iCAREPLAST: Integrated Catalytic Recycling of Plastic Residues Into Added-Value Chemicals

H2020 SPIRE PROJECT. Grant agreement Nº 820770. 2018-2022

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 via chemical routes. 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:
 

  • the energetic valorisation of gas by-products through innovative oxycombustion units integrated with efficient heat recovery
  • the use of AI predictive control and real time optimisation.

iCAREPLAST aims to demonstrate 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 know-how 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. Additionally, liquid and gaseous streams of rich-hydrocarbons (including CO2), and solid subproducts (char) will be also recovered and valorised to maximise material and energy balance of the overall process, thus minimising environmental footprint and ensuring economic sustainability.

Responding to Call: H2020-NMBP-SPIRE-2018
Get more info through the project’s webpage www.icareplast.eu