Chemical Recycling – Analytical Solutions for an Effective Circular Economy
Plastic material has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. It offers many benefits, like, for example, as packaging it prevents food from spoiling, makes cars lighter, and insulates houses.
On a closer look, plastics have many advantages over other materials:?
?? They are lightweight yet robust.?
?? They are resistant to water, and many are even resistant to acids and bases.?
?? Thanks to their smooth surface, they can be easily cleaned.?
?? They do not oxidize.?
?? They are flexible and can be easily molded.?
?? They are extremely durable and do not rust.?
?? Plastics are shatterproof and hygienic.?
However, despite their inherent durability, plastic products end up in the trash too quickly.
Globally, around 250 million tons of plastic waste are generated each year. By 2060, this amount is expected to triple. Currently, only 9% of all plastic waste is recycled. The rest is disposed of in landfills, leaks into the environment, or is incinerated thereby releasing CO2.[1]
Chemical Recycling for a Sustainable Circular Economy
To solve the plastic waste problem and ensure sustainable use, we need to move from "take, make and waste" to "reduce, reuse, recycle".
More and more countries are striving to realize this transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. It would mean no more pollution from plastic waste, but using it as a valuable raw material. At the same time, our dependence on fossil resources would be reduced.
To date, plastic waste has mainly been recycled mechanically. However, it is difficult to achieve a further increase in the recycling rate with this method alone. This is where chemical recycling comes into play. It is a new and promising technology that enables the recycling of plastic waste that cannot be processed by mechanical recycling.
Advantages of Chemical Recycling
Chemical recycling offers two major advantages over mechanical recycling:
1?? It can be applied to mixed plastic waste streams. Waste is very heterogeneous by nature and usually contains different types of plastic (e.g. PP, PE, PS), which are also contaminated with food residues. Mechanical recycling requires careful sorting and cleaning of the waste until only a single type of plastic without food contamination remains. Chemical recycling, on the other hand, can be used for plastic waste where further sorting is not economically viable, as well as for contaminated plastics and used tires that cannot be recycled by other means.
2?? There are no restrictions on new products created through chemical recycling. Chemical recycling breaks down plastic waste into its chemical building blocks, making it a perfect substitute for petroleum. The recycled raw material can be used to produce plastics of any type and color. In contrast, the type and color of the plastic products produced by mechanical recycling are predetermined by the corresponding properties of the processed plastic waste. For example, a red polystyrene yoghurt pot cannot be turned into a white polypropylene bucket through mechanical recycling. In addition, the new products created through chemical recycling are of virgin quality and can be used in demanding applications such as food packaging or medical devices.
The two recycling processes – mechanical recycling and chemical recycling – complement each other perfectly. Chemical recycling starts where mechanical recycling reaches its limits. If both methods are combined, recycling rates can be significantly increased and a circular economy for plastics is within reach.
Chemical Recycling is More Than Just Theory - Application Potentials
In fact, there are now numerous examples of high-quality products being made from plastic waste using chemical recycling.
The very first food packaging made from chemically recycled plastic was a Magnum ice cream container. This key advance is the result of a partnership between Unilever, chemical company Sabic and chemical recycling startup Plastic Energy[2].
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In 2021, over 30 million Magnum cups were already made from chemically recycled plastic, and by 2025, the entire production is to be converted to circular plastics.
Another example is the packaging of KitKat bars. Thanks to a collaboration between Nestle and the chemical company LyondellBasell, KitKat chocolate bar packaging is now made from chemically recycled polypropylene[3].
Vaude and Mercedes Benz are working with BASF to transform used tires into high-quality outdoor clothing as well as door handles and impact absorbers for the Mercedes EQE and S-Class[4,5].
As part of their sustainability strategies, many chemical companies have committed themselves to chemical recycling. In particular, BASF is taking a pioneering role and is actively campaigning for a legal framework that enables the accounting of products manufactured through chemical recycling using a mass balance approach[5].
Analytical Solutions to Support Efficient Chemical Recycling
There are three basic quality gates during the chemical recycling process:
1?? Quality Control of Incoming Plastic Waste
In order to prevent corrosion, catalyst poisoning and other problems, the oil fed into petrochemical plants must not exceed a certain limit of heteroatoms and metals. Among the most problematic elements in recycled oil are usually oxygen, silicon, halogens such as chlorine and metals such as sodium, iron, lead, calcium and mercury. Depending on the elements that exceed the specified limits, the pyrolysis oil must undergo certain purification processes. In some cases, it can be beneficial to mix the recycled raw material with fossil raw material in order to achieve non-critical element values.
The quality of the products derived from pyrolysis also depends on the quality of the plastic waste to be processed. Therefore, quality control of the plastic waste supplied is of crucial importance.
2??Making Sure the Pyrolysis Oil is Ready for the Refinery or the Steam Cracker
Fluctuations in the composition of plastic waste represent one of the biggest hurdles for the large-scale implementation of chemical recycling. Since no two batches of processed waste are the same, the composition of the resulting pyrolysis oil is also constantly changing. The first step in overcoming the inherent variability is the analytical characterization of the plastic waste and the pyrolysis oil.
3?? Evaluation of Produced Wastewater
During the pyrolysis process, wastewater is produced. Determining whether this wastewater has been sufficiently purified to be discharged into rivers is crucial. This concern can be addressed by measuring the total organic carbon (TOC), total bound nitrogen (TNb) and adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) in the wastewater.
Laboratory instruments from Analytik Jena provide support at all key quality control points in the chemical recycling of plastics by quickly delivering reliable data for decision-making.
Read the whole article and all about our reliable solutions for the specific quality gates that make chemical recycling efficient and truly sustainable in our blog post on Chemical Recycling: Analytical Solutions for an Effective Circular Economy?- Analytik Jena ( analytik-jena.com )
[1] OECD (2022), Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options, OECD Publishing, Paris https://doi.org/10.1787/de747aef-en
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12 个月What a fascinating and informative article ?? The general concept of recycling is largely understood, and some countries are more active at doing it than others, but I never realised there were different types of recycling until I read this article. Thank you for a great post ??
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1 年what about returnable packaging? Interesting read on that here: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/reuse-rethinking-packaging