Extrusion International 5-2023

9 Extrusion International 5/2023 Old Plastic Becomes New Adhesive – Project on Chemical Recycling Launched A recently started research project of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Bremen and the German Plastics Cen- ter SKZ in Würzburg aims to recycle thermally damaged plastics by chemical recycling. The material of choice is PET, which is already very well established in mechani - cal recycling. Thanks to the well-known bottles and the deposit system in Germany, the material is mostly sorted by type and most of it is already efficiently recycled. The RezyBond project is dedicated to PET fractions that have aged too much as a result of several recycling passes or do not end up in this (bottle) cycle at all, such as other PET packaging. The special feature of the process is that in this case the chemical recycling is carried out on a standard twin- screw extruder. "Our goal is to develop a continuous, reactive recycling process of PET recyclates into polyes- ter polyols. These then serve as chemical base material again," explains Hatice Malatyali, group manager ex - trusion and compounding at SKZ. The polyols obtained serve as a base material for a wide variety of techno- logical areas, such as adhesives or even coatings. In the project, these are to be used as starting materials for adhesive formulations and thus transferred directly into an application. A demonstrator plant is also planned at the SKZ in order to make the process accessible to inter- ested medium-sized companies. Mechanical recycling is now an established technology. Unfortunately, the plastics to be recycled are usually not sorted by type. The consequence is recyclates consisting of a mixture of different plastics and the associated loss of material properties. The result is often downcycling, i.e. the use of these recyclates in other (inferior) appli- cations. In addition, there is a certain amount of dam - age to the material with each recycling cycle, which also negatively affects the properties of the plastics. In order to integrate these two cases into the circular economy, chemical recycling is considered a possible solution. Here, the polymers are degraded down to their basic materials, in order to be subsequently recycled with a low input of new rawmaterials without any loss of quality. The disad- vantage, especially for medium-sized companies, is the high investment in the technology. Further information: www.skz.de/en/research/circular-economy/recycling Hatice Malatyali, h.malatyali@skz.de Memorandum of Understanding to Develop Strategic Partnership Signed German specialty chemicals company LANXESS a global player in the chemical industry and one of the largest flame retardant producers, and FRX Innova - tions, a leading global developer and manufacturer of environmentally sustainable polymeric flame-retardant additives, have announced the signing of a memoran - dum of understanding covering: 1. the evaluation of a contract manufacturing, by LANXESS, of a family of FRX patented NOFIA ® products, 2. the potential production by LANXESS, of an FRX patented raw material necessary for the production of NOFIA ® flame retardants, 3. the exploration of potential marketing by LANXESS of NOFIA ® flame retardants in specific sectors and/or geographies. “Being a unique polymeric, sustainable flame-re - tardant solution, the NOFIA ® range fits perfectly with LANXESS’ existing phosphorus flame retardant portfo - lio and long-term strategy of sustainable flame-retar - dant solutions,” said Karsten Job, Managing Director of LANXESS’ Polymer Additives business unit. “We believe that FRX’s NOFIA ® technology will capture important market share in this market.” “This relationship with LANXESS is a definitive step in the growth of our NOFIA ® business,” said Marc Lebel, CEO of FRX Innovations. “As a direct consequence of re - cently passed legislation, market dynamics have changed significantly, causing NOFIA® products to be pulled into large new application areas. LANXESS operates one of the world’s premiere Flame-Retardant Additives businesses and we believe that a strategic partnership with LANXESS can be pivotal to capturing the considerable growth op- portunities ahead for us both.” Lebel continued, “The re - lationship we are discussing fits well with FRX’s mission to be a leader in the environmentally sustainable revolution now driving the flame-retardant industry.” LANXESS www.lanxess.com FRX Innovations www.frx-innovations.com Twin screw extruder in the SKZ pilot plant (Picture: SKZ)