PRIMUS Project EU

Plastics in general are synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that consists of polymers as the main material, but also a wide range of different additives to give wanted performance properties to the plastic. Plastics cover a wide range of material types and are used in even a broader range of different products. The materials and value chains are complex, which make it challenging to implement different circular strategies like recycling. To improve recycling outputs, it is important to have high-level separation of different types of materials, remove challenging and/or hazardous additives, and overcome plastic quality degradation meaning changes in the polymer chain and structure. It is important to address these issues and develop new technologies, like we do in PRIMUS, to overcome the challenges and make sure plastic recyclates can be used in higher demanding and added-value products. Currently, plastic recyclates are ending up in a range of lower quality products like outdoor furniture, buckets, traffic cones, carpets, where the technical and safety requirements are lower. PRIMUS Project will address this issue by deepening in the knowledge of polymer recycling. The Project will create processing and manufacturing techniques with the objective of controlling the quality and safety of the polymer recyclates, so they meet the necessary technical and safety specifications, ensuring they are suitable starting material for the manufacturing of quality parts and components. PRIMUS will efficiently focus on debromination methods aimed to be used with mechanical recycling, develop analytical capabilities for easy, robust, and reliant sampling and analysis, sensor-based identification of the degradation degree and develop smart mechanical recycling for optimum quality control. PRIMUS will produce 4 different high-demanding DEMO products for the automotive industry and home appliances sector, one of which is focusing on demonstrating suitability for food contact.