Aimplas, the Technological Institute of Plastics, participates in the FOAM2FOAM project whose objective is to obtain raw materials from polyurethane waste that until now ended up in a landfill or were mechanically recycled to obtain products with little added value.

Polyurethane is a material that comes in a multitude of forms, from the most flexible to others very rigid, passing through others that stand out for their lightness. It is precisely for this reason that it has numerous applications, ranging from foams for automotive or furniture, through packaging, to insulation for construction, electronics or in the form of the sole of sports shoes.

The fact that it does not have simple logistics due to its varied origin, and that it is usually very mixed with other materials, meant that most of the time it ended up in a landfill and that its recycling until now has been carried out by mechanical means with the obtaining a material with little added value.

The objective of the FOAM2FOAM project, which is part of the national call for R & D Collaboration Challenges, and is funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, is to apply chemical recycling to these waste decomposing the material with heat, chemicals or catalysts in a process called catalytic glycolysis that makes it possible to obtain new raw materials called green polyols. In this way, it is avoided to resort to raw materials from non-renewable sources to manufacture new products.

The objective of the project is to scale the process to the pilot plant level and analyze its efficiency. To this end, a consortium has been created led by Titan Recycling Solutions, in which Arcesso Dynamics and AMB Electrónica de Brescia also participate, in which the Gaiker and Aimplas technology centers also participate.