This Start-Up Can Recycle Plastic from Electronics and Cars

The technology has been successfully tested in the laboratory and is now being gradually scaled up. First, it will move to a pilot plant, which is expected to be completed in 2025. That plant will then be expanded to a demo facility by 2027. This facility will process 4,000 tons of plastic per year into recycled material. Ultimately, a full-scale plant will be established to recycle 10,000 to 12,000 tons of plastic annually. “We are developing the technology, bringing it to market, and want to produce this recycled material, either independently or in partnership,” says Norbert Fraunholcz, founder and CEO of Resolved Technologies.

Most Plastic Mechanically Recycled

To become fully circular by 2050, the Netherlands aims for plastic producers to incorporate at least 25 to 30 percent recycled plastic into their products by 2030 as a stepping stone. “Substantial scaling up is needed for this,” states Fraunholcz.

The most recognized methods of recycling plastic are mechanical and chemical recycling. In mechanical recycling, plastic waste is washed, ground, and melted down, resulting in plastic pellets (granulate). In this process, the building blocks (polymers) remain intact. Most plastic is recycled this way. In chemical recycling, plastic is broken down into its original building blocks (monomers) through chemical reactions, such as heating, as seen in pyrolysis. After purification, new plastic can be made from the monomers. Recycled pellets from mechanical recycling can be directly turned into new products.

Only 3 Percent Recycled Material

However, there are several issues. With the current plastic collection methods and recycling techniques, the goal for 2030 will never be met. Chemical recycling is still in its infancy, is costly, and consumes a lot of energy. Additionally, the recycled material often cannot compete with cheap new plastic from China and the U.S. Furthermore, recycled plastic from mechanical recycling is often not clean enough for high-quality applications in electronics or automobiles. Contaminants inside, leftover glue, paint, metallic coatings, or other additives can only be partially removed through mechanical recycling. Only 17 percent of the growing pile of electronic waste, or e-waste, in the world is collected and recycled. The figures for plastics are even worse. Although the EU possesses the most advanced waste collection and recycling infrastructure for electronic waste and automotive scrap worldwide, most plastics from this waste are incinerated, landfilled, or used for low-quality applications. Only 3 percent of recycled plastic is used in new electronics and vehicles.

100 Percent Purification

To increase this percentage, Fraunholcz suggests that a third technique is needed: completely dissolving the plastic in an organic liquid, after which the solution is purified of all contaminants. According to him, this technique will complement rather than replace the existing two methods. “Our process retains the polymers intact, but after dissolution, we purify them at a molecular level. This allows us to achieve a significantly higher purity of recycled plastic compared to mechanical recycling. Additionally, it offers new separation possibilities. For instance, paint or metallic coatings from chip bags, water taps, shower heads, and painted parts of vehicles or electronics are so embedded that they cannot be removed with mechanical recycling. It’s impossible to get them clean otherwise. We can remove these contaminants 100 percent. As a result, we can produce a high-quality granulate that can be reused in cars, electronics, and other applications.”

Existing Techniques Are Limited

Fraunholcz, who is a resource technologist by profession, has been working in plastic recycling since he graduated. “It’s in my DNA,” he says. From a market analysis conducted around 2018, he concluded that recycling would play an increasingly important role due to the set goals for a circular economy by 2050. He also recognized the limitations of mechanical recycling in obtaining high-purity recycled material. “Mechanical recycling is crucial, but we won’t achieve complete circularity with it,” he states. “Chemical recycling also has its limitations due to cost, high energy consumption, and lower yields. Only a portion of the broken-down plastic can be reused as raw material.”

Mix of Techniques

He believes that in the coming years, a mix of the three recycling techniques will be utilized. “All three will be necessary, but we believe that dissolution will play a significant role,” says Fraunholcz. Therefore, at the end of 2020, he founded Resolved Technologies, which is based at the Brightlands Campus on the Chemelot chemical complex in Limburg. The startup acquired an existing dissolution technology and further developed it. Several companies, institutions, and countries are involved in this now. “In 2018, there were just a handful, but now there are quite a few,” Fraunholcz notes.

The startup received a so-called JTF grant for the pilot plant currently under construction. For the demo facility, an additional 10 to 15 million euros is needed. The company plans to approach investors later this year for this funding.

Closed-loop Recycling

An important aspect of Resolved Technologies' method is that it enables recycling in a so-called closed-loop. This means that plastic from cars and electronics can be reused in the same products after recycling. Most plastic waste is currently used for other applications after recycling, often of lower quality. This is referred to as open-loop recycling.

Green Chemistry Accelerator

This year, Resolved Technologies was one of five participants in the Green Chemistry Accelerator program (GCA) by Groene Chemie Nieuwe Economie (GCNE). This platform aims for circular chemistry with innovative technologies, without fossil fuels and without CO2 emissions by 2050. The startup contributes to this green chemistry by increasing the circularity of plastics and ensuring that the dissolution process consumes less energy and consequently emits less CO2 than plastic production from fossil fuels. “It’s a win-win situation,” says Fraunholcz.

Valuable

The GCA program was developed alongside Invest-NL and regional development agencies to help startups scale into fully-fledged companies. This allows them to build pilot plants, enter the market, and ultimately produce thousands of tons of raw materials for recycled or biobased plastic. During masterclasses and discussions with experts, Resolved Technologies received confirmation that it is on the right path with its approach and business model. It also provided Fraunholcz with opportunities to enhance his knowledge and build a network. “It was incredibly valuable to learn about the challenges other startups face and how they tackle them. It’s inspiring,” he says.

This article was also published by Change Inc., editor André Oerlemans. It is part of a series of articles about Green Chemistry, New Economy.