INNOVATION | TECHNOLOGY
tools to determine during processing exactly which components are contained in the mechanically recycled plastics,” said Bernhard von Vacano, head of the Plastics Circularity research program at BASF. “This information is needed, however, to evaluate and improve the quality of waste plastics.” The input materials can contain different types of plastics as well as different additives or contaminants, for example. In the project, these will be identified in real-time during processing by spectroscopic methods, primarily based on Raman spectroscopy, which will provide “fingerprints” of polymers, blends, and specific components. This information will be com- bined with instrument and processing data. AI will be used to recognise patterns in the measurement data and recommend correc- tions, such as components to be added or adaptations to the recycling process, to improve the quality of the recycled plastic output. BASF said that the
SpecReK project is running on schedule for the planned, three-year period through August 2027. The current focus is on sensor concepts, data processing and building the data sets needed for the ML framework. “With the increasing demand for high-quality recycled materials, and given the current legal framework, it will be crucial to perfectly understand the material properties and composition of mechani- cally recycled plastic waste and to optimise the process. In this way, we will strength-
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en the circular economy,” von Vacano said. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, the COM- PASS (Constant Optimisa- tion of Materials and Products for Sustainable Solutions) project aims to improve the consistency of quality of polyolefin recyclates. There are still open slots for industry
partners in the three-year research project, which will begin when the consortium is completed, potentially in early 2026. The institute said that measurements of recyclate quality would include rheometry as an indicator for mechanical properties and processabil- ity, oxygen induction time to indicate residual stabiliser content, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to assess thermal stability and process capability. It was suggested that targeted blending of qualitatively different recyclates from different sources could be used to create consistent quality in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, in-line rheology and spectroscopy may be used to measure the resulting blends.
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