The REMADE Institute issued funding to projects exploring a variety of plastics recycling technologies. | Olivier Le Queinec/Shutterstock
A federal initiative focused on energy efficiency in U.S. manufacturing recently selected more than a dozen plastics recycling projects to support. They include efforts advancing PET recovery, mixed-plastics processing, chemical recycling and more.
The REMADE (Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions) Institute on March 1 announced 24 projects that will receive funding from the organization. Combined, the research efforts will receive $43 million from REMADE.
REMADE is funded partially through the U.S. Department of Energy, and its goal has been to develop technologies reducing energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing by improving recycling, remanufacturing and reuse.
This is the fourth round of funding from REMADE, which also plans to issue a further $50 million in funding in late spring, according to the announcement. REMADE previously issued funding in August 2020, May 2019 and July 2018. The initiative has funded more than 60 projects overall.
These are the latest plastics recycling projects to receive funding:
“Dynamic Crosslinking to Enable EVA Recycling,” a project of Braskem America, Case Western Reserve University and Allbirds, Inc.
“Diverting Mixed Polyolefins from Municipal Solid Waste to Feedstocks for Automotive and Building Applications,” a project of Michigan State University, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and recycling firm PADNOS.
“Chemical Recycling of Mixed PET/Polyolefin Streams Through Sequential Pyrolysis and Catalytic Upgrading,” a project of Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, Shaw Group Industries and Process Systems Enterprise.
“Identification of Mixed Plastics and Valuable Electronics at the Source,” a project of the University of Miami and Lid Vizion.
“Recycling of PET in Sustainable Food Packaging Systems,” a project of MuCell Extrusion LLC, Plastilene SAS, Wingate Packaging, Sugar Creek Packaging Co., the Center for Innovative Food Technology and Ohio State University.
“Reprocessing and Upcycling of Mixed Polyurethane Waste Streams,” a project of Northwestern University and BASF.
“Delamination as Key Enabler for the Recycling of Polymer-based Multilayer Packaging,” a project of The Research Foundation for SUNY – University of Buffalo, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Modern Corporation and Honeywell.
“Zero-Waste Recycling of Blended PET Fiber to Transform Polymer Sourcing,” a project of Circ, Fiber Industries, SeaChange Technologies, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and lululemon.
“Supramolecular Interfacial Reinforcement for Manufacture Utilizing Mixed Secondary Plastic Feedstock,” a project of the University of Akron and Braskem.
“Enabling Cross-industry Reuse of Commingled Waste Plastics as Quality Asphalt Modifier for Sustainable Pavement,” a project of the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Paragon Technical Services.
“Sustainable Automotive Manufacturing,” a project of Michigan State University, the American Chemistry Council and BASF.
“Chemical Conversion and Process Control for Increased use of Polyethylene and Polypropylene Secondary Feedstocks,” a project of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SER North America LLC and iMFLUX Inc.
“Analysis and Design for Sustainable Circularity of Barrier Film in Sheet Molding Composites,” a project of Ohio State University, Kohler Co., the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Arizona State University.
“Dynamic Systems Analysis of PET and Olefin Polymers in a Circular Economy,” a project of Michigan Technological University, the Idaho National Laboratory, Resource Recycling Systems, Yale University, Chemstations and Honeywell.
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