aimplas, Technological Institute of Plastic, has coordinated Life Ecomethylal, a European project that has just concluded and that has resulted in a plant capable of obtaining half a kilo of methylal (a substance that can be used as a solvent or as a raw material for the production of new plastics) for every kilo of non-recyclable waste.
Through the technology of catalytic hydrogasification with plasma, which within the different types of chemical recycling is part of the thermal cracking process, it has been possible to recover a typology of plastic waste that until now ended up in landfills and that can now be used in form of solvents or as a raw material for the production of new plastics. Specifically, waste from the automotive, electrical-electronic and packaging sectors.
Valencian companies also participate in the project BPP, Acteco, and Airesa and the Croatian company MI-Plast. BPP has been responsible for implementing chemical recycling through catalytic hydrogasification with plasma at the pilot plant level. The result has been a small modular pilot plant that has been operational since the end of 2019 in three different locations: Castellón and Ibi in Spain and Rijeka in Croatia.
The new plant has the advantage of its mobility and modularity, since it can be easily transported and assembled, as well as its adaptability to different types of waste. All this has been verified during the execution of the project and it has also been verified that the pretreatment of the waste through mechanical recycling contributes to obtaining optimal results.
The project Life Ecomethylal It is part of the Life program of the European Union with file number LIFE15 ENV / ES / 000208.
