Técnicas Reunidas will lead a research project on plastics recycling within the framework of the CDTI Missions program

Madrid, January 18, 2022.

The Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) has approved the inclusion of a research project focused on the recycling of plastics 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 in it.

A total of 111 projects were submitted to this call for proposals, of which 24 were submitted by large and medium-sized companies and 13 by PYMES.

The aim of the ECLIPSE project is to research new technological routes that facilitate the recycling and revaluation 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 uses. 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 mechanical recycling of plastics, which is the most established technology thanks to its economic viability and simplicity, presents important limitations for the recycling of complex plastics. Therefore, the ECLIPSE project can be an important step forward in solving the environmental problems arising from plastic waste.

The project is fully integrated into the strategies of the circular economy, since its development will allow the use of secondary raw materials from the recycling of complex polymeric waste, thus reducing the use of natural resources, pollution and spills, and facilitating greater efficiency in the recycling processes. Ultimately, 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.

In the development of the project, research will address the separation and identification processes of complex polymeric waste; mixed thermal, chemical and biotechnological recycling technologies; isolation and purification processes of 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 proven expertise in different technological domains, will be responsible for the planned work according to the following distribution: industrial research on composition and origin studies of waste from automotive (SEAT) and industrial rejects (COPO GROUP); 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 thermosetting chemical specialties (SYNTHESIA and CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES); polymeric formulations (CELLMAT TECHNOLOGIES and COPO GROUP), and eco-design and product manufacturing (COPO GROUP and SEAT). 

The coordination of the project office is the responsibility of CETIM, which will also carry out, among other tasks, the analysis of complex plastic waste, the support to the partners in the eco-design of the technological recycling routes, the 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 Technology Center, 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 run for 38 months, will have a budget of 7.3 million euros with a grant of 4.4 million, i.e. 59% of the budget.

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”.

This ECLIPSE project has been subsidized by the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), within the framework of the 2021 call of the MISSIONS SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Program (Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan), and is supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The aid granted to the project is financed by the European Union through the Next Generation EU Fund.