Birplast, plastic waste recovery

Birplast: towards a circular model in the plastics value chain

Birplast is an industrial research project aimed at developing technologies to deliver products with a lower carbon footprint and support the recovery of plastic waste through circular economy processes. It plays a key role in integrating the value chain from waste to final product, while also contributing to the decarbonisation of today’s economy and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

The main objective of the project is to generate a knowledge base for the development of improved thermochemical recycling processes for complex plastic waste. This waste stream is mainly produced during the treatment of other types of waste, such as light packaging (LP), end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Due to the challenges posed by its composition and characteristics, current recycling models are not well suited to its reuse, which remains very low compared to other materials like paper, glass, or metals. It therefore represents a potential source of raw materials that current technologies are not yet able to exploit.

BIRPLAST will support the development of new processes for obtaining raw materials from this waste fraction by converting it into new plastics (Plastic2Plastic) and other high-value chemical products (Plastic2Chemicals), ensuring that materials remain in a circular process, replacing non-renewable raw materials in industry.

Advantages

Recovery of €12.4m/year

in the form of waste with high plastic content.

New technological solutions

to recover complex plastic waste (500,000 t/year).

10% increase in separation and sorting efficiency

by adapting it to the preparation phase for pyrolysis and gasification processes.

The technologies being developed under BIRPLAST will enable the production of goods with a lower carbon footprint and help to recover value from plastic waste through circular economy processes. This is a key contribution to integrating the value chain from waste to final product, while also helping to decarbonise today’s economy and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

Industrial research areas

Improvement of advanced pre-treatment and separation processes

incorporating drying technologies and optical and robotic systems combined with machine learning algorithms.

Improvement of thermochemical recovery processes based on pyrolysis, gasification and solvolysis,

including quality control of the resulting products and the development of advanced purification processes.

Validation of circular raw materials

obtained through thermochemical recovery processes.

Assessment of the technical and economic feasibility

and scalability of the proposed solutions.

Consortium

The consortium is made up of 10 partners led by Sener. The participating companies are: PETRONOR, TRADEBE, EIFORSA, GLOBAL FACTOR, FIDEGAS, SBS, SADER, SENER, TRIENEKENS, and ZORROZA GESTIÓN. The project is also supported by 3 members of the Basque Science and Technology Network: GAIKER, TECNALIA and ACLIMA, Basque Environment Cluster.

BIRPLAST is a strategic industrial research project funded under the 2022 HAZITEK programme, a business R&D support initiative run by the Basque Government’s Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment.

XEnvironmental solutions

XDecarbonization and Sustainable industry

Birplast: towards a circular model in the plastics value chain

Focuses on researching the production and purification of new circular raw materials through chemical separation and recycling processes for plastic waste.

Birplast: towards a circular model in the plastics value chain

Advantages

Recovery of €12.4m/year

New technological solutions

10% increase in separation and sorting efficiency

Industrial research areas

Improvement of advanced pre-treatment and separation processes

Improvement of thermochemical recovery processes based on pyrolysis, gasification and solvolysis,

Validation of circular raw materials

Assessment of the technical and economic feasibility

Consortium

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