Development study on the erection of a CFRP recycling plant in Burgau
But high-quality material recycling is only ecoefficient if the recycled fibres can be used to produce new high-quality and marketable products. Tests carried out up to now indicate that very good results can be expected for large-scale recycling of carbon fibres by means of pyrolysis.
The waste pyrolysis plant (WPP) operated in Burgau is the only large-scale pyrolysis plant for municipal wastes in Germany. In a study funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Health ("Bayerischen Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Gesundheit"), the specific implementation options for the recovery of carbon fibres from composites by means of large-scale pyrolysis have been under investigation since November 2010. To this end, in the first step a development study was carried out, which in particular examined the options for modifying the Burgau WPP for the recycling of CFRP. The knowledge acquired from the pyrolysis tests, the fibre tests and the economic feasibility study confirmed the positive assessment of the overall concept of CFRP recycling in Burgau. As an overall result, unlimited profitability as found for all scenarios with regard to investments in CFRP recycling in Burgau WPP.
The work on the development study was carried out by bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH together with the Augsburg-based "function integrated lightweight construction project group ("Funktionsintegrierter Leichtbau" - FIL) of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT).
The final report "Entwicklungsstudie zur Errichtung einer CFK-Recyclinganlage in Bayern - Entwicklung eines geeigneten Recyclingverfahrens am Beispiel der MPA Burgau" (Development study on the erection of a CFRP recycling plant in Bavaria - development of a suitable recycling process using the example of Burgau waste incineration plant) can be downloaded now, free-of-charge, as a pdf. [in German only]