PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Thermoplastics constitute a continuously increasing fraction of the overall growing plastic waste in Europe. In 2016, more than 26 million tonnes were consumed in sectors including the automotive and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) sectors. Alone, these two sectors account for almost 15% of the total consumption of plastics in Europe. Decreasing the dependence of these fast-growing sectors on virgin plastic by using secondary thermoplastics will curb energy, water and resource consumption and reduce landfilling in Europe, a practice already phased out in several European countries and discouraged by the EU legislation.
Properly separated thermoplastic streams could result in a much higher-value output, but state-of-the-art recycling processes fail to do this. Factors include the difficulty in obtaining economies of scale, low current processes yield (about 50%), and the presence of additives such as fillers or flame retardant substances such as bromine and antimony. As a result, secondary thermoplastics derived from shredder residues from waste EEE (WEEE) and end-of-life vehicles (ELV) cannot meet the high-quality specifications required by the automotive and electronics industries.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE PlasPLUS aimed to provide a complete solution for the economic recovery of thermoplastics and by-products, starting from a heterogeneous mixed plastic feedstock (ELV and WEEE) and resulting in high-quality raw materials for the automotive and EEE sectors.
The specific objectives were:
- demonstrate the feasibility of recycling 45% of the plastic concentrate handled by the Comet Traitements plant into added-value thermoplastic streams by scaling up a new froth flotation/triboelectricity demonstration unit;
- achieve a scale up of the current prototype from batch production of 150 kg/h with technology readiness level (TRL) 6 to pre-commercial level of continuous production at 1 500 kg/h at TRL7. This would process >98%-pure polystyrene (PP), filled polypropylene (FPP) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) regrinds;
- adapt a sensor-enabled separator that can detect flame retardant plastics (FRPs) [250 kg/h throughput] and separate fibre-reinforced plastic at 250 kg/h;
- substitute >40% virgin thermoplastics with secondary ones in three new secondary compounds for the automotive and EEE markets;
- validate the quality of the produced compounds in three standard vehicle parts and in flame retardant batches for the EEE sector;
- showcase a closed-loop production for the valuable flame retardant element (Sb2O3), also validating its flame retardant performance in recycled plastics;
- conduct life cycle analyses and socio-economic analyses to confirm the environmental benefits and techno-economic soundness of the concept; and
- develop a replication and transfer plan as a sustainable business model for other facilities around Europe.
LIFE PlasPLUS aimed to contribute to the Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment, the End-of life vehicles Directive and the Landfill Directive. It also aimed to support the EU’s action plan for the circular economy and strategy for plastics in a circular economy.
RESULTS
The project aimed to recover valuable thermoplastics (PE, PP, ABS, PS) and their associated Antimony-based Flame-Retardant Plastics synergists. The project was able to achieve the objectives related to the ‘Thermoplastic value chain’. Demonstration of the ‘Antimony value chain’ was successful, but further work will be necessary to make it a reality at industrial scale.
Thermoplastic value chain
- A demonstration unit (comprising a tribo-electricity unit, froth flotation was finally not required to achieve desired results) has been built at the Comet factory in Obourg to recycle secondary thermoplastics. The sorting process has been successfully demonstrated for the duration of 2 years and 3,907 tons of FPP, ABS and PS were produced with a high purity.
- The recycled plastics were incorporated in the production of new compounding formulations.
- With these compounds, automotive parts were manufactured complying with Fiat/Jeep technical requirements. A glove box contained 100% of recycled FPP, a speaker bracket contained 75% of recycled ABS.
- For the EEE market, two demonstrators integrating 100% of recycled PP and 100% of recycled ABS respectively were produced. Both prototypes proved to be fully compliant with the manufacturer's requirements.
A detailed market analysis was performed, and a business plan elaborated. The profitability of the plant was confirmed. It is foreseen to double the capacity of the Obourg plant from 50,000 tons/year to 100,000 tons per year after 2 to 4 years after the project end. Replication of the technology in three entities after 3 to 6 years is foreseen most likely in Belgium, France, Germany or the Netherlands.
Antimony (Sb) value chain
- Recovery of antimony (Sb) from Flame Retardant Plastics (FRP) was successfully done. However, this step was validated with another technique than initially foreseen, the Redwave XRF technology instead of the PICKIT technology.
- Catalytic conversion of the extracted FRP into char, followed by the Sb-recovery from the char as Sb2O3 (ATO) was achieved.
- New FRPs were produced with the recovered ATO.
The business case for these steps is positive, but this value chain is less mature than the thermoplastic value chaine due to its complexity. Additional work should be done to improve both, Sb recovery yields and ATO purity. If after (post-LIFE project) process optimisation the business case is still positive, a first plant will be implemented in the coming 2 to 5 years. Replication could then be foreseen 5 to 7 years after the end of the project.
