Plastic packaging waste is one of the most serious health and environmental problems that is getting a lot of attention at the present. However, most of the attention and technical solutions are focused on the waste that contains plastic films only, mixed metal / plastic film packaging is not geting enough attention. This applies to Metallized Food Packaging Plastics Waste (MFPW) in particular. It has a complex structure and consists of several plastic films (eg PE, PP, PVC, PS, PET, etc.) laminated by aluminum (Al), which is why its recyclability is poor (~ 20%). However, plastic materials contain a lot of natural materials that could be used as sustainable renewable energy sources, while aluminum could be used in mining applications and to solve shortages of natural resources in the EU. Within this frame, the EAR-MFP project is developed to achieve these goals and to make MFPW a sustainable source for conversion and recovery of four main high value-added products: Bio-oil, Bio-gas, Al, and Char (Fine carbon powder ) using three sequential processes: pyrolysis, chemical leaching, and mechanical treatment. The pyrolysis experiments will be performed according to the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) concept, especially in the laboratory and pilot scale phases (in the range from TRL4 to TRL6), while the leaching and mechanical experiments will be performed in the laboratory scale phase only (TRL4). The project will be conducted at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) as a major coordinator and the Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI) as a partner.
Project funding:
Projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects carried out by researchers’ teams
Period of project implementation: 2020-03-10 - 2022-12-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
Project partners: Lithuanian Energy Institute
