M. (Matteo) Borella, PhD

''Innovative process for catalytic polyvinyl chloride recycling" is a project in collaboration with Blue Cycle and CoRe Pro B.V, and funded by SNN.

More than 40% of all PVC produced ends up in applications with a lifespan of at least forty to even a hundred years for pipes, for example. However, for several years now, increasing quantities of these long-life PVC applications have been entering the waste stream. In order to prevent the chloride molecules from forming harmful substances effective and comprehensive waste treatment programs must be put in place for PVC.

Pyrolysis is a powerful method to upgrade waste streams and obtain oil with high-valuable compounds, however, PVC and PVC-containing waste plastic streams pyrolysis releases HCl which has toxic and corrosive properties. Moreover, the oil produced in the process still contains Cl, lowering its value on the market and its range of applications.

Therefore, the objective of the project consists of the development of catalytic pre-treatment for the efficient dechlorination of PVC-containing waste for its high-quality chemical recycling through pyrolysis. In particular, an efficient catalytic dehydrochlorination would result in the production of a pyrolysis oil with lower chlorine content, providing an efficient alternative for PVC-containing waste upgrades.