LAYMAN S REPORT ENGLISH VERSION

Transcription

1 [Skriv her] [Skriv her] [Skriv her] LAYMAN S REPORT ENGLISH VERSION DEMONSTRATION OF A NEW RECYCLING PROCESS AND OF THE USE OF THE RECYCLED MATERIALS IN VARIOUS INDUSTRIES ACRONYM: LIFE09 ENV/DK/ With the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community

2 1. FACTS ABOUT THE PROJECT Project demonstration site: Bogoe, Denmark Project implementation time: 1/9/ /12/2013 Coordinating beneficiary: Grymer Group ApS Associated beneficiaries: Fiber Worldwide ApS, Bosal Research NV, Pankas A/S, Teknologisk Institut (TI), Ucomposites A/S Project funding: EU LIFE+ Kortdata 2014 Basarsoft, Google, ORION-ME - Kortdata 2014 GeoBasis-DE/BKG ( 2009), Google - 1

3 2. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND KEY OBJECTIVES The LIFE+ project Composites Waste has showed that it is possible to establish a modern recycling company. In addition, along its way the project bumped into several barriers of generic character which other recycling companies will probably also experience to greater or lesser extent. The overall aim of the Composites Waste project was to demonstrate a low cost solution to the problem of processing composites waste into glass fibre products. These products were intended to substitute either virgin glass fibres or other structural raw material in the building and construction industry as well as in the manufacturing industry. Taking part in the project was a number of project partners/beneficiaries amongst whom two were potential users of the products one was a subcontractor to the automotive industry and the other an asphalt company. The key objectives of the project were: 1. To develop and document a fully functional waste business concept involving the sourcing and processing of composites waste into quality glass fibre materials using a new method. This objective contributed to innovation, demonstration and development of new business possibilities in the waste sector green business development. The primary environmental driving forces were the reuse of energy embedded in composites production and the reduction of landfill. 2. To demonstrate, embed and document the use of processed composites waste material in two main industries: production of asphalt for road-pavement and for use in the automotive industry for noise reduction as well as other applications. 3. To develop a knowledge base of the technical and commercial information involved in the trade of composites waste. This knowledge base included the processing of waste from different sources, collection systems and the potential for high price use of the reprocessed material. 4. To disseminate the technical, environmental and economic results of the projects as well as provide perspectives for the use of the material. Prior to the project, two applications of the recycled product were identified the use of glass fibre waste in asphalt and glass fibre waste in silencing material for the automotive industry. However, there was also room for identifying products and applications during the cause of the project. As there were no known similar projects, the Composites Waste project was very much on virgin ground. The method used was a combination of commercial business sense, customer-driven outside-in analysis, and judgement and tests of what was technically achievable. In many ways, the 2

4 challenge was to find an application with a good enough potential of volume to solve the environmental problem. But also, it was important that the application was big enough to not just become a filler -application meaning that the material was just used to create filling in e.g. concrete as well as asphalt to avoid this, it was crucial that the strengths and qualities of the glass fibre was used to create real value to the solution. Of course, this was also to secure a selling price per tons as high as possible. This track demanded a lot of technical work and significantly more test work than demanded by a traditional gate-fee -business model. The more advanced the technical solution and industry you attempt to be in and with a higher selling price the higher the demands to the purity of the product, traceability of the commodity, safety and quality of deliverance, certifications and standards will be. To overcome these barriers, the project needed time and several tests both in-house and at the users. 3. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH AND PROTOTYPE PRODUCTION FACILITY The Composites Waste project was greatly driven by a trial-and-error approach together with extensive work with testing machines and technical solutions. From the beginning, one of our goals was to apply known technology where it was possible. After several tests at machine manufacturers and companies primarily located in Europe but also in the US and India, we came to the conclusion that it was uncertain whether or not existing technologies would work satisfactory especially because the users at that time had not given a thumbs up on any of our solutions. We therefore decided to do as many tests as possible at the machine manufacturers instead of buying our own machines early on in the project thereby maybe making bad investments. By applying this approach, it cost us some unforeseen time in the project but this turned out to be the right decision and in the end saved us money and time seen in total. It also turned out that the technical solution to create the wanted product solutions did not exist and we realized that we had to combine existing technologies with solutions, machines, and processes developed by us. In was not until the methods and technologies began to show the wanted results combined with the machine manufacturers who were beginning to get tired of us that we invested in pre-industrial machines and prototype production. To focus on building our own prototype production was important for several reasons: 1. The need to develop the technology and processes further. 2. To be able to fully develop the products. 3. To be able to deliver different amount and qualities of test batches to the users. 4. To build a prototype convincing enough for investors to believe that the project was realistic. 3

5 4. APPLICATIONS The Composites Waste project has succeeded in developing products that have been approved and validated by several users in large European companies in the automotive industry as well as in the building and construction industry. Despite the success of the project in general, one product did not work out as intended. This was a product developed for the asphalt industry and meant to replace cellulose fibres and reduce bitumen. Tests showed that the glass fibres could not prevent the bitumen in running from the stones and therefore it could not replace cellulose fibres. In addition, the business case calculation was not favourable and the conclusion on the business side of the case was that glass fibre waste should be applied in applications where you get more out of the technical characteristics that glass fibre holds and hence that a higher price can be expected. To the right is a photo of one of the products that was a result of the Composites Waste project. The product, UMATIC, is used in different acoustic and thermic applications across industries. 5. PROJECT RESULTS The project was very successful because: (1) It succeeded in transforming glass fiber waste into usable products including succeeding in building a demonstration facility that had the technical functions to run a pilot production of the products. (2) Most of the goals as defined in the Grant Agreement of the project have been reached. (3) The project formed the basis for further commercial development of the platform. Only a commercial success will secure recycling of the glass fiber waste thereby reducing Co2 and landfills. The project has demonstrated that it is possible to create a business based on waste. By taking glass fibre waste and using it in applications for different industries, we will not only reduce waste to landfills but also reduce Co2, which is an important parameter. European stakeholders have keep a close eye on the project and are convinced by its results. By using products made from recycled glass fibre instead of using virgin fibres it will in several cases mean that they need to use less of the product in weight and this will be a significant saving. Several parameters play a crucial role these parameters span over environmental affects to economic incentives. 4

6 This project was related to the goals of the EU thematic strategy for prevention and recycling of waste, particularly in the following areas: (1) reduction of waste to landfills, and (2) more and better recycling by development of new recycling markets. Another important element in the EU policy was and still is improving the use of resources and reducing the environmental impacts of waste management, which the project contributed to by diverting waste from landfills. The project has contributed to waste prevention and decoupling objectives and the quantitative targets for In addition, the project has supported the climate change reduction targets as energy consumption is the other major environmental benefit from this project. The environmental benefits from the project were closely connected to our long-term commercial ambition: to be engaged in full-scale waste reduction facilities in Denmark, Germany, and Spain, and to be able to recycle all the composites waste from production available in Europe by Furthermore, the project had a socio-economic impact as well as it was able to hire six full-time employees and several external consultants have been part of the project. When the project chose to place the demonstration production facility in the southern part of Denmark where the unemployment rate is high, it was a decision made on regional interest. The Composites Waste project has also demonstrated how to create new types of products based on an environmental basis, and in this case the focus and economic incentive from governmental/eu side to participate in this development has worked accordingly. It is possible to create a green transformation, growth and jobs. 6. PROJECT EXPERIENCES AND BARRIERS The project has generated experiences and results that other composites recyclers will be able to use. In fact, we believe that recycling in a wide sense will meet a lot of the same barriers and challenges that this project has met. Below is listed the experiences that we have learned during the project. One of the key experiences from the project are related to environment as an action parameter in relation to the classic action parameters e.g. quality, price, and delivery. The starting point of the project was that the products would have a competitive advantage compared to virgin glass fibre, primarily because of the expected advanced environmental profile of the projects and the lower price. Maybe this was an exaggerated optimism driven by the more central CSR agenda at the time of application in The project has shown that a recycled product will meet a more challenging market-entry situation than virgin products. This is partly because of the users when they hear 5

7 that the product is recycled they react with two central comments: the product must be much cheaper or the product must be expected to be of a lesser quality. This barrier represents great limitation but one must hope that time will change this attitude and in addition, waste recycling companies must improve the quality. The Composites Waste project found that the most appropriate way to handle this challenge was an approach in which we did not mention to the users and other companies that the product was recycled until there were technical proof to convince the users that the product was not of a lesser quality than other and existing products. On the other hand, sometimes it has shown very useful to mention that the product was about recycled materials and thereby attract attention from the R&D-departments of the respective users. R&D-departments have shown great interest in new opportunities such as recycling seen from a professional perspective where the more commercial segment of the users e.g. in the purchasing department has a considerably more cautious attitude therefor the primary access depends on the technical and commercial aspects, the price is primarily a crucial factor. In this project, we experienced that our products because they are recycled had to go through more tests than virgin fibres, i.e. the development of recycled products demands quite longer time horizon and also costs significantly more financial resources. Another barrier was that all norms and standards were adjusted to virgin materials. In the Composites Waste project, we experienced industry standards without any technical function, e.g. there exist a demand that glass fibre rovings for a certain application in the automotive industry should be endless fibres which means that they come from a roller of virgin glass fibre. There is no technical documentation or evidence that verifies this standard when we through several years of testing have been able to document that fibres cut in 150mm perform just as good as endless fibres. For natural causes, it is not possible to use our recycled fibres to make glass fibre rovings on rollers. The reason for the before mentioned standard is primarily durability which in this case is an implementation of a conditioning test in which you measure how much material is lost through a lifetime defined to be the amount of hours the product is in use: you simply measure the weight of the material before and after a life-time test. The material will weigh a little less after the conditioning test than before, either because the moist is extracted or because fibres that tears free and disappears. Below you can see the result of a conditioning test of fibres from the Composites Waste project. 6

8 An industry standard as described above is a significant barrier for recycling companies. Therefore, we encourage that across industries attention is paid to any such blocking standards and norms that will limit the implementation and success of recycled products. In recycling terminology, you distinguish between down cycling, recycling, or up cycling. Down cycling is when you produce a product of lesser quality than what the original material consisted of, e.g. plastic bottles turned into plastic granules and then turned into black trash bags. In recycling this is the more generic term and embraces the entire area the material is uses repeatedly for the same product. An example of this is recycling within classic areas such as iron and metal or glass and glass bottles, or in newer areas as used plasterboards that are blended into new plaster or made into new plasterboards. Up cycling is when you produce a better product with a higher value of waste than what was the starting point. Surely, this definition gives room for subjective interpretation. It is in relatively few cases where it has been possible to up cycle a waste product. In the Composites Waste project, we have succeeded to up cycle one of our products. This project has proven capable of developing an advanced acoustic glass fibre product processed in a way in which the product has achieved better acoustic and sound-deadening capabilities so that you only need half of the material measured by weight to create the same or better noise reduction effect. This is a particularly interesting opportunity when entering the automotive industry as weight is essential in improving car fuel economy. That the project have been able to up cycle glass fibre waste to a technical industrial product demonstrates that it is possible to create green innovation based on new and improved initiatives and opportunities. However, the project also show that recycled products do not necessarily need to be secondary per definition. It is apparent that a certain portion of good luck is needed to succeed in recycling operations but in order to find this good luck, you need to actively look in places where the possibility of succeeding is present. Another significant barrier in the Composites Waste project was large logistic- and transportation costs. The project had established several agreements with companies on large amounts of glass fibre waste that they would otherwise sent to landfills. But as these companies were placed all over Europe the concept was based on an aggregator model where the waste was gathered in different locations around Europe, then collected and transported to Denmark where it was stored, sorted, and processed. After processing, the product was sent to users also located all around Europe. The logistic costs were increased further because the Composites Waste products have low density and therefore it was only possible to fill a truck with approximately 50-70% of maximum load. In other 7

9 words, the project has shown that logistics and transportation in particular are significant elements in regards to handling and to economy. 7. CONCLUSION OF THE PROJECT From the very beginning of the Composites Waste project, we have been aware of the fact that if the glass fibre waste problem was to be solved, it was crucial that the products made from the recycled glass fibre could actually be sold. In other words, success in the environmental area requires and depends on success in the commercial area. Moreover, in a project like this where we started out with an idea, a hypothesis, and several indicators of possible products the road have been long. Besides the technical product development to secure one or several products of a such technical quality that they could hold their own in competition with virgin products was a very significant challenge. The next challenge was then to make a technical prototype that could demonstrate that it was actually possible to put waste into one end of a machine and get a real commercial product out in the other end. The third great challenge was through dialogue with the users and the many tests and pilot productions, we had to use all this information to our advantage in order to end up in a situation where the users actually wanted to buy our products. In addition to this, capital was important as it can be years before you move from the innovation stage to actual production creating an actual cash flow. There is a big difference between having a large established company and having an innovation company. The Composites Waste project was driven by innovative forces and without any actual financial strength. It has been a demanding task to secure the capital necessary for the project partly to finance and match the LIFE+ grant but also to have all the necessary liquidity available in general. The conclusion on the project is that it is an absolute necessity to have a commercial focus from the beginning, as the recycling business is hard competition with the traditional suppliers of virgin materials. Thinking green and producing green is far from enough in itself. 8