Final Report Summary - CLIPP (Study of recyclability of printed or laminated plastic packaging films using supercritical C02 technologies) CLIPP project aims to promote the 'valuable recycling resource' concept for industrial painted and laminated packages, nowadays considered as a problem, promoting their recycling in high value applications and minimising environmental risks and impacts. CLIPP recycling system for printed and laminated plastic fraction will contribute to the post-industrial waste management goal of this new century: the development of intelligent solutions that are technically and environmentally innovative, and economically viable.Printed and laminated films for flexible packaging offering a combination of advanced properties such as aesthetics, ultraviolet (UV) protection, scratch resistance, consumer information, barrier properties are used to pack several items including food, toys, industrial parts, cosmetics.Currently, most waste printed plastic packages are considered to be non-recyclable, having a very low added value and their use are limited to low cost applications, energy recovery and landfill disposal.The project proposal is based on the elimination and compatibilisation of the ink and adhesives contaminants in waste printed and laminated films by means of using carbon dioxide (CO2) in super-critical-conditions (sc-CO2) as a cleaning and stripping agent.The current recycling options of the plastic fractions are limited due to technical feasibility and economics. This proposal aims to create high added-valued plastics via recycling from post-industrial waste, transforming this waste into a profitable and competitive business offering recycles with optimal mechanical, aesthetic and thermal properties as substitutes of virgin polymers at a competitive price.This project will contribute to increase the profile and capabilities of the polymer recycling industry that is currently being steered by increasingly stringent legislation in the packaging sector by the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste. CLIPP technology will help the companies involved in plastic waste management to transform it in a profitable activity and will also contribute to help the European Union (EU) industry to achieve the goals of the mentioned Directives.Project consortium comprises nine companies and research and technology development (RTD) performers (Aimplas, Fraunhofer-ICT, PCS) that cover the whole value chain in the product development: extrusion equipment manufacturers (Gneuss, Extruder Experts), recycler (Aligoplast), plastic transformers and end-users (Skymark, Saymopack and Grefusa).Project context and objectives:CLIPP project aims to promote the 'valuable recycling resource' concept for industrial painted and laminated packages, nowadays considered as a problem, promoting their recycling in high value applications and minimising environmental risks and impacts. CLIPP recycling system for printed and laminated plastic fraction will contribute to the post-industrial waste management goal of this new century: the development of intelligent solutions that are technically and environmentally innovative, and economically viable.Printed and laminated films for flexible packaging offering a combination of advanced properties such as aesthetics, UV protection, scratch resistance, consumer information, barrier properties... are used to pack several items including food, toys, industrial parts, cosmetics.Currently, most waste printed plastic packages are considered to be non-recyclable, having a very low added value and their use are limited to low cost applications, energy recovery and landfill disposal.The project proposal is based on the elimination and compatibilisation of the ink and adhesives contaminants in waste printed and laminated films by means of using carbon dioxide (CO2) in super-critical-conditions (sc-CO2) as a cleaning and stripping agent.The current recycling options of the plastic fractions are limited due to technical feasibility and economics. This proposal aims to create high added-valued plastics via recycling from post-industrial waste, transforming this waste into a profitable and competitive business offering recycles with optimal mechanical, aesthetic and thermal properties as substitutes of virgin polymers at a competitive price.This project will contribute to increase the profile and capabilities of the polymer recycling industry that is currently being steered by increasingly stringent legislation in the packaging sector by the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste. CLIPP technology will help the companies involved in plastic waste management to transform it in a profitable activity and will also contribute to help EU industry to achieve the goals of the mentioned Directives.The objectives to be achieved within the project are summarised below:- To improve recyclability of printed and laminated plastic packages through reuse in the original or high value applications. To achieve this ambitious goal, it is fundamental to obtain transparent or at least translucent, recycled materials. Some applications may require also consistent and reproducible colouring of the treated material.- The capability to recycle around 60 000 t/year of plastic from out-of-specification printed or laminated plastic packages through plastic recyclers and compounders involved in the project.- To develop an in-line sc-CO2 assisted system to remove volatiles to reduce the viscosity of the melt in order to improve blend compatibilisation and filtering.- Different machine configurations will be tested using one-step process by combining different types of extruders.- To reuse at least 80 % of the sc-CO2 used to reduce viscosity and clean industrial plastic waste streams containing inks and adhesives contaminants.- The proposed extruder and filter system will be able to remove from post-industrial recycled materials at least a 90 % in w/w of the total contaminants present with a particle size higher than 3 microns.- The proposed extrusion system will be able to clean the recycled compounds removing volatiles and unpleasant odours.- CLIPP process must be suitable to decontaminate the main thermoplastics materials used in packaging (PE, PP, PS and PET) sector.- Tailor made compatibilisation in order to obtain a compound with mechanical and thermal properties no lower than 85 % of virgin ones.- The packages manufactured from post-industrial cleaned compounds will be laminated or printed without problems in industrial and standard equipment.- The cost of the full treatment: manage, grinding, sc-CO2 treatment, compatibilisation and extrusion must be lower than EUR 0.65/kg.- The system will fulfil the European legislation for packaging including food contact legislation when required.- To promote the consumption of recycled materials preserving the environment by decreasing the consumption of non-renewable resources (virgin materials which come from oil) and therefore, reducing the greenhouse effect (from the burning and landfill) contributing to fulfil the Kyoto protocol.Project results:CLIPP original goal was to develop a continuous extrusion process for obtaining a recycled material free of inks or other contaminants. The project has achieved partially its objectives. Full transparency was not possible as it turned out that removing thermoset inks was not feasible using the proposed technical approach. This finding at the end of P1 made the consortium to redefine the objectives into trying to optimise the technology to obtain a treated material as transparent as possible and to obtain a significant VOC and odour reduction. Close collaboration within consortium made possible to complete most of the tasks planned. Efforts were put on those tasks regarding scale-up and validation at industrial level of the processes developed within the project, which was the main interest of the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) partner in order to accelerate the technology transfer.The approach proposed in CLIPP differs considerably from previous attempts that pose some environmental drawbacks and limited economic feasibility. CLIPP technology is based in the synergetic combination of CO2 in super-critical-conditions (sc-CO2) with filters, degassing systems and improved dispersion and compatibilisation elements. Different equipment configurations were tested. First trials used a co-rotating twin screw extruder (TSE) at Fraunhofer. Sc-CO2 helps to reduce the melt viscosity and decreases VOC content of recycled material, but it was not possible to remove ink particles. Due to difficulties to filter out these particles, a new approach was suggested using bonding additives based on cross-linking agents to promote agglomeration in bigger ones, but poor results recommend discarding this approach. Aimplas performed trials using single screw extruder assessing the effect of sc-CO2 to reduce melt viscosity allowing fine filtration.Compatibiliser additives in blends of recycled materials was tested. Results were only partly successful and provided valuable inputs for optimising tandem single screw extrusion (TSSE) full process integration. TSSE system was set up by Aimplas. A wide design of experiments was carried out. The characterisation of treated compounds shown significant differences regarding volatile organic compounds (VOCs) content, odour and spectrophotometer colour measurements.Gneuss and Fraunhofer performed trials using multi rotation system (MRS). The design of experiments assessed integration of sc-CO2 and high vacuum degassing in MRS system. The characterisation of treated compounds shown that it is possible to reduce VOCs content with sc-CO2 as stripping agent and to improve the mechanical properties of the recycled material.EE have developed alternative roll compact pelletiser (RCP) technology for agglomerating low thickness films without thermal and shear stress in order to overcome feeding issues. According to the results achieved in P2, further optimisation trials for TSSE and MRS technologies were carried out in P3 in order to scale-up and validate the recycling process at industrial level.Gneuss and Fraunhofer explored new capabilities of MRS to remove volatiles and other contaminants (in some cases VOCs content reduction by factor 2) for obtaining treated compounds with lower VOCs content and free of unpleasant odours.Aligoplast and Aimplas carried out several trials in order to optimise and scaling-up TSSE. Synergetic combination of sc-CO2, filtering, degassing and suitable screw configuration for enhancing dispersion have lead to significant VOC reduction (in some cases by factor 9).Extrusion blown-film industrial trials were done by Skymark in order to assess processabilty of PE treated compounds. Although film obtained is not completely transparent, is translucent enough to read a text through it. In addition shows good aesthetics and mechanical properties. As a main outcome the treated CLIPP PE film do not emit any unpleasant odor. CLIPP PE film was suitable to be used in different high-added value packaging applications including: film for wrapping tissue packages, pallet top covers and mailing bags.Saymopack, Grefusa and Aimplas performed extrusion trials assessing processabilty of PP treated compounds. Suitable films were obtained and different metalising, printing and lamination trials were performed in order to validate its ability for multilayer films in packaging applications. As a result, packages of sunflower seeds were produced.PCS was in charge of environmental, regulatory and economical analysis. Operating costs for CLIPP recycling technology are approximately EUR 0.38/kg. This outcome, added to the fact that CLIPP treated compounds are able to be reused for added value products, strengths the commercial viability. On the other hand, a thorough health, toxicity and safety report stressed that recycled materials containing pigments or adhesives must be not used for products intended to come in contact with food. Nevertheless, CLIPP recycled material can be used for food packaging applications in multilayer structures behind a functional barrier as migration analysis shown according to Regulation EC 10/2011. Also CLIPP recycled material can be used in non food contact applications where materials with low VOCs emission and free of unpleasant odors are needed.Potential impact:Main result expected in CLIPP project is to develop a suitable technology based on a continuous extrusion process in order to obtain a recycled thermoplastic material free of inks or adhesive particle contaminants. Proposed technology combines injection of CO2 in super-critical-conditions (sc-CO2) with high performance filters (micro-filters) and high vacuum degassing in a full integrated process.This innovative approach differs considerably from previous attempts based on conventional deinking processes comprising several stages in a discontinuous process using either organic solvents or aqueous solutions with surfactant agents that pose some environmental drawbacks and limited economic feasibility.Different machine configurations have been studied, such as innovative extrusion processes to enhance sc-CO2 solubilisation and dispersion of remain contaminants and alternative agglomeration technologies: - twin screw extruder (TSE) - tandem single screw extruder (TSSE) - multi rotation system (MRS) - roll compact pelletiser (RCP) for agglomeration.Assessing technical feasibility of these extrusion machine configurations will boost expertise of equipment manufacturers GNEUSS and EE in the field of plastic recycling technology in order to offer tailor-made solutions for processors. As well as that, partner Aligoplast will take advantage of these results in order to adapt their processing lines for offering better quality recycled compounds for added value applications.On the other hand, plastic packaging manufacturers Skymark, SAYMO and end-user Grefusa will benefit of a new waste management pathway for post-industrial out of specification films, off-cuts, process scrap, over makes, old redundant stock, etc. transforming this waste into a profitable and competitive business offering recycles with optimal mechanical and thermal properties as substitutes of virgin polymers at a competitive price. This will lead to cost reduction and contribution to more sustainable packaging. Originally, CLIPP aimed to obtain transparent recycled materials to be reused in the original application. This objective has not been reached, so the CLIPP treated recycled compounds are translucent, this fact limiting their use in applications requiring films with high levels of transparency and brightness, but still acceptable for high added-value applications even in the original application. As well as that, this project will contribute to increase the profile and capabilities of the polymer recycling industry, which is currently being steered by increasingly stringent legislation in the packaging sector by the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste. CLIPP technology will help the companies involved in plastic waste management to transform it in a profitable activity and will also contribute to help EU industry to achieve the goals of the mentioned Directives.The market introduction is promising because the producer of the printed or laminated package produces out-of specification products. Using the technology proposed in CLIPP it will be possible to treat these waste (by a recycler or a compounder company) and the compound obtained would be used again (directly or blended with virgin material) by the same company to produce printed or laminated plastic packages. According to eco-efficiency analysis, CLIPP recycling technology will contribute to promote the consumption of recycled materials from out-of-specification post-industrial waste plastic packages, preserving the environment by decreasing the consumption of non-renewable resources (virgin materials which come from oil), and therefore reducing the greenhouse effect (from the burning and landfill) contributing to fulfill the Kyoto protocol.Project website:The CLIPP website, http://www.clipp-project.eu was established at the beginning of the project. Deliverable 7.1 Project website gives an overview of the main functionalities and structure of the website. The main structural difference is based on the intended audience: the public at large (industry stakeholders, academia, EU and national officials, etc.) and/or the beneficiaries involved in the project, the consortium. Contact details:Aimplas (Coordinator)Tel. +34-961-366040Fax: +34-961-366041proyectos@aimplas.es
