CycLR - Paint recycling and utilization of components

In order to achieve climate neutrality and sustainability, a shift towards a circular economy is urgently needed in the paint and coatings industry. Currently, there is no value-preserving circular economy for liquid water-based paint residues. The status quo does not provide the required recycling with subsequent component recovery for the reformulation of water-based coatings. In addition, there is no profitable market for secondary materials, and the necessary processing requires considerable research and development capacities that are difficult for individual paint manufacturers to manage. This challenge is further complicated by the wide variety of paint and coating products. Paints are generally multicomponent systems that often contain more than 50 different individual substances.

The project seeks to pioneer the establishment of a fully encompassing circular economy. To achieve this, all liquid water-based paint residues fabricated at ADLER will be systematically collected, and efforts will be made to facilitate the return of residual stocks from consumers. A reimbursement system for the return of excess paints by consumers is also under development.

Water-based paint recycling is carried out with the development of a universally applicable process consisting of selective and non-selective mechanical and thermal separation processes, in which the residual paint streams are separated into their primary components – inorganics, organics and solvents – in a test facility under real conditions. For this purpose, the liquid water-based paint residues must only be sorted into binder classes. This separation of components, but not of substances, enables a widely applicable process. It is crucial to highlight that this process preserves the value of these components, allowing for their reuse in creating new paints. The suitability of the valorization and commoditization of the primary components is investigated by incorporating them into new paint formulations, wherein the specific criteria and required processing measures are defined. In the end, the anticipation is that recycling and reusing of components throughout the entire value chain will extend the lifespan of resources and substantially decrease waste.

Project Management

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Oliver Strube
University of Innsbruck, Institute of Chemical Engineering
Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck
Tel.: #43 512 507 55300
E-Mail: Oliver.Strube@uibk.ac.at
www.uibk.ac.at/de/chemieingenieurwissenschaften/

Project partners

ADLER Werk Lackfabrik – Johann Berghofer GmbH & Co KG