Germany's Advanced Recycling Conference 2023 to explore LCA, policy

Fibre2Fashion (F2F), the knowledge and media partner for the Advanced Recycling Conference, will present its knowledge paper titled ‘From Waste to Wonder: An In-Depth Exploration of Plastic Recycled Yarn and its Sustainable Impact’ at the event.

As the world grapples with the climate crisis, the importance of recycling has never been clearer. Currently, around 88 per cent of embedded carbon originates from fossil feedstocks like oil, coal, and natural gas. Advanced recycling technologies offer a pathway to reducing this dependency. The conference will present various innovative solutions to maintain and reuse embedded carbon in the technosphere, considering the estimated annual demand for 1.15 gigatonnes of carbon by 2050 will need to be met solely through renewable sources, nova-Institut GmbH said in a press release.

The European Union, under its Green Deal initiative, is setting stringent recycled content quotas for a range of products, from packaging to textiles and automobiles. A recently leaked proposal aims for a ten-fold increase in the use of recycled material in the packaging sector by 2040. To comply with these requirements while still maintaining high-quality and economically viable products, companies must stay abreast of the latest advancements in recycling technology.

The international programme of the conference will feature contributions from industry experts, policymakers, and academics. They will address challenging waste streams such as mixed plastics packaging and textiles, among others. The event promises to be a crucial platform for anyone involved in the recycling sector, aiming to drive forward the future of renewable carbon.

On the first day of the conference, from 10:00 to 17:40 CET, experts will focus on the policy, markets, and strategy related to the circular economy of plastics. Michael Carus of nova-Institute will kick off the conference discussing the importance of advanced recycling in the renewable carbon economy, followed by presentations by other experts like Lars Krause, Lara Dammer, Luis Hoffmann, and Dimitri Daniels.

In the Pyrolysis segment, experts like Carlos Monreal, David Sudolsky, Oliver Borek, Christian Haupts, and Valentijn de Neve will explore how this versatile tool complements mechanical recycling. They will discuss collaborative efforts necessary to improve the circular economy of plastics.

The Dissolution section will focus on polymer extraction techniques, featuring speakers like Abidin Balan, Matthias Wilhelm, Florian Riedl, and Panzheng Zhou. They will elaborate on solvent selection and process design.

The day will also host a parallel session on the versatility of extruders and advanced mechanical recycling, featuring speakers like Klaus Lederer, Belen Monje, Frank Eisentrager, and Lars Biermann. They will delve into advanced input stream preparation technologies and the potential of reactive extrusion in recycling.

On the second day, from 9:00 to 16:30 CET, the focus will shift to Depolymerisation. Experts such as Fabio Silvestri, Vladislav Jaso, Cecilia Mattsson, and Stefan Schonauer will discuss how to break down plastics and even textiles into their building units.

In the Gasification session, Freya Burton, Stephan Renninger, and Cecilia Hofmann will talk about new pathways for highly contaminated and heterogeneous waste streams, discussing syngas production and its further processing.

Pre-/Post-treatment & Upgrading will be the next topic of focus, with speakers like Tobias Rieger, Trine Dabros, and Beate Kummer explaining how these processes can improve the quality of recycled materials.

The conference will also have a session on LCA and environmental aspects, led by Matthias Stratmann and Edzard Scholten. They will explore how LCA should be conducted in the context of advanced recycling.

Lastly, a session on Pyrolysis and Other Thermochemical Approaches will feature presentations from Frank Riedewald, Jasper Munier, Geoff Smith, and Marcus Trygstad, who will examine how different products can be obtained through various reactor and reaction designs.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)