Green Plastic Recycling Factory for Food Contact Materials (Technology Talk)

JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITY LINZ Altenberger Strasse 69 4040 Linz, Austria jku.at greenPLAST-food Green Plastic Recycling Factory for Food Contact Materials Joerg Fischer Head of the Institute of Polymeric Materials and Testing Deputy Head of the LIT Factory greenPLAST-food https://triplast.at greenPLAST-food Primary goals Design a blueprint for a recycling factory Food packaging Create an AI-based sorting mechanism Develop safe recycling processes Optimize energy efficient recycling technologies wPE wPP rPE rPP 2 greenPLAST-food 3 Eckdaten zum Leitprojekt | greenPLAST-food •Laufzeit: 4 Jahre •Projektstart: 01.10.2025 •Projektvolumen: 6.203.035 Euro (UP:WP | 50:50) •Fördervolumen: 3.717.050 Euro •Partnerstruktur: 6 wissenschaftliche Partner (SP) und 9 Unternehmenspartner (CP), die Kompetenzen entlang des gesamten Prozesszyklus vertreten, angefangen bei der Abfallwirtschaft über das Kunststoffrecycling bis hin zu Kunststoffprodukten für den Lebensmittelkontakt. •Förderung FTI Initiative „Transformation der Industrie 2024“des Bundesministeriums für Innovation, Mobilität und Infrastruktur greenPLAST-food 6 Wissenschaftliche Parnter •Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU) Linz: ◦LIT Factory (LIT Factory) •Montanuniversität Leoben: ◦Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft (AVAW) •AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AIT) •AEE INTEC (AEE INTEC) •OFI Technologie & Innovation GmbH (OFI) •Energieinstitut an der JKU Linz (EI-JKU) 9 Unternehmenspartner •TriPlast GmbH (TriPlast) •ARAplus GmbH (ARAplus) •STEINERT GmbH (STEINERT) •ALPLA Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG (ALPLA) •PreZero Polymers Austria GmbH (PreZero) •Lindner Washtech Engineering GmbH (LINDNER) •EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen u. Anlagen GmbH (EREMA) •Moldsonics GmbH (Moldsonics) •APC Advanced Polymer Compounds (APC) Projektpartner| greenPLAST-food 4 greenPLAST-food Structure, work packages, and partner contribution 5 greenPLAST-food Vision and concept 6 greenPLAST-food Vision and concept 7 greenPLAST-food Sorting by food packaging •One of the main challenges in recycling post-consumer plastic waste into food contact material (FCM) is sorting •Regulation (EU) No.2022/1616 requires that FCM recyclates originate from former FCM  NEED FOR A SORTING MECHANISM TO SELECTIVELY SORT RIGID PACKAGING WITH FOOD CONTACT •Challenge: Extremely wide variety of different products, producers and distributors, product categories and product designs •Two main approaches for sensor-based sorting: a. Using non-inherent properties such as standardized marker systems (e.g., digital watermarks, fluorescent markers) applied exclusively to food packaging b. Using inherent object properties: Object property detection occurs independently of producers, based on shape, color, or print patterns, allowing for flexibility in sorting Status quo: sorting machines primarily recognize a limited range of objects (e.g., PET bottles, silicone cartridges) Source: Jaeger, Claudius (2021): Digital Watermarks & Holy Grail 2.0. Digimarc Corporation. HolyGrail 2.0, 08.11.2021. 8 greenPLAST-food Sorting by food packaging OUR APPROACH: •Novel, object-based sorting approach for PP and PE rigid packaging, systematically pre-classifying food and non-food items •AI-based sorting model based on various object characteristics (e.g., category, shape, size, color) •Use of pre-sorted material streams (PE or PP), with models addressing real-world waste contamination, transport effects, and deformation from collection (e.g., collection vehicle), which are key factors in effective object recognition •Holistic approach considering transport as well as previous and subsequent process steps 9 greenPLAST-food Food-grade plastics recycling: •Currently complex plants •Contribution to quality requirements? •Optimization of technologies / operating parameters? Importance to research →New technologies →Impact of operating conditions on defined food quality requirements →Impact of water treatment – wash water quality →Interaction of processing steps (wet/dry cleaning vs. thermal decontamination (extrusion)) •Process modelling – how to interconnect process steps best towards quality and energy efficiency •Outcome: Energy demand profiles of optimized recycling plants Quality vs. AND energy efficiency Interdependencies Sorted plastics Recyclate pellets AEE INTEC JKU/AEE INTEC 16 greenPLAST-food Vision and concept 17 greenPLAST-food Vision and concept 18 greenPLAST-food Aims & Scope •Assessment of the suitability of produced recyclates for contact sensitive application (food contact) meeting regulatory aspects •Evaluation of the efficiency of the recycling process and safety evaluation with state-of-the-art testing procedures Food contact material 19 greenPLAST-food Aims & Scope •Assessment of the suitability of produced recyclates for contact sensitive application (food contact) meeting regulatory aspects •Evaluation of the efficiency of the recycling process and safety evaluation with state-of-the-art testing procedures Food contact material 20 greenPLAST-food Food contact material Recyclate properties Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Migration results 21 greenPLAST-food 22 Contamination analysis PP light –big scale Shredding Cold-Wash Wind sifter Flake sorting PP white PP natural Intarema Intarema Decon SSD Decon LSD Decon SSD Decon LSD Cold-Wash PP light (15 t) Hot-Wash PP light (15 t) Shredding Hot-Wash Wind sifter Flake sorting PP white PP natural Intarema Intarema Decon SSD Decon LSD Decon SSD Decon LSD greenPLAST-food Vision and concept 23 greenPLAST-food Vision and concept Green recycling factory based on SSbD oriented process design 24 greenPLAST-food Green Recycling based on SSbD oriented process design Aims & Scope •Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment applying ◦Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (e-LCA) ◦Social Life Cycle Assessment (s-LCA) ◦Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles •SSbD oriented process design allows giving recommendations for process and system optimization to develop a blueprint for implementing a green recycling factory for food contact materials. •Provide a technically feasible and sustainability optimized blueprint for rolling-out the green recycling factory for food contact ready recycled PP and PE. Source: Caldeira, C. et al (2022). doi:10.2760/487955 greenPlast-food addresses at least 9 SSbD related SDGs: •Material and energy efficiency (SDG 7, 12, 15) •Climate protection (SDG 13) •Health and Safety (SDG 3) •Circularity (SDG 12, 9) •Economic Potential (SDG 8) •Multi-stakeholder partnerships (SDG 17) 25