3 giants partner on closed-loop recycling pilot for single-use facemasks

Saudi chemical firm, SABIC, Germany's Fraunhofer UMSICHT, and global consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) have begun collaborating on an innovative circular economy pilot project looking at the feasibility of closed-loop recycling for single-use facemasks.

The rise in the use of facemasks as a result of Covid-19 has raised environmental concerns. Billions of disposable facemasks have been discarded often in public spaces such as parks, open-air venues and beaches. This presents a challenge, in terms of dealing with such huge volumes of essential personal healthcare items in a sustainable way. Throwing the used masks away for disposal on landfill sites or in incineration plants, however, represents a loss of valuable feedstock for new material.

"Recognising the challenge, we set out to explore how used facemasks could potentially be returned into the value chain of new facemask production," said Dr. Peter Dziezok, Director R&D Open Innovation at P&G.

Read more: Let’s talk sustainability & single-use in the pharma & medical sectors

"But creating a true circular solution from both a sustainable and an economically feasible perspective takes partners. Therefore, we teamed up with Fraunhofer CCPE and Fraunhofer UMSICHT’s expert scientists and SABIC’s Technology & Innovation specialists to investigate potential solutions."

As part of the pilot, P&G collected used facemasks worn by employees or given to visitors at its manufacturing and research sites in Germany. However, the facemasks, which the company says are always disposed of responsibly, have no ideal process in place to recycle them efficiently.

To help demonstrate a potential step-change in this scenario, special collection bins were set up, and the collected used masks were sent to Fraunhofer for further processing in a dedicated research pyrolysis plant.

"A single-use medical product such as a face mask has high hygiene requirements, both in terms of disposal and production. Mechanical recycling, would have not done the job," said Dr. Alexander Hofmann, Head of Department Recycling Management at Fraunhofer UMSICHT.

"In our solution, therefore, the masks were first automatically shredded and then thermochemically converted to pyrolysis oil. Pyrolysis breaks the plastic down into molecular fragments under pressure and heat, which will also destroy any residual pollutants or pathogens, such as the Coronavirus. In this way it is possible to produce feedstock for new plastics in virgin quality that can also meet the requirements for medical products," added Hofmann, who is also Head of Research Department “Advanced Recycling” at Fraunhofer CCPE.

Read more: An Innovative Solution To The Problem Of Plastic Waste

The pyrolysis oil was then sent to SABIC to be used as feedstock for the production of new PP resin. The resins were produced using the principle of "mass balance" to combine the alternative feedstock with fossil-based feedstock in the production process.

Mass balance - a process that looks at the input, output, and distribution of a substance between streams - is considered a crucial bridge between today’s large scale linear economy and the more sustainable circular economy of the future, which today is operated on a smaller scale but is expected to grow quickly.

"The high-quality circular PP polymer obtained in this pilot clearly demonstrates that closed-loop recycling is achievable through an active collaboration of players from across the value chain," added Mark Vester, Global Circular Economy Leader at SABIC.

"The circular material is part of our TRUCIRCLE portfolio, aimed at preventing valuable used plastic from becoming waste and at mitigating the depletion of fossil resources."

To close the loop, the PP polymer was then supplied to P&G, where it was processed into non-woven fibres material.

Read more: A flexible and collaborative approach to keep packaging circular

"This pilot project has helped us to assess if the closed-loop approach could work for hygienic and medical-grade plastics," said Hansjörg Reick, P&G Senior Director of Open Innovation.

"Of course, further work is needed but the results so far have been very encouraging."

The companies say the entire closed-loop pilot project from facemask collection to production was developed and implemented within seven months.

Fraunhofer CCPE is also further researching the transferability of advanced recycling to other feedstocks and chemical products.

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