Novel recycling process for the full range of post-consumer plastic waste feedstocks including black plastic

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

Bulky mixed rigid plastic accounts for 70% of all plastics produced and makes up 60% of the waste plastic sent to landfill or incineration in the EU today. Existing solutions either cannot technically separate this plastic or cannot do so in a scalable, economically viable way. There is currently no commercially proven solution in the market for separating dark plastics, which can account for up to 33% of the plastic fraction.

The BOSS technology solves these problems by providing a scalable, automated, water-based solution that is capable of separating black plastic to the same purity as other colours. The patented system uses oscillation to generate specific flow patterns in the water, which affect different polymer types in different ways. This novel process technology effectively stratifies different polymers based on density, allowing the particles to be split with a density delta of 0.005 gcm-^₃

OBJECTIVES

The project will upscale and bring to the market the novel BOSS technology to radically innovate and boost plastic recycling and re-use in EU. The technical objectives are to:

1. Develop a large-scale demonstration 25kt/y recycling BOSS-3D plant for post-consumer mixed rigid waste as a scalable, automated recycling line with zero manual sorting;
2. Replicate and transfer BOSS technology, through technological upscaling and large-scale demonstration of industrial plants in France and the Netherlands, and evaluate new potential replications in the EU;
3. Demonstrate that BOSS technology can improve post-consumer plastic waste treatment to produce up to 98% pure recycled PP/PE plastic to replace virgin materials;
4. Validate and demonstrate that the residual sinking plastic fraction can be separated by Reverse-BOSS technology; and
5. Validate and demonstrate a compounding line producing from post-consumer waste plastic:
   • Recycled PE with customised Melt Flow Index; and
   • A colour specific recycled product, which can increase the replacement of virgin polymer by recycled product.

The environmental objectives are to:

1. Dmonstrate a 95% CO₂ reduction, 83% energy consumption reduction and 38% water consumption reduction compared to other recycling technologies;
2. Demonstrate that BOSS products can be recycled up to seven times compared to lower purity recycled products;
3. Demonstrate that the BOSS plant can recycle 100% of post-consumer waste plastic  feedstock; and
4. Carry out a Life Cycle Analysis to quantify the technology‘s benefits in the Netherlands and France, including the improved carbon footprint.

The business objectives include:

1. Development of a full demonstration study (based on BOSS demonstration sites) to highlight the close-to-market nature of the project and its sustainability, transferability and replicability;
2. Development of a blueprint for the BOSS Business plan and launch on the market, targeting the upscaled BOSS plant and licensing of the BOSS technology; and
3. Establishment of 15 or more commercial agreements with current and new clients.

 

RESULTS

Expected results:

• Demonstration of the first industrial scale, automated recycling and production process, processing up to 2.5 tonnes per hour of post-consumer plastic, including heavy and black plastics (BOSS-3D) at plant located in Groningen;
• Replication of the technology at a new recycling plant located in Saint Germain, targeting mixed post-consumer flexible plastics (BOSS-2D) with a capacity of 1.3t/h (Examples include post-consumer mixed mono-layer polyolefin flexibles (PP&PE), laminated flexibles (PE backed with aluminium) and multi-layer flexibles (PE layered with nylon & PET));
• Up to 83% reduction in energy consumption compared to traditional processes;
• Water use savings;
• Up to 95 reduction in greenhouse gases emissions, amounting to up to 5,952kg of CO₂eq per tonne of plastic diverted from incineration/landfilling during the project; and
• Development of a business strategy based on project technical results.