Pyrowave releases plastic recycling technology

Following the 2023 Chemical Recycling Europe Forum, Montreal-based Pyrowave has announced its nanopurification technology, a plastic pretreatment technology to purify resins used in advanced recycling methods that are sensitive to contaminants.  

Applied to discarded plastic, the technology operates at the molecular level to remove contaminants from polymers. Pyrowave says its technology has the potential to expand the range of recyclable plastics to include those with various contaminants and additives, such as heavy metals, inorganic pigments, halogens and flame retardants. 
 
“We cannot sit and do nothing as the plastic pollution crisis escalates and the recycling rates are barely improving,” Pyrowave CEO Jocelyn Doucet says. “As a pioneer of this industry, we are addressing the key challenge limiting the scaling of advanced recycling techniques by providing a groundbreaking nanopurification technology that will be driving real change for a cleaner, healthier planet."
 
Pyrowave says its nanopurification technology draws inspiration from pharmaceutical purification technologies, capitalizing on the size disparity between polymers and most additives found in the compounds. Unlike dissolution methods reliant on solubility, Pyrowave says its technology enables simultaneous removal of various contaminants while maintaining control over the endpoint.

Pyrowave says it standardizes the material upstream to be compliant with most advanced recycling processes. The purified product also can be used directly in end applications.  

According to Pyrowave, it has successfully demonstrated this technology by decontaminating polymers and supplying recycled plastics to industries requiring strict compliance, including food-contact applications. The company says the technology can be used as a standalone to purify various plastic feedstocks or as a pretreatment upstream of its microwave depolymerization process. 

The nanopurification technology is powered by electricity, which Pyrowave says has 95 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction compared with the virgin production of resins.