We continue our interviews with the partners of the MAELSTROM project to hear directly from them about their roles and the activities they are carrying out within the project. By leveraging their expertise in pyrolysis, MAKEEN is helping to convert plastic litter collected from European coasts into valuable resources.

In this interview with Lillian Christensen from MAKEEN, we explore its’s contributions to the project, focusing on their efforts to transform challenging waste streams into sustainable business opportunities, thereby supporting global efforts to reduce ocean pollution.

What is MAKEEN’s role in the MAELSTROM project?

MAKEEN is a technology and equipment provider within pyrolysis, a process where materials, like plastic, are heated in the absence of oxygen, causing them to break down into simpler substances, such as gases, oils, and solid residues. This process transforms the original material into useful products like pyrolysis oil – a raw material for making new items.

MAKEEN was therefore in MAELSTROM requested to perform pyrolysis on marine litter submitted from other partners, collected thanks to the implemented technologies and clean up activities,  and presorted in the project. Moreover, MAKEEN had to assess the output materials from the pyrolysis process and consider business opportunities.

What does chemical recycling involve? Can it be done with any type of plastic?

Performing pyrolysis you process the plastic in an inert atmosphere and heat the material to a process where it goes to a gaseous form to decompose the material. At MAKEEN we condensate the material into a pyrolysis oil to be supplied to the petro-chemical industry and to be used in production of new plastic.

Pyrolysis can be performed on a variety of materials including plastics as the reactor, processing, and process parameters can be designed for the specific material or material mix for the setup to handle.

Pyrolysis requires energy so therefore pyrolysis should only be applied when you as output will have useful, good quality materials. And since the output material quality and quantity is dependent of the input material composition and the process applied, not all plastic materials are suitable for pyrolysis. Some plastic types like PET and PVC (among the most widely used plastics, for example, in beverage bottles and various other products and construction materials, respectively), will give only a small yield and also tend to clog in the system and/or give out-of-spec pyrolysis oil and are therefore not preferable for the production of high quality pyrolysis oil. Luckily, mechanical recycling of PET is already well implemented in many countries.

What will your main activities be in the final months of the project?

This final period of work will see MAKEEN engaged in finalizing the market assessment of the products from marine litter. All the results will be presented at the end of the project.