Approximately 70% of European plastic waste (18.5 mt/year) is not being recycled due to technical or economic reasons and are thus sent to landfill (27%) or incinerated (42%). This situation affects negatively the environment in terms of pollution and greenhouse gases emissions, as well as social perception regarding waste management, consumer’s products industry and policy makers.
iCAREPLAST addresses the cost and energy-efficient recycling of a large fraction of today’s non-recyclable plastics and composites from urban waste. Heterogeneous plastic mixtures are converted into valuable chemicals, (alkyl)aromatics, via chemical routes comprising sequential catalytic and separation steps. This multi-stage process also produces carbon char and a pure CO2 stream as products, while offering greater economic sustainability, operational flexibility and a lower CO2 footprint thanks to: the energetic valorisation of gas by-products through innovative oxycombustion units integrated with efficient heat recovery, the use of AI predictive control and real time optimisation.
Plastic Recycling Process – Expected Impact
Demonstration of the whole technology for plastic waste valorisation in a pilot plant able to process >100 kg/h of plastic (TRL-7).
Adaptable to other waste materials (e.g. biomass).
Involved technologies/developments can be exploited in many other industries.