Description du projet
Une nouvelle technologie de recyclage des déchets plastiques
Face au changement climatique, la population et les gouvernements s’efforcent de trouver de nouvelles solutions écologiques pour améliorer le recyclage. À l’heure actuelle en Europe, environ 70 % des déchets plastiques ne sont pas recyclés, en raison de difficultés soit économiques, soit techniques. Des montagnes de déchets sont donc déposées dans les décharges ou sont incinérées, un phénomène qui a une incidence délétère sur l’environnement. Dans ce contexte, le projet iCAREPLAST, financé par l’UE, entend inverser cette tendance en introduisant une nouvelle méthodologie permettant d’améliorer le recyclage des déchets plastiques et de favoriser une économie circulaire. Cette nouvelle méthodologie permettra le recyclage des déchets plastiques non recyclés, grâce à un processus qui réduit les coûts énergétiques, tout en générant des produits tels que le charbon et des flux de CO2.
Objectif
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 will be converted into valuable chemicals (alkylaromatic) via chemical routes comprising sequential catalytic and separation steps. This multistage process will also yield carbon char and a pure CO2 stream as products, whilst it will present improved economic sustainability, operational flexibility and lower CO2 footprint thanks to (i) the energetic valorisation of gas by-products through innovative oxycombustion units integrated with efficient heat recovery; and (ii) the use of AI predictive control and real time optimisation. iCAREPLAST aims to demonstrate (TRL-7) the whole technology for plastic waste valorisation in a pilot plant able to process >100 kg/h of plastic. Advanced upstream waste sorting, pre-treatment and pyrolysis is strongly backed by previous demonstration activities and knowhow of the consortium, with profound knowledge of waste management and recycling market.
iCAREPLAST solution will enforce circular economy by substantially increasing the amount of recycled plastics to produce commodity products that can be used for virgin-quality polymers production or as raw materials for other processes in petrochemicals, fine chemicals, automotive and detergent/surfactants industries. As a result of its initial exploitation we will treat 250,000t of plastic waste which otherwise would have become landfill, converting it into 1,500t of alkylaromatics and 1,000t of aromatics.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
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IA - Innovation actionCoordinateur
28006 Madrid
Espagne