PVC Up Cycling – Circular Economy and Zero Waste with the upcycling of waste from the management processes of electrical systems
15 April 2019
Pmopenlab S.r.l.s
Description
The aim of the “PVC UpCycling” project is to look at the passage in the current REDEL company chain, from a linear model to a circular economy model through actions aimed at the Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) of electric cables from a disposal of energy plants (” manufacture “) to recycle the same PVC in products with low environmental impact (” re-manufacturing “).
The PVC Upcycling project involves both the process and the product produced by REDEL. The process innovation, to be triggered with the PVC Upcycling project and grafted into the production chain of the final general objective, is to recover, recycle and reuse waste materials coming from different phases of the production system, in order to re-manufacture products for the electrical systems, while combining environmental sustainability and product innovation.
The PVC Upcycling project allows to graft enabling technologies to move from “de-production” (recovery and recycling of PVC contained in electric cables of energy plants) to “re-manufacturing” (low environmental impact products). This innovation materialises the “production of value”, in accordance with the production of specialisation of the model “from cradle to cradle”.
Added value
- The process involves the first procession by a pre-grinding machine, having a processing capacity, at full speed, of the waste material equal to 350 kg/h using 35/40 KW. To dispose of the quantity of secondary raw material produced (MPS) in the first phase, five hours of work are required by a granulator that can process 70 kg / h of MPS, using 15 kW / hours.
- These two phases togheter allow us to define a cycle during which 350 kg of material can be processed using an energy quantity of 58 KW.
- Currently the company has a 125 MW annual photovoltaic plant that meets 90% of the company’s energy supply needs on annual basis.
Challenges
- In the normal phases of transformation from linear to circular processes it is obvious to encounter economic disadvantages due to the acquisition of new materials or machinery.
- In the case of PVC, the process-type evolution that uses only the resources already available at the Redel company reverses the trend that, instead, provides for an increase in costs, in favor of a considerable saving obtained from the failed disposal of waste from landfills.
Partners
Top Management: R.Ed.El. S.r.l.
Partners:
- Enea – Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile
- UNICAL- Dipartimento di Ingegneria per l’ ambiente ed il territorio e Ingegneria Chimica
- Pmopenlab S.r.l.s. – Remanufacturing/Smart Solutions Dissemination and Branding
Contact
PMopenlab / Andrea Procopio
+39 0965 312461 / +39 3342661650