ACHEMA 2021 had the opportunity to know more about the PLAST2bCLEANED progress scope and milestones achieved so far.

On behalf of the consortium, Sebastian Reinhardt, Research Scientist at Fraunhofer ICT, presented the project process steps, dissolution of polymers, antimony, and polymer recovery, as well as the hot crossflow filtration.

ACHEMA is the World Forum for the Process Industries where manufacturers and service providers from over 50 countries present their products for chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech research and manufacturing, as well as energy and environmental services.

Check out the latest news on PLAST2bCLEANED in the Newsletter issue number 4 here.

The project is on the right track! Regarding the pre-sorting process: our RAMAN spectroscopy equipment is set-up and calibrated and a spectral library is in place.

Over 18 months, the consortium members TNO and Fraunhofer ICT performed over 300 experiments on the different steps of the process.

Model and reference Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment materials supplied by the project partners were used to test the efficiency of antimony trioxide and brominated flame retardants removal from the polymer as well as recovery of these two additives.

The analysis showed that the removal of additives is well underway to reach specifications. A Process Flow Diagram (PFD) was drawn based on the best results of the individual steps. This PFD will be the basis of the design of the technology readiness level (TRL) 5 set-up at Fraunhofer ICT.

Likewise, an impact assessment showed a better environmental performance and reduced costs can be achieved by using a blend with at least 50% of Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) compared to using 100% virgin material.