The REMADYL project has received EU Horizon 2020 funding to develop a continuous extrusion process for removing legacy substances like lead and phthalates from polyvinylchloride (PVC) waste to enable its recycling. The project aims to create a sustainable solution for removing hazardous additives that currently prevent large-scale PVC recycling. It involves 15 partners across 6 countries developing and testing extraction techniques at lab and pilot scales. Successful removal of additives like lead and phthalates could rejuvenate old PVC waste for reuse, reducing landfilling and emissions while creating new jobs and business opportunities in the circular economy.

1. REMADYL project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 821136
Removal of Legacy Substances from
polyvinylchloride (PVC) via a continuous
and sustainable extrusion process
A Concrete Step Forward in PVC Recycling: the
Horizon2020 Remadyl Project
Online 15-16 June 2020
Marco de la Feld – ENCO srl
Global PVC Compounding & Production Cycle Forum

2. www.remadyl.eu
Outline:
 Objectives and overview of the project: recycling of PVC
containing hazardous legacy additive substances
 Current status, first results and potential impact for
compounders
 Remadyl in the overall European Circular Economy Package

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Project Overview

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REMADYL Consortium
6
1
1
5
1
1
15 PARTNERS
6 COUNTRIES
48 MONTHS
€ 4.832.976,25

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REMADYL ADVISORY and SUPPORT GROUP

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REMADYL Stakeholders
• PVC recyclers
• Chemical sector
• PVC processing: from hard PVC (for window profiles) to soft PVC (for sealing and
flooring)
• Industry associations
• Regulatory bodies
• Governments

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REMADYL Challenge
The presence of LS is a persistent barrier for PVC recycling as there are currently no
economically viable solutions for their removal.
To tackle this major challenge, REMADYL will develop a breakthrough single step
continuous process based on extractive extrusion technology in combination with novel
solvents and melt filtration, which has the potential of rejuvenating ‘old PVC’ into REACH
compliant high purity PVC tuned towards the demands of various soft and hard PVC
products at market competitive cost.

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REMADYL Process
REMADYL consortium will research and develop a continuous extraction technique for
the removal of legacy additives out of the PVC matrix and this for both soft and rigid
PVC. REMADYL will investigate two different systems:
• Metal scavengers in combination with melt filtration and
• Continuous polymer extraction techniques in combination with processing aids such
as scCO2.
REMADYL consortium will try to boost the efficiency of both techniques by use of
innovative co-solvents. When the LS have been successfully extracted, subsequent
procedures for safely handling and processing these LS will be defined. These novel
techniques will form the basis for REMADYL demonstration of circular use of post-
consumer PVC.

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REMADYL Objectives and Expected Impacts

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REMADYL Pilots
1
2
1
2
Re-use of rejuvenated PVC for soft
applications
Re-use of rejuvenated PVC for
rigid applications

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KEY OBJECTIVES
• KO1 – Lab-scale processes for rejuvenating PVC: develop an extraction method to
remove legacy substances (LS) out of a PVC matrix.
Result: lab scale process (ca 0.5-2.0 kg/hour) and processing window to remove heavy
metal stabilisers (focus on Pb < 0.1w%) and non-REACH compatible phthalates (focus on
DEHP < 0.1w%) while controlling the PVC stability and viscosity via additivation.
• KO2 - Detection and sorting process for PVC containing LS. Analysis of online separation
of PVC material containing hazardous LS, based on Pb and DEHP-content.
Result: selection of suitable screening technologies, ability to detect shredded PVC parts
with >1.5w% Pb content, demo of online sorting.
• KO3 – Pilot line: continuous extractive extrusion process for rejuvenating PVC –
upgrade equipment by integration of the extraction techniques into existing pilot line.
Result: semi-industrial scale pilot (ca. 20-25 kg/hour) with optimised processing
conditions for reaching KO1 defined levels and at energy consumption < 1kWh/kg PVC.

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KEY OBJECTIVES
• KO4 – Demo of re-use of rejuvenated PVC material streams & design for recycling. Show
the circularity of the materials flows by safe re-use of the rejuvenated PVC from
technical and economic point of view, incl. REACH compliance.
Result: demo of use of rejuvenated PVC resin, with varying flexibility fulfilling industrial
quality requirements for hard and soft PVC extrusion and for PVC injection moulding.
Safety & quality control procedure set up.
• KO5 – Safe handling and re-use of by-products. Research re-use of the lead salt residue
for manufacturing automotive batteries (or other applications) and study on the
revalorization of a mixture of phthalate plasticizers to new plasticizers.
Result: protocol for purification and safe disposal of phthalate plasticizer;
hydrometallurgical and green chemical routes to obtain lead ingots (desirable purity 95-
99%) from the lead salt residue (desirable purity > 75%).

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KEY OBJECTIVES
• KO6 – Environmental & safety aspects: LCA, social-LCA and LCC and safety & risk.
Result: public report on environmental impact (including energy needs), social aspects
and safety and risk of the rejuvenating process.
• KO7 - Policy contribution: review of existing legislation/guidelines concerning (re-use
and recycling of) PVC waste; mapping of European PVC waste streams; best practice.
Result: policy & standardisation input documents (incl. suggestions for defining End of
Waste requirements for PVC and safety aspects of recovered hazardous components);
white paper on rejuvenating PVC and on re-use of lead salts.
• KO8 - Innovation management: exploitation & business plans, IP management,
dissemination & communication.
Result: tailored business plans for (company) partners to ensure exploitation beyond the
project; public roadmap and strategy to further exploit the generic results; raise
awareness, engage for collaboration to leverage REMADYL project outcome.

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Current status, first results and potential impact

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KEY OBJECTIVE 1 Progress update
• KO1 – Lab-scale processes for rejuvenating PVC: develop an extraction method to
remove legacy substances (LS) out of a PVC matrix.
Progress: The testing and development of the extraction methods requires the production
of model samples in which the concentration of contaminants is precisely known. These
model samples were supplied by DANOSA (plasticized PVC sheets, stabilized with or
without lead), and DECEUNINCK (lead-stabilized micronised PVC compounds from virgin
and recycled material). Depending on the demands of the research partners, additional
samples are still being produced.
The extraction methods being researched are: capture of lead stabilizer in uPVC, using
layered double hyroxides (LDH) and a melt filtration process, supercritical CO2 extraction
of plasticizers from PVC, extraction of Pb stabilizers in uPVC using NADES.

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KEY OBJECTIVE 1 Progress update
In the beginning of the project, CENTEXBEL is focusing on the extraction of lead from rigid
PVC, originating from window profiles. There is a need for PVC test samples containing
lead, to verify the extraction process. These samples were obtained through DECEUNINCK,
who made 2 types

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KEY OBJECTIVE 1 Progress update
At Fraunhofer ICT first promising plasticizer batch
extraction test were performed on PVC dryblends and
PVC sheets (mostly containing mainly DEHP) using the
test batch extraction unit shown in Figure 1. The
extraction achieved good yields > 70 %.
To determine the maximum
solubility cloud point (CP)
curve measurement were
carried out at ICT with the
view cell shown in the figure
on the right.
The measurements show that the
solubility of DEHP in scCO2 is
quite low at higher temperatures.

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KEY OBJECTIVE 1 Progress update
AIMPLAS is currently studying the removal of lead stabilizers from End-of-Life PVC, using
LDH scavenger complexes, synthesized by UVEG. The removal of this lead stabilizer will be
done via a continuous melt filtration process in an extruder.
In the first filtering trial, using a single-
screw extruder it was possible to filter
large-size mineral fillers from PVC,
including pre-blended LDH (without
the scavenger complex). However fast
saturation occurred.
Results from these trials indicate that
is possible to filter large-size fillers,
without filter breakage, although
optimization will be carried out to
increase throughput.

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KEY OBJECTIVE 1 Progress update
UVEG successfully developed a lab scale
synthesis process to obtain a precursor
material for supporting the lead scavenger,
based on so-called called Layered Double
Hydroxides (LDH). This precursor material
consists of layers of divalent and trivalent
metal cations with an interlayer space that
can be occupied by differently sizes anions.
Recently, UVEG researchers have successfully
optimized a semi-pilot synthesis to obtain the
LDH precursor material at a larger scale and
can now produce ZnAl-LDH batches using
large scale equipment

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KEY OBJECTIVE 2 Progress update
• KO2 - Detection and sorting process for PVC containing LS. Analysis of online separation
of PVC material containing hazardous LS, based on Pb and DEHP-content.
Progress: In order to achieve this key objective and assess the potential and viability of
some spectroscopy-based optical monitoring techniques, offline tests have been
performed by IRIS, using different concentrations of lead and plasticizer samples provided
by both partners DECEUNINCK and DANOSA. For the detection of lead, a laser induced
breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been proven to be the most suitable technique, while
for the detection of DEHP, the research is still ongoing to determine the optimal detection
technology.

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KEY OBJECTIVE 3-4-5 Progress update
• KO3 – Pilot line: continuous extractive extrusion process for rejuvenating PVC –
upgrade equipment by integration of the extraction techniques into existing pilot line.
Progress: No results available at this time (activities in progress)
• KO4 – Demo of re-use of rejuvenated PVC material streams & design for recycling.
Show the circularity of the materials flows by safe re-use of the rejuvenated PVC from
technical and economic point of view, incl. REACH compliance.
Progress: No results available at this time
• KO5 – Safe handling and re-use of by-products. Research re-use of the lead salt residue
for manufacturing automotive batteries (or other applications) and study on the
revalorization of a mixture of phthalate plasticizers to new plasticizers.
Progress: No results available at this time

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KEY OBJECTIVE 6-7 Progress update
• KO6 – Environmental & safety aspects: LCA, social-LCA and LCC and safety and risk
assessment.
Progress: WP6 started at M8; partners VERTECH and OVAM already gathered info and are
preparing the necessary questionnaires.
• KO7 - Policy contribution: review of existing legislation/guidelines concerning (re-use
and recycling of) PVC waste; mapping of European PVC waste streams; best practice of
PVC waste handling.
Progress : relevant standardization activities and legislations have been identified related
to the technical activities in REMADYL.

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KEY OBJECTIVE 8 Progress update
• KO8 - Innovation management: exploitation & business plans, IP management,
dissemination & communication.
Progress update: A list of proper IPR Tools has been provided to the partners and
depending on the results the best solution will be advised. The development of Market
Analysis has started together with the development of the business plan. REMADYL has
been presented, until now, at four international conferences (5 now).

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REMADYL in the overall European Circular Economy
Package

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REMADYL - A breakthrough support to the Circular Economy
Package
• Using its process, REMADYL will provide a big support to the circular use of PVC for
window profiles and waterproofing sheets, providing a flagship example for the
circular economy. The extracted phthalate plasticizers will be safely disposed (with
energy valorisation) and the lead will be re-used in batteries.
• REMADYL will deliver a breakthrough support to the Circular Economy Package and
resource efficiency targets for Europe as recovered PVC will reduce incineration and
landfilling.
Assuming we recycle 400kton/year of ‘old PVC’ waste within 5 years after REMADYL,
this will result in a reduction of ca 800ktons CO2eq and 8ktons lead emissions. This also
implies the creation of ca 800 new jobs and a turnover of ca €280million.

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Synergies with ongoing projects and initiatives
• Cooperation with EuPC on the MORE platform started at M5.
MORE is a unified digital platform to monitor the use of recycled polymers in the European
plastics converting industry helping the plastics industry to become more circular.
MORE was developed by the European Plastics Converters (EuPC) in collaboration with its
member organisations and in support of the European Commission’s objective to reach the
target of 10 million tonnes of recycled polymers used annually by 2025.

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Synergies with ongoing projects and initiatives
Joined in November 2019 the Plastics Circularity Multiplier group: the cluster where EU
plastics projects join forces to boost circular economy in Europe. The initiative seeks to
improve value chain collaboration and create cross cooperation between EU Projects.
Twenty-one European projects have joined the group.

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Find us
Twitter
www.twitter.com/REMADYL_EU
Slideshare
www.slideshare.net/RemadylProject
Youtube
www.youtube.com/channel/UC78TSEg92H4y4dIX0tEtllw
LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/company/remadyl-project
Website
http://www.remadyl.eu/

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