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At the end of November 2023, after several years of construction, a large-scale technical centre for the recycling of solvent-based plastics was opened. It is currently being used in the EU Circular Flooring project to recycle soft flooring and produce a plasticiser-free PVC recyclate.

The new technical centre is equipped with units for selective extraction (dissolving), multi-stage cleaning, precipitation and drying of plastic waste. It enables the processing of a wide range of plastic waste from the packaging, electronics, automotive, construction and textile industries and expands the scope of our service portfolio. In future, Fraunhofer will be able to carry out sample production of up to 1000 kg and, following successful laboratory and small-scale predevelopment, test the high-purity recyclates in application trials at our customers’ premises. Fraunhofer also intends to use the technical centre to optimise and validate process parameters on a technical scale and to test technical additives in the solvent-based recycling process.

The recycling plant is co-funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft für Angewandte Forschung e.V. and with respect to a specific drying unit by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the Circular Flooring project (Grant Agreement number 821366).

Plastics recycling: Process monitoring in the pilot plant. Copyright: Fraunhofer IVV