Category "News"

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.

On November 23, TNO, coordinators of the PLAST2bCLEANED project, participated, as part of the World Circular Economic Forum Online activities, with a webinar entitled Don’t waste it – Solving the dark side of today’s plastic.

As part of the activities within the online seminar, a movie was shown and PLAST2bCLEANED scope and objectives were showcased.

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Last October 9, PLAST2bCLEANED held an internal webinar as part of work package 4 Performance testing of process and products, led by Coolrec.

During the session, the PRE-1000-1 method was presented by Patrick de Kort, Regulatory Affairs Manager for Plastics Recyclers Europe and author of the method and was later discussed among partners.

This method represents a quick scan to assess and quantify the presence of substances of concern (SoC) in a recycled plastic. It is a considerable step forward to close the regulatory gaps mentioned in the project literature about limitations, barriers, and standards for using recycled polymers.

For two days, June 23 and 24, the PLAST2bCLEANED consortium partners were reunited in an online meeting to discuss about the achievements to date and the next foreseen actions.

Gaiker, company responsible for the preprocess: sensing and sorting, presented, among other points, the equipment they are using in the laboratory, already set up and calibrated: the RAMAN spectrometers.

TNO, as leaders for the Process development: dissolution and recovery, explained that they have already defined the reference samples; they have established the experimental procedure and recovered products analysed​ and they also investigated the first filtration characteristics.

From their part, Fraunhofer ICT is just starting with the Process system integration and scaleup expected from this month 12.

Coolrec, as leaders of work package 4 related to performance testing of process and products, explained that they have established  the procedure for X-ray fluorescence: sampling and testing​, their chemical analysis was chosen for the assessment of different parameters as well, and the target for upgrade defined.

Regarding the environmental and economic assessment, also carried out by TNO, a first screening life cycle assessment was performed.

Sustainable Innovations was in charge of presenting the advancement in terms of the Key Performing Indicators established at the beginning of the project for dissemination and they also organized a workshop to explore the possible exploitation routes and target markets.

Finally, TNO presented the updates regarding the management and coordination of the project and the status of the ethics requirements.

Juchheim, ICL Group, Electrolux, and Elix Polymers also participated actively in the discussions as consortium partners.

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On June, 26 to 28, Lein Tange, Product Stewardship Manager at ICL, attended the European meeting on Fire Retardant Polymeric Materials (FRPM), hosted in Turku (Finland) to present the PLAST2bCLEANED project.

Likewise, within the congress framework, Lein, as responsible for the project’s stakeholder engagement, stablished some possible cooperation lines with the projects NONTOX, CREATOR and PSLoop.

The FRPM 2019 edition showcased the latest trends and innovation developments related to flame retardants for all types of polymeric materials, chemical safety and regulations, fire modelling & simulations and recent advances in fire testing technology.

PLAST2bCLEANED ‘s overall aim of is to develop a human and environmental safe recycling process for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) plastics in a technically feasible and economically viable manner.