MyReplast® Upcycling

MyReplast® Upcycling

With the global stage projected, at an unprecedented pace, towards increasingly challenging objectives for plastic waste recycling that drive the discovery of new and consolidated industrial solutions for recycled polymers, NextChem introduced a proprietary new technology that allows to invert the common and usual “waste-to-market" approach into a customer driven "products-from-waste” strategy. Starting from the downstream market demand in terms of polymer quality, our technology can transform a plastic waste material into a secondary raw material with physical and chemical characteristics and mechanical properties that allow the substitution of virgin polymers from fossil sources. We have named this novel approach "Upcycling".

The MyReplast® Upcycling technology combines mechanical recycling and chemical modification allowing to:

  • Produce plastic products of high purity and quality by means of a proprietary recycling process
  • Improve the performance of the resulting plastics through a subsequent formulating and compounding stage, according to specific customer requirements.

MyReplast® technology has the following key characteristics:

  • High level of flexibility: our technology allows to treat various types of incoming plastic waste, both from industrial sources (for example, production scrap and rejects of automotive components production, food packaging an industrial packaging waste) and post-consumer sources like urban plastic waste.
  • Quality and consistency of finished products: the MyReplast® Upcycling technology allows to produce high quality recycled polymers with a recycling efficiency of around 95%.

The latter is an essential feature to approach high added value “premium” markets and bridge the qualitative gap between recycled plastic and virgin plastic from fossil sources.

There are various levels of value enhancement in the Upcycling process, that can be achieved by applying one or more Upcycling steps. Typical Upcycling steps are shown in the table below in sequence and according to increasing added value:

MyReplast Upcycling

Pre-selection

Physical Form: Bales
Based on knowledge of composition of waste items

demetallization

Grinding

Physical Form: Flakes
Various dimensions of flakes/chips

grinding

Demetallization

Physical Form: Flakes
Ferrous and non-ferrous

Optical

Optical polymer selection

Physical Form: Flakes
For increased purity (>90%)

Washing

Washing (Gravimetric separation)

Physical Form: Flakes
Separates e.g. PP end PE from mineral reinforced plastics and higher density engineering plastics

Color separation

Color separation

Physical Form: Flakes
Different levels of color separation (e.g. Red + yellow, Blue + White, or only shades of Blue / Green / Red, etc.)

MyReplast Upcycling

Homogenization

Physical Form: Flakes/Granulate
Applied at several stages of the process for increased consistency of mixed feedstocks (e.g. PP/PE) and of final granulate

Compunding

Granulation (“regeneration”)

Physical Form: Granulate
In case the converter’s machines cannot feed flakes, need very consistent dosage (and melting) or a very high level of homogeneity

Granulation

Compounding

Physical Form: Granulate
To tailor mechanical properties, enhance mechanical performance, deodorize, and further increase performance and quality consistency

Depending on the customer requirements for purity, properties, color, and physical form, several Upcycling steps can be combined, added, or omitted, to achieve the best cost-performance balance and margin.

Our reference industrial plant is located in Bedizzole (Brescia, Italy). The plant is managed by our subsidiary MyReplast Industries. The plant is currently among the largest in Europe and produces approx. 40,000 tons/year of recycled polymers

MyReplast Upcycling

Leveraging on the solid and consolidated experience of Maire Tecnimont, NextChem and MyReplast Industries enjoy a privileged position across the plastic recycle business by positioning themselves in the middle of a value chain that comprises virgin plastic producers, oil companies, utilities and waste management companies, other plastic recyclers, compounders and transformers, enabling to:

  • play as integrator from product development to waste valorization
  • satisfy a wider range of stakeholders in plastics recycling
  • adapt the business model so that all market players can be considered potential clients

NextChem flexibly adapts the applied business model to the requirements of each single project, placing thus the customer at the very center and making all resources and competences of a big global EPC player accessible for the development of turnkey projects even on a small scale:

  • Technology licensing
  • EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction)
  • Project Development
  • Joint Ventures and Joint Cooperation Agreements

For more information please contact myreplast@nextchem.it