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Summary

A UK company is first to commercialise a profitable process for plastic-aluminium laminate packaging. Regardless of the content and mix, high purity aluminium is recovered in the pyrolytic process and the plastic is converted into oils and gases that are suitable for energy generation. Specific types of waste can be tested in their continuous process pilot plant as the company is interested in adapting the process to partners needs and eventual licensing.

Full description

An independent market survey suggests the total quantity of plastic-aluminium laminate packaging in the EU plus Norway currently amounts to over 2 million tonnes.
There is a clear drive in the EU to recycle the toothpaste tubes, fruit juice and petfood pouches, drinks cartons etc. that can be recycled. The EU Packaging Directive requires a recycling rate of 45 percent for scrap packaging, with a minimum of 15 percent for any one kind.

The technology for recycling plastic-aluminium laminates has been scarce, and therefore only a small amount is being recycled. Some pyrolysis and gasification processes have been developed by industry to produce gas for energy generation, and get some aluminium out of it but so far, the success rate is low and the vast majority of plastic-aluminium laminates still ends up in landfill sites.

A UK company is now in the process of taking to market a new technology spun out of a world leading university, which can handle a broad range of plastic-aluminium laminates, independent of the content of aluminium, plastic or other materials, such as paper. Field trials have been performed for several large manufacturers of packaging to prove the profitability of recycling of process scrap and packaging contaminated with product residues. This means the technology will be attractive to waste recycling companies who can sell the retrieved high purity aluminium to secondary aluminium supply chain and generate energy from the resultant captured pyrolytic oils and gases.

The company has developed deep expertise in the field and can consult companies about the feasibility of recycling aluminium containing laminates and mixtures not mentioned above. Small samples of customers waste are treated in initial feasibility tests on lab-scale equipment and later trialled at their pilot plant.

Innovative Aspects

A patented process to recover high purity aluminium from plastic-aluminium laminates, and oils and gases suitable for energy production.

To the best of the companys knowledge, this is the first profitable process of this type.

Partner expertise sought:

- Type of partner sought: industry.

- Specific area of activity of the partner: manufacturers of aluminium/plastic/paper laminates or recycling companies.

- Task to be performed by the partner sought: joint adaptation to the partners specific requirements, acquiring of technology under license. The UK company can provide consultancy with regards to different aluminium laminates or mixtures not listed above.