The project, called ECLIPSE and clearly aligned with the objectives of circular economy, will contribute to make possible the use of secondary raw materials from the recycling of complex polymeric waste, thus reducing the use of natural resources and the pollution generated by waste.

The consortium that will carry out the research is also made up of seven other companies covering the entire plastics recycling value chain (ACTECO, PICVISA, REPSOL, CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES, GRUPO COPO, SYNTHESIA and SEAT) and the coordination of the project office will be carried out by CETIM Technological Centre.

The Science and Innovation Missions program, for which the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) is responsible, is part of the State R&D&I Plan approved in 2021 and aims to promote projects led by companies that develop relevant research to find solutions to the main cross-cutting and strategic challenges of Spanish society.

A total of 111 projects were submitted to this second call for proposals, of which 37 were approved. The project led by Técnicas Reunidas was the third best evaluated project.

The Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) has approved the inclusion of a research project focused on plastics recycling and led by Técnicas Reunidas in the second call of its Science and Innovation Missions program.

The project, called ECLIPSE and entitled “Research on New Recycling Technologies and Valorization of Complex Plastic Waste”, has been the third best valued.

A total of 111 projects have been submitted to this call, of which 24 have been approved from large and medium-sized companies, and 13 from SMEs.

The objective of the ECLIPSE project is to investigate new technological routes that facilitate the recycling and revalorization of complex polymeric waste (plastics) and that represent a relevant advance with respect to the current state of the art in terms of separation, recycling, purification and chemical synthesis to obtain new polymers suitable for new use. In short, the aim is to obtain a sustainable, circular and integral system for recycling and revalorization of complex plastic waste, versatile, tested in the automotive industry and transferable to all strategic industrial sectors.

This objective is particularly relevant today, since the mechanical recycling of plastics, which is the most established technology thanks to its economic viability and simplicity, presents important limitations for recycling of complex plastics. Therefore, the ECLIPSE project may represent an important step forward in the solution of environmental problems derived from plastic waste.

The project is fully integrated into the strategies of the circular economy, as its development will allow the use of secondary raw materials from recycling complex polymeric waste, thus reducing the use of natural resources, pollution and waste, and facilitating greater efficiency in recycling processes. In short, it will contribute to the fight against climate change, through the reduction of emissions and carbon footprint, driven by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Union’s Green Pact.

A project developed by a strong business consortium
The project will address research into the processes of separation and identification of complex polymeric waste; mixing thermal, chemical and biotechnological recycling technologies; isolation and purification processes for chemical units of high industrial interest; synthesis of chemical specialties; polymeric formulations; and product eco-designs.

These tasks will be carried out by means of a consortium made up by eight companies – ACTECO PRODUCTOS Y SERVICIOS, CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES, GRUPO COPO, PICVISA MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS, REPSOL, SEAT, SYNTHESIA TECHNOLOGY EUROPE and TÉCNICAS REUNIDAS– and which will be led by the latter.

These eight companies, which have a proven know-how in different technological fields, will be responsible for the works foreseen according to the following distribution: industrial research on composition and origin studies of waste from automotive (SEAT) and industrial rejects (GRUPO COPO); identification and separation of complex plastic waste streams (PICVISA and ACTECO); alternative and substantially improved recycling methodologies based on thermal (TÉCNICAS REUNIDAS), biotechnological (REPSOL) and chemical (SYNTHESIA, ACTECO and CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES) treatments; purification and isolation stages of the chemical units of interest (TÉCNICAS REUNIDAS); synthesis of thermoplastic and thermoset chemical specialties (SYNTHESIA and CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES); polymeric formulations (CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES and COPO GROUP), and eco-design and product manufacturing (GRUPO COPO and SEAT).

The coordination of the project office is responsibility of CETIM, which will also carry out, among other tasks, the analysis of complex plastic waste, support the partners in the eco-design of the technological recycling routes, collaboration in the research of the different thermal, chemical and biological technologies, and the analysis of the products finally proposed.

ECLIPSE also has the cooperation of seven other research organizations: the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR), the LEITAT Technological Centre, the University of Valladolid (UVA), the Chemical Institute of Sarriá (IQS), the Galician Automotive Technology Center (CTAG) and the National Supercomputing Center (BSC).

The project, which will be carried out over 38 months, will have a budget of 7.3 million euros with a grant of 4.4 million, the 59% of the budget.

The Science and Innovation Missions program
The CDTI’s Science and Innovation Missions program is part of the State R&D&I Plan approved in 2021 and aims to promote projects led by companies that develop relevant research capable of finding solutions to the main cross-cutting and strategic challenges of Spanish society, improving the knowledge and technology base on which Spanish companies rely to compete and stimulating public-private cooperation.

The program is fully aligned with the Spain 2050 initiative developed by the Spanish government, which defines the proposals needed to address the main challenges and problems that Spain will have to face in the next 30 years.

The missions selected in this second call of the program focus on relevant aspects of two of the nine challenges set out in the Spain 2050 initiative, including “Becoming more productive for better growth” and “Becoming a carbon neutral, sustainable and climate change resilient society”.