The British company Mura Technology is opening a new chapter in modern plastics recycling: The first plant in Germany for chemical recycling with a capacity of up to 120,000 tons per year is to be built in Saxony. The plant will also convert multi-layer mixed plastics, which were previously considered inseparable and ended up in incineration, into crude oil for the manufacture of new products. This is an important step towards keeping valuable plastics in the circular economy and protecting the environment.

According to nature conservation organization WWF, 1.6 million tons of plastic waste worth 3.8 billion euros still end up in incineration every year. The reason for this is that recycling by type has hardly been possible to date. This is because many products - such as food packaging film - consist of several plastics that can no longer be separated mechanically. A new type of recycling plant that Mura Technology is to build - together with the US chemicals group and plastics manufacturer Dow at its site in Böhlen in the district of Leipzig - is set to change this. It will be the first plant of its kind in Germany.
The special feature of the plant in Böhlen is a new type of chemical recycling called Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution (HydroPRS). Using only water, heat and pressure, HydroPRS converts plastics into crude oil in just 30 minutes. This oil can then be used to produce high-quality plastic granulate for the manufacture of brand-new plastic products. The same material can even be recycled repeatedly.

"Mura Technology's invention goes beyond the limits of conventional chemical recycling," says Frank Blase, Managing Director of Igus. "The HydroPRS technology opens up new possibilities for converting plastic waste into crude oil in an energy-efficient and high-yield way." Igus was the first investor from industry to invest around 5 million euros in the start-up Mura Technology at the beginning of 2020 to help the technology achieve a breakthrough. Around a year and a half later, KBR, a leading international provider of scientific, technological and engineering solutions, joined as a further partner. In the meantime, other partners such as Dow, Chevron Phillips Chemical and LG Chemical have joined. Just recently, Mura also received an additional strategic investment from Dow to further advance the development of additional HydroPRS plants in the USA and Europe. The aim of the partnership is to create an additional 600,000 tons of recycling capacity by 2030.

Construction of the plastics recycling plant in Böhlen is scheduled to begin in 2023, with operations expected to start in 2025. Further plants will be built worldwide in the future, in Asia, the USA and the UK. Mura Technology is currently building the first commercial HydroPRS plant in Teesside, England, which will go into operation in the first half of 2023. It will recycle more than 24,000 tons of plastic per year. All plants worldwide are expected to reach an annual capacity of more than 100,000,000 tons by 2030.

Igus has supported Mura Technology's recycling innovation from the very beginning, as the motion plastics specialist's declared aim is to promote a circular economy for plastics. Mechanical recycling has been established for over 50 years. The company uses 99% of the plastic waste generated during production as new granulate for its injection molding machines. In 2019, Igus also launched 'Chainge' - a recycling program for used energy chains. In 2022, the world's first energy chain made from 100% recycled material was created, as well as a plain bearing program made from regranulated production waste.