Technologies

Physical recycling

Physical recycling makes it possible to recover plastic waste that is highly degraded, may contain contaminants, or is too complex to be valorized through other means.

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Physical recycling of plastic materials focuses primarily on recycling complex plastic waste, such as multilayer structures, highly mixed or contaminated waste and waste containing legacy substances.

The technique is based on dissolution processes and focuses on the differential solubility of each component in the plastic material (e.g. polymers, additives and adhesives). The process involves the selective dissolution of a specific compound in an appropriate solvent followed by its separation or extraction, recovery and purification.

The European directive currently establishes clear targets for plastic materials and has tightened short- and medium-term measures on waste management and the reuse of plastic waste in final products. Physical recycling is therefore a complementary technique with promising results for recycling plastic waste that cannot be recycled using more conventional techniques.

Our Solutions

Delamination: Selective dissolution and extraction of adhesives in multilayer structures results in delamination of this waste so that each layer can be separately recovered with high levels of purity.
Recovery of high value-added substances: The application of physical recycling in the recovery of high value-added substances such as phosphorus-based flame retardants is becoming increasingly relevant. Other critical raw materials, such as lithium, cobalt and copper, which are in high demand in electrical-electronic applications, can also be extracted and recovered using these methods.
Decontamination of plastic waste: The method makes it possible to obtain highly pure polymers and improve the quality of recycled materials by eliminating contaminants and legacy substances.
Recycling of complex and mixed plastics: This technique focuses on plastics that are difficult to process using conventional recycling methods. Its adaptability to different kinds of polymeric materials makes it an effective method for a wide variety of waste, including: multilayer melt-bonded materials, multicomponent plastic materials, plastics with embedded metals, and similar.
Production of new, high-quality and fully recycled materials: The polymeric materials resulting from the process retain their mechano-chemical properties. Materials can be reformulated to improve their properties by adding: