25 YEARS ANNIVERSARY 14 PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 05/24 www.petpla.net 25 YEARS ANNIVERSARY Advanced recycling technologies to complement mechanical recycling Advanced recycling on the rise Advanced recycling technologies are developing at a fast pace, with new players constantly appearing on the market, from start-ups to chemistry giants and everything in-between. New plants are being built, new capacities are being achieved, and new partnerships are being established. With all these dynamic developments, it is difficult to keep track of what is happening. Nova Institute’s report “Mapping of advanced plastic waste recycling technologies and their global capacities” aims to clear up this jungle of information providing a structured overview and in-depth insight. Besides conventional mechanical recycling and taking account of recent discussions on the improvement of recycling rates, a wide spectrum of advanced recycling technologies is moving into focus. Whilst PET bottle mechanical recycling is well established and performing well, in cases of mixed plastic waste or mixed waste containing various plastics and organic waste, mechanical recycling is not an option, or allows only partial solutions with considerable effort of pretreatment. In consequence, these waste streams mostly end up in landfill or incineration instead of being further processed into a new feedstock. This is why advanced recycling technologies are crucial for the circular economy. With advanced recycling a toolbox of versatile technologies is available to address plastic waste streams in different compositions and qualities in order to transform them into a range of different raw materials that can be reintroduced at different positions along the value chain of polymers and plastics. The technologies include material recycling based on dissolution (physical process) from which polymers can be obtained. Furthermore, numerous chemical recycling technologies are available that are capable of depolymerising a targeted polymer into its component parts (monomers) via enzymolysis (biochemical process), solvolysis (chemical process), and thermal depolymerisation (thermochemical process). Another group of chemical recycling technologies are thermochemical processes which are currently achieving the largest capacities. These technologies are based on pyrolysis, gasification and incineration coupled with Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) which are capable of converting plastic waste into secondary valuable chemicals as well as naphtha, syngas, and CO2 which can be used as feedstock for the production of new polymers. Which technologies are suitable for PET? The Nova Institute report “Mapping of advanced plastic waste recycling technologies and their global capacities” provides an in-depth insight into advanced recycling technologies and their providers. More than 100 technologies and their status are presented in detail listing the companies, their strategies and investment as well as cooperation partners. But which technologies are actually suitable for PET?
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