Upcycling instead of recycling: the "UpcyclePET" research project has investigated how industrial plastic can be recovered from used PET bottles and developed a new material. This has mechanical properties that are similar to those of short glass fibre-reinforced virgin plastics.
In 2018, the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, the company Easicomp GmbH and the Öko-Institut launched the research project UpcyclePET on. A new material based on used PET (polyethylene terephthalate) drinks bottles was developed in the research project, which has now been completed. According to the Fraunhofer LBF, this new and sustainable material has mechanical properties similar to those of short glass fibre reinforced virgin plasticssuch as short glass fibre reinforced polyesters or polyamides.
The demonstrator component made from the new material is also characterised by its Low shrinkage and especially High dimensional accuracy out. The material also has a significantly improved CO2 footprint, as determined by the project partner Öko-Institut in a preliminary life cycle analysis. Equipped with these properties, the new materials are estimated to have great potential, especially for larger components in technical applicationssuch as in automobiles, furniture or in the construction sector.
UpcyclePET: Reprocessing PET beverage bottles
"The research project has shown where Borders lie and where else considerable potential is slumbering," summarises Dr Tapio Harmia, Managing Director of Easicomp, an expert in long glass fibre-reinforced thermoplastics. "The special requirements of process chains with secondary raw materials, such as reliable and predictable availability in terms of quantity and quality, must be given special consideration," adds Dr Volker Strubel, network coordinator of the project.
Dr Frank Schönberger, Head of the Polymer Synthesis Department at the Fraunhofer LBFpoints out that holistic solutions for high-quality recycling and upcycling are often industry- and application-specific. It is therefore necessary to bring together the players along the value chain. Early involvement in developments to be integrated. With the follow-up project UpcyclePETPlus now continues.
Further research to improve the quality of PET material flows
The aim of UpcyclePETPlus is to utilise the components of PET packaging waste that could not previously be recycled for a High-quality technical application zu to be developed. The new process to be developed is intended to make an important contribution to the Circular economy for packaging plastics and improve the resource and climate efficiency of the plastics-using industry.
To this end, the core partners are working together with the waste disposal company Jakob Becker and KS Innovation, a specialist in injection moulded components, to develop economically attractive and sustainable upcycling solutions. In the new project, on the one hand Secondary material flows The project addresses waste that is of significantly lower quality and has high quality fluctuations, such as PET-rich fractions from the dual system, which cannot be recycled today. The project therefore Separation and cleaning processes The PET material flows are used and further developed to improve their quality.
Secondly, the project partners have set themselves the goal of optimising the interface between material development and the component manufacturing process. For example, selected PET material streams LFT materials developed through customised blending and additives. Finally, the influence and interaction of fibre length, fibre and recyclate content as well as additives are specifically investigated with a view to the application-specific properties of the manufactured component and the injection moulding process used for this purpose is optimised.
Source: Fraunhofer LBF
