Chemical Recycling

A strategic complement

There is an abundance of plastic waste streams that are not suitable for mechanical recycling due to technological, economic or environmental reasons and thus, end in landfills or being incinerated, enlarging the plastic waste problematic. Here is where chemical recycling comes into action, altering the waste’s chemical structure, breaking down long hydrocarbon chains in plastics into monomers using chemical, thermal or catalytic processes.
Chemical recycling's ability to process a wider range of plastic waste and produce high-quality materials that can be used instead of virgin fossil resources makes it a crucial technology for addressing the growing plastic pollution problem and supporting circular efforts in the plastic industry.

Why GEA

In general, the feedstock quality and composition will range from mono-fractions to very heterogeneous mixtures. Regardless, the main process will comprise three steps, that is the chemical conversion or depolymerization, the gas conditioning and the upgrading or purification step. Our evaporation, crystallization, distillation and drying technologies are behind the separation, purification and recovery of valuable components from plastic waste while our emission control expertise tackles the pyrolysis gas and exhaust air product of the recycling process.

• GEA evaporation technologies make possible to concentrate spent liquors containing dissolved chemicals, remove volatile component from polymer solutions -helping purify recycled polymers- and separate solvents used in dissolution-based recycling methods.
• Our distillation expertise plays a key role in separating and purifying the liquid products obtained from pyrolysis processes, recovering monomers produced though depolymerization and purifying syngas components like H₂, CO, CO₂ and CH₄.
• Crystallization processes contribute to chemical recycling by separating and purifying monomers obtained from depolymerization processes, recovering additives and impurities removed during solvent-based purification methods and isolating specific chemical compounds from complex mixtures produced during chemical recycling.
• GEA drying expertise is essential for removing moisture from plastic waste feedstock before processing, drying recycled polymers after solvent-based purification or precipitation steps and more.
• GEA emission control experts ensure that gas conditioning not only involves cooling the gas but also focuses on preparing the crude product for the subsequent upgrading steps.

Our engineers skillfully integrate decades of process engineering expertise with our broad palette of technologies to tailor efficient and environmentally friendly recycling processes that adjust to each customer’s specifications. All with the lowest energy consumption and keeping harmful emissions in check.