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From Science& Research Category Catalysis for a multidimensional circular economy The chemical industry supplies indispensable substances for our health, nutrition, and current standard of living. However, many of the chemical products accumulate as waste at the end of their product life. Due to their chemical complexity and diversity of substance mixtures, no viable recycling concepts exist for most waste streams to date; they are therefore often used thermally, landfilled, or introduced into natural ecosystems, thus leading to environmental pollution. The resulting ecological challenges are particularly evident in the case of plastic waste, e.g. microplastics are now found in the most remote areas of the world. The politically and socially demanded resource and energy transition therefore requires transforming the traditionally linear structure of production and use in the chemical industry into a holistic circular economy in which economic growth is decoupled from primary resource consumption and waste is understood as a valuable resource. This requires viable new recycling concepts for chemical products. Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer of RWTH Aachen University (Aachen, Germany), together with an interdisciplinary team of researchers in “catalaix – Catalysis for a Circular Economy”, want to ensure chemical products become valuable resources of an integrated circular economy according to the open-loop principle at the end of their product life. The chemical building blocks created in open-loop recycling will be tailored and flexibly fed into a wide variety of value chains and material cycles in line with demand. The aim is to create a flexible, multidimensional circular economy that supports the sustainable transformation of the chemical industry. This will be achieved by developing customized chemo-, bio – and electro-catalyst systems and integrating renewable raw materials and energy sources into the recycling process. Using the example of plastics recycling, the researchers have already demonstrated the technical feasibility of this concept for diverse classes of plastics. As one example, the PalkovitsLab was able to transform the biobased plastics polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polylactic acid (PLA) with easily separable solid catalysts back into the monomers. This was possible for both pure polymer streams and mixtures of the two bioplastics. The strategy could even be extended to PET as a non-biopolymer. Here, PHB and PLA were converted with similar yields as in the previous mixed recycling approach of the bioplastics, whereas PET remained largely intact in solid form and could therefore be easily separated from the reaction solution. Furthermore, the Klankermayer group demonstrated the effective and selective catalytic depolymerization of polyester/ polycarbonate wastes into various diols using a tailormade molecular catalyst that tolerates polymer additives. Investigations on the integration of biobased diols in the chemical recycling of POM (polyoxymethylene) polymers enabled the selective production of chemical building blocks from the plastics mainly used in automotive construction. These flexible building blocks can then serve as solvents, fuel additives, pharmaceutical intermediates, and even as monomer materials for polymerization reactions. The showcases exemplify the potential and capability of chemical recycling of real mixed waste streams, with the possibility of avoiding extensive sorting and purification steps prior to depolymerization. “Catalaix – Catalysis for a Circular Economy” is one of six finalists in the competition for a new WSS research centre for the sustainable use of the planet’s resources that have each already received a WSS research prize of 1 million Swiss francs (~ EUR 1 million). A total of 123 proposals were submitted in the competition for the “project of the century” of the Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS). Based on their ideas, the finalists will develop their detailed concepts by the end of October 2023. The final competitive decision will be announced in January 2024. The WSS research centre will be funded with 100 million Swiss francs (~EUR 105 million) over a funding period of ten years. The Werner Siemens Foundation initiated the competition on the occasion of its 100 th anniversary. MT/AT Magnetic for Plastics www.plasticker.com • International Trade in Raw Materials, Machinery & Products Free of Charge. • Daily News from the Industrial Sector and the Plastics Markets. • Current Market Prices for Plastics. • Buyer’s Guide for Plastics & Additives, Machinery & Equipment, Subcontractors and Services. • Job Market for Specialists and Executive Staff in the Plastics Industry. Up-to-date • Fast • Professional 34 bioplastics MAGAZINE | Renewable Carbon Plastics [05/23] Vol. 18
Category DISCOVER THE FUTURE OF PLASTICS NPE is the largest plastics trade show in the Americas and one of the most innovative business events in the world with 55,000 leaders from 110 countries representing every industry — from automotive to healthcare, consumer products to construction and more. Registration now open. Use promo code BIOPLAS to register for FREE, visit NPE.org/BioPlas bioplastics MAGAZINE | Renewable Carbon Plastics [05/23] Vol. 18 35
Page 1 and 2: Bioplastics - CO 2 -based Plastics
Page 3 and 4: dear Editorial readers In your hand
Page 5 and 6: Picks & clicks Most frequently clic
Page 7 and 8: Novel hybrid PET/F bottle Origin Ma
Page 9 and 10: Transforming flies into degradable
Page 11 and 12: Bio-based CO2-based Recycling INITI
Page 13 and 14: 8 th PLA World Congress 28 + 29 MAY
Page 15 and 16: available at www.renewable-carbon.e
Page 17 and 18: with roots in recycling On-site By:
Page 19 and 20: Category bioplastics MAGAZINE | Ren
Page 21 and 22: around 28,000 tonnes. It is expecte
Page 23 and 24: Fibres FDY production was possible
Page 25 and 26: Depolymerization of PA66 using micr
Page 27 and 28: Cellulose nano fibres - a smooth ad
Page 29 and 30: By: H. Aybige Akdag Ozkan, R&D Cent
Page 31 and 32: BOOK STORE Category 3 rd Edition NE
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Page 37 and 38: ADVANCED RECYCLING Conference 2023
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Page 41 and 42: Industrially compostable stretch wr
Page 43 and 44: Biobased and biodegradable eyewear
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