Circular Flooring – Pioneering Recycling Process for PVC Waste

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Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is widely used in the construction industry, for example in flooring applications. However, to date, only a minor share of PVC floor coverings can be recycled after their usage. Thus, valuable resources are lost. How can this be improved? The Circular Flooring partners aim to establish an efficient recycling process for plasticized PVC from post-consumer flooring waste, taking a decisive step towards circular PVC recycling in the European Union.

Catalytic upcycling of PVC waste-derived phthalate esters into safe alternatives

Simon Windels and Prof. Dirk De Vos from KU Leuven, in close cooperation with Thomas Diefenhardt and Martin Schlummer from Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV) amongst others, analysed how to deal with the large amounts of legacy plasticisers that occur during the recovery of post-consumer PVC waste. In their newest publication on “Catalytic upcycling of PVC waste-derived phthalate esters into safe, hydrogenated plasticisers”, they’re taking up the challenge of finding a feasible solution to deal with legacy phthalate plasticisers that have been used in PVC recipes before their banning. Read more

Optimizing the interface between CreaSolv® and phthalates hydrogenation

The Circular Flooring project aims to fully recycle waste PVC flooring by applying the CreaSolv® Process for PVC recovery with simultaneous removal of undesired legacy phthalates, which are subjected to hydrogenation, finally yielding revalorised safe plasticisers. But the phthalates extract coming from the CreaSolv® Process is not suitable for hydrogenation as it is. It may still contain residual PVC or other organic or inorganic additives that prevent the phthalates from converting to the desired safe forms. Hence, an interface (purification process) between those two processes – CreaSolv® and hydrogenation – is required to prepare the phthalate extract so that it can be successfully revalorised and also to estimate the additional costs that the phthalate tuning requires. The estimation of these costs will help to define the upper limit for hydrogenation costs so that the revalorised plasticisers are competitive compared to the current plasticiser market price. Read more

Bringing Science to Society

On the public Bavarian Europe Day on 21 May in Nuremberg (Germany), actors from a wide range of institutions came together in order to inform about diverse matters of EU policy and ambitions. Circular Flooring has been part of this event, along with many other EU-funded projects of the sector environment and circular economy. Interested persons of various backgrounds and age groups inform themselves about PVC recycling and the EU’s ambition towards a green and climate-neutral future. In addition, Circular Flooring samples were presented in order to showcase the different stages of the recycling process and to give not only a theoretical but above all a practical and touchable insight into the project. Read more

Circular Flooring at COP27

COP27 this year has most likely been the largest gathering of climate change actors worldwide. This Conference of Parties (in short: COP) to the UNFCCC was the 27th of its kind and took place from November 6-20 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. COP27 serves as a forum for climate change related negotiations of governments to move towards the 1.5°C goal, with many observing organizations. It further builds a discussion and exchange platform for the public, private and civil society sector on latest technologies and developments within the field. In this line, we had the chance to present Circular Flooring amongst other EU-funded projects at COP27’s Green Zone. Read more

The Circular Flooring team wishes a joyful holiday season!🎄

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