Solvent-based route to recycling plastics

Archiv – Germany alone produces 2 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste each year. One fifth of this stream – which includes computers, cell phones and television sets – is made up of plastics. Germany alone produces 2 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste each year. One fifth of this stream – which includes computers, cell phones and television sets – is made up of plastics.
Until now, only 5000 of these 400 000 tonnes of plastic have been recycled – well short of the 75% target enshrined in the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). However, a 95% recycling rate is being claimed for the patented CreaSolv process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV) of Freising in conjunction with CreaCycle GmbH of Grevenbroich.
WEEE contains a mixture of different plastics which renders recycling difficult. Furthermore, these plastics tend to be contaminated with heavy metals or brominated flame retardants which other technologies have been unable to remove. Also present are fillers, stabilisers and pigments, all of which present problems when recycling. However, the Fraunhofer technique allows even those plastics containing highly toxic substances and pollutants to be reused. The properties of the recycled plastics recovered in this way are as good as new ones in all relevant areas, according to researchers.
Dr Andreas Mäurer, Head of the IVV Plastics Recycling Department, explains the various stages of the process: ’First of all, the appliances are broken up in a giant mill; then the metals and circuit boards are separated out. What that leaves us is a mixture of shredded plastics, fibres, wood and foam. Recyclable polymers are removed from the scrap mixture with a particularly environment-friendly solvent. Insoluble contaminants and hazardous substances are set aside, as there is a market even for these in the chemical industry.’
UK organisation Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which had been seeking ways of removing brominated flame retardants from plastics contained in WEEE, has expressed an interest in acquiring licences to market the process in the UK.