The global waste crisis has reached its breaking point due to plastic pollution, rising energy costs and depletion of resources poses a serious environmental and economic threat.
Traditional recycling methods can’t keep up, and they’ll end up sending huge amounts of plastic waste to incineration or landfills.
In response, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) launched Carbon Cycle Lab (CCLAB), an innovative research hub specializing in chemical recycling.
This advanced process breaks down plastic into basic raw materials and allows even complex, contaminated waste to be recycled.
By converting waste plastic into valuable resources, CCLAB is paving the way for a more sustainable circular economy while reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.
The Need for Chemical Recycling in the Circulation Economy
Plastic production has skyrocketed over the past 70 years, reaching approximately 414 million tons in 2023. Despite this massive production, only 10% of the plastic waste currently being recycled.
Given the rising costs of energy and increased resource shortages, improving recycling efficiency is important. Chemical recycling, which breaks down plastics into basic chemical components, provides a viable solution.
This method allows for the recovery of valuable raw materials while reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Kit’s CCLAB aims to expand these technologies to make them practical for industrial applications.
Building Bioliq® Innovation
Kit has extensive experience in sustainable material conversion, particularly through the Bioliq® project, and has successfully developed the process of converting biological residues into synthetic fuels.
The insights obtained from Bioliq® are currently applied to chemical recycling. One important breakthrough was the conversion of plastic pyrolysis oils into chemicals.
By leveraging this knowledge, kit scientists are looking for ways to efficiently convert even the most complex and polluted plastic waste into valuable raw materials for new materials.
Convert non-recyclable plastics into usable resources
One of the biggest challenges in recycling is dealing with plastics that contain impurities and complex chemical compositions.
CCLAB’s mission is to change this by developing methods to clean up waste plastic as well as recycling. By eliminating hazardous substances and extracting reusable components, research in the kit can pave the way for new plastic production without relying on petroleum-based resources.
This shift could bring widespread environmental and economic benefits. By reducing waste incineration, chemical recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to global climate targets. Additionally, it will create new supply chains of raw materials and reduce reliance on the volatile fossil fuel market.
Meet the growing demand for recycling solutions
The European Union is setting an ambitious target for plastic recycling with the aim of recycling 10 million tonnes per year by 2035.
Given that Germany produces about a third of European plastics, this leads to the need for 20,000,000 tonnes of recycled materials per year.
Innovative projects such as Kit’s CCLAB are important in achieving these targets by demonstrating the feasibility of chemical recycling on an industrial scale.
Professor Dieter Stapf, who heads the Institute of Technology and Chemistry at Kit, added:
“CCLAB offers important insights into how it works on an industrial scale.”
A sustainable future with chemical recycling
The transition to a carbon-neutral circular economy requires a transition from linear waste management to sustainable resource use.
Chemical recycling is at the forefront of this transformation, providing a scalable and efficient way to reuse plastic waste.
Initiatives like Kit’s Carbon Cycle Lab are making the future of waste management more sustainable, innovative and economically viable.
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