Polychrome can remove virtually all colours and additives from waste plastic. This will disrupt the plastic recycling industry by enabling manufacturers to tap new sources of recyclate.

Project Information

PolyChrome

Grant agreement ID: 101010875

DOI

10.3030/101010875

Project closed

EC signature date 1 December 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 28 February 2023

Funded under

• PRIORITY 'Societal challenges

Total cost

€ 2 202 835,00

EU contribution

€ 1 541 984,50

Coordinated by

REVENTAS LTD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PolyChrome (Polychrome can remove virtually all colours and additives from waste plastic. This will disrupt the plastic recycling industry by enabling manufacturers to tap new sources of recyclate.)

Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Annually, over 348 million tonnes of plastic are consumed globally, 64 million of this within the EU and 5 million tonnes in the UK. However, very little of this plastic is recycled. Here in the EU, we recycle a mere 25% of the plastic that is collected for recycling, with only around 5% being reused in packaging applications. The reason for this is difficulty - not only are plastics very hard to separate from one another but they are also hard to reuse in high-value application such as packaging, due to high levels of contamination and unsuitability for remanufacture.

ReVentas has developed a disruptive new technology that can purify PE and PP of all pigments and additives allowing it to be returned to a 'virgin-like' polymer state. This will be an entirely new way to extract value from recyclate and enable it to be used in a wider range of applications. Recycled plastics will be more valuable and relevant to end-market applications making their use far more widely spread and increasing the quantity of recyclate moving back into packaging and other high-end applications.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ReVentas are have scaled their new technology up to the pilot scale, having completed the designs in 2021/2022 and constructed in 2022/2023. Results from running commercial, post-consumer feedstocks through the ReVentas process have proven the commercial feasibility of the process and shown the end product is of high quality and desired by end users. ReVentas have started forming strategic partnerships and have secured funding to start their Front-End Engineering Design in Q2 2023 for a 10,000 tonnes per annum commercial plant that is planned to be operational in 2026.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The pilot plant is allowing validation of the technology by end users. ReVentas are currently building partnerships with key strategic partners for the future scale-up and commercial expansion of the technology.

ReVentas’s current programme focuses on developing the process to selectively decontaminate and "tune" the end properties of recycled Polyethylene, one of the most common plastics used in packing. By stripping out contaminants, adjusting the physical properties and returning the material to a natural state, ReVentas are able to develop polymers adjusted to the customers’ needs (blow moulding, injection moulding, film) and remove the variability inherent in waste plastic feedstocks. Ultimately this will greatly increase the use of recycled polymer in packaging applications by giving manufacturers the performance and reliability they need whilst also opening up new feedstock for ReVentas to tackle.

The ReVentas pilot plant at their site in Livingston, Scotland.

ReVentas - Bridging the Recycling Gap