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Proud partners Sitech Services TNO Maastricht University Brightlands Chemelot campus Thermo chemical recycling of plastic waste Berend Vreugdenhil - TNO 9th of November 2020
Proud partners
Sitech Services
TNO
Maastricht University
Brightlands Chemelot campus
Thermo chemical recycling of plastic waste
Berend Vreugdenhil - TNO
9th of November 2020
CONTENT
FRAMING THERMO CHEMICAL
RECYCLING
EXPLAINING THERMO CHEMICAL
RECYCLING
PYROLYSIS STATUS AND TNO
CAPABILITIES
GASIFICATION AND TNO CAPABILITIES
FUTURE OUTLOOK AND CONCLUSIONS
THREE KEY CHALLENGES
Waste management, collection, littering
Microplastics, substance of concerns
PLASTIC
WASTE
Paris agreement, Climate laws
Lifecycle analysis, food waste,
greenwashing
GHG
EMISSIONS
Reduce footprint
Renewable and recycled resources
FOSSIL
RESOURCES
DEPLETION
BENEFITS
CIRCULAR PLASTICSR-OPTIONS, RECYCLING TOPOLOGY
REFUSE, REDUCE
Improve lifetime
Improve sortability
Improve recyclability
DESIGN FOR RECYCLING
Plastic pellets
Plastic products
Discarded products
Mixed after-use material
Baled after-use plastics
Energy recovery
Closed loop
Reuse
Open loop
Dissolution
Depolymerization
Pyrolysis / Gasification
Hete
rog
enie
tyo
f the re
cycling
stream
Mechanical
recycling
Chemical
recycling
Secondary use
Incineration
MIX
MONO
Tem
pera
ture
& e
nerg
y inp
ut
recyclin
g p
roce
ssHIGH
LOW
Mo
lecu
le siz
e re
cycling
outp
ut
SMALL
LARGE
5. USAGE
3. COMPOUNDING
4. PRODUCTION OF GOODS
6. COLLECTION
7. SORTING
8. REPROCESSING
Feedstock
Monomers
Polymers
1. REFINING
2. POLYMERISATION
Mismanagement
LITTER, PLASTIC SOUP
MICROPLASTICS
Wear
Clean-up
THERMO – CHEMICAL RECYCLING
Applying heat to brake the bonds within the
plastics, hence reducing chain length
Low temperature pyrolysis produces liquids
High temperature pyrolysis produces gases
Gasification (or thermal cracking) has
overlap with HT pyrolysis
HT gasification produces syngas
Excess oxygen results in combustion
What should we consider recycling, because
each resulting product can be converted back
into plastics???
5. | Sustainable business
Temperature →
Ch
ain
len
gth
→
Syngas Flue gasProduct gasLiquidsMelt
Melting Pyrolysis
LT Gasification
HT Gasification Combustion
CO, CO2 or CH4
Naphtha slate
Cracker output slate
THERMO CHEMICAL OVERVIEW
More than 20 companies in the field of thermochemical recycling of plastics scrutinized
All of them apply pyrolysis as technology with the exception of ReNewELP
which applies super critical conversion
The plants in operation range from 3 to 60 tones per day of input
Feedstock requirements (in general):
Also to be removed:
• Moisture
• Metal
• Glass
• Paper
• Organics
PROCESS OVERVIEW (GENERAL)
Feedstock
• End of life plastic waste
Pre-Processing
• Shredding
• Washing & Drying
• Contaminants removal
Pyrolysis
• 350-450°C
• Absence of oxygen
• Catalyst can be applied
Condensation
• Fuel Oil
• Naphtha
• Diesel
• Marine fuel
Pre-processing (sorting out unwanted species) is crucial in the pyrolysis process
since oil conditioning and upgrading is complex
OVERVIEW ON INDUSTRIAL LEVEL
Auger moving bed (Pyromaat)Multifunctional unit, 5 kg/hr, 150°C - 700°C → slow – intermediate pyrolysis, different heating zones possible
→ designed for waste processing (biomass, coal, various plastics,
electronic scrap, carpet wastes, rubber, mixed-streams, etc.)
Bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) “WOB”Multifunctional unit, 1 kg/hr, 150°C - 1100°C→ pyrolysis, gasification, combustion
→ various feedstocks (biomass, lignin, seaweed, plastics, RDF, SRF, etc.)
Entrained flow (EF) – BFB (CFB) “PYRENA”Fast pyrolysis unit, 5 - 10 kg/hr, 500°C – 900°C→ various feedstocks (e.g. biomass, plastics, RDF, SRF)
→ on-line (fractionated) recovery of liquids, integrated char combustion
→ on-line analysis of non-condensable product gases
→ continuous operation, fully automated
PYROLYSIS R&D
GASIFICATION / CRACKING R&D
raw product gas
flue gas
air
Plastic waste
steam
Characteristic Description
Feedstock flow 3 - 6 kg/h max
Feedstock type (range) biomass – RDF – plastic waste
Supply gases N2, CO2, Air, Steam
Trace gases Argon and Neon
Heating Externally traced up to 900°C
Operating T 550 – 850 °C
Operating P Atmospheric
Analysis Product and flue gas
TNO capabilities on thermal cracking for the lab unit
MILENA
Producer gas shifts from mostly syngas (CO, CO2, H2 and H2O) to an olefin/aromatics rich gas
Product wil be circular but also bio-based
CO2 emissions are partly neutral (bio based CO2)
CRACKING OF WOOD, RDF AND PLASTIC WASTE
COMPARING TO NAPHTHA CRACKERS
MILENA allows complex feedstocks to be valorized in existing naphtha infrastructure
FUTURE FOR PLASTIC WASTE
Circular naphtha being produced from
plastic waste streams via pyrolysis
Circular olefins/aromatics produced from plastic
waste streams via thermal cracking
Biobased olefins/aromatics produced from RDF
streams via thermal cracking
Both routes need to be further developed,
improved and implemented
Both routes will face a large challenge in
matching the naphtha demand
Power Generation-Large scale-Small scale
High End applications-Green Gas
-Fuels-Chemicals
Torwash
Pyrolysis
Torrefaction
Gasification
Down Stream
Processing unitNaphtha cracker
Pyrolysis
Plastic waste
Circular
naphtha
Circular olefins /
aromatics
Ethylene
Propylene
Benzene
Etc
Thermal
cracking
Plastic waste
and RDF
Naphtha
Wet biomass
Dry biomass
CONCLUSIONS
Recycling of plastic waste has many possible routes.
Mechanical recycling (TNO LCA support options)
Dissolution / Solvolysis (TNO R&D support options)
Pyrolysis / Cracking (TNO R&D support options)
Pyrolysis focusses on liquids, has value for naphtha replacement
Pyrolysis suitable for plastic waste
Thermal cracking focusses on gases, has value for naphtha displacement
Thermal cracking suitable for plastic waste, RDF and biomass
Thermal cracking is the way to introduce both biobased and circular components
The way we recycle today is perhaps not the best approach if we want to implement thermal routes in
our recycling system!
14. | Sustainable business
A child who collects recyclable material lies on a mattress surrounded by
garbage floating on the Pasig River, in Manila, Philippines.
Photo by: Mário Cruz
FOR FURTHER QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:
THERMAL CRACKING / PYROLYSIS
MOBILE: +31 (0)6 1011 1176
CIRCULARITY QUESTIONS / LCA
MOBILE: +31 (0)6 1109 4212
DISSOLUTION / SOLVOLYSIS
MOBILE: +31 (0)6 5163 0063
