GAIKER participates in research into advanced chemical recycling technologies for complex plastic waste
The CHEMCYCLE project researches and develops advanced chemical recycling technologies that would enable the recovery of around 285,000 tonnes of complex plastic waste per year.
The GAIKER Technology Centre is participating in the CHEMCYCLE project, whose main objective is to conduct industrial research applied to chemical recycling technologies (pyrolysis, solvolysis) with the potential to recover some 285,000 tonnes of plastic waste that is difficult to recycle in the Basque Country, which is currently sent to controlled landfills. This waste, which includes fragments of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), textiles, rejects from the paper industry and plastic fractions from urban and industrial waste, can be transformed into high-value raw materials for Basque industry.
Growing European regulatory pressure to reduce waste disposal, the low recycling rate of certain complex plastic streams and the need to move towards a truly circular economy, reducing dependence on fossil raw materials in various industrial sectors, are the main reasons behind the launch in 2025 as part of the HAZITEK business R&D support programme. It is a strategic industrial research and experimental development project involving ten companies.
CHEMCYCLE will focus on the research and development of advanced chemical recycling technologies aimed at recovering complex plastic waste, most of which ends up in landfill or is used for energy recovery. To this end, it will address the study of improved and automated pre-treatments, as well as the development and optimisation of pyrolysis and solvolysis chemical recycling processes to obtain oils, solids and monomers that can be reused as raw materials. It will also generate new knowledge on upgrading and purification technologies for the chemical products obtained, adapting their physicochemical parameters to market specifications. Finally, the economic and environmental viability of the processes developed will be evaluated.
