Technological watch

In quest to zero emission Teijin Aramid joins forces with Clariter to pioneer a sustainable solution in chemical advanced recycling for Endumax® an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE). Together these environmental conscious companies are developing a sustainable disposal method for highly valuable, post-production and end of life material that is hard to recycle mechanically.
As a future-oriented enterprise, Teijin Aramid has been looking for a sustainable solution for recycling end-products. Clariter’s innovative technology transforms potential plastic waste into high-value, pure industrial products with a net negative carbon footprint, which means it cleans the environment rather than pollutes it.
Materials Suitable for Chemical Recycling
Tests of Teijin Aramid’s Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (Endumax®), feedstock were carried out at Clariter’s operational pilot plant in Gliwice, Poland. The results determined that samples of fishing nets, ropes and air cargo containers are indeed suitable for chemical recycling.
High resistance UHMW-PE, which was once problematic to recycle, has been now successfully upcycled into feedstock as pure, crude-free industrial products with thousands of applications such as cleaning agents, degreasers, paints, and speciality wax. For some markets, like fishing nets this results in full circularity as the wax can be used to coat fishing nets again, in other markets this open loop recycling leads to valuable products that can either serve in production processes or in other applications.
Sustainable Plastics Solution
Jasper Munier, Clariter business development manager for North-West Europe, said, “Working with a partner like Teijin Aramid and proving that chemical recycling is the solution for the plastic waste epidemic, brought us again a bit closer to the cleaner and more sustainable future. As a next step, we want to process samples of much larger quantities and types at our 15,000m² Industrial-scale Plant in East London, South Africa. We look forward to working with Teijin Aramid team of experts and together positioning chemical recycling as an irreplaceable recycling solution”.
Hendrik de Zeeuw, director marketing & sales Teijin Aramid, “Via this partnership with Clariter, Teijin Aramid has set a next step in the recyclability of Endumax®. That means Endumax is now in the same league as the other products of Teijin Aramid, which is overall a great achievement.”
“Together with Clariter, we will be able to help customers in the offshore to take back their Endumax® ropes, nets and cables to extend the end of life. In the aerospace business, from now on, we will devotely comply with end-user requirements, that after use, the full air cargo containers, including the panels, can be recycled. In collaboration with Clariter, we come again a step closer towards our ambition to be the best high performance fiber company for the world,” added Zeeuw.
Source: Teijin