PEGASO is setting up a strategy to develop a brand-new industrial pilot plant

Circular economy is a primary target for the sustainability in Europe, and the subject of improvement in order to reach the ambitious objective set by the EU landfilling directive [(EU) 2018/850], to become a fully circular economy by 2050, and by 2030 to reuse or recycle the 60% of all wastes streams

In Europe, in 2022 the 32.5% of plastic materials get converted into new plastics via chemical or thermal recycling routes (Eurostat, Plastic Recyclers Europe), the 25% is landfilled, and the balance undergoes thermal recovery, through incineration (largest share), pyrolysis or gasification.  The unrecoverable (mixed or non-recyclable) wastes plastic portion, is this 42.5%: an impressive 15 M tons with poor second-life opportunities

PEGASO is since ever attentive to the environmental sustainability of process and technological solutions.  The company is striving to solve the issue of unsorted plastic wastes. The process selected will transform them into new raw materials and energy, avoiding landfilling or incineration and supporting the transformation of a stream of otherwise non-recoverable wastes into new raw materials, energy with a positive balance. 

The innovative microwave-activated pyrolysis process is cutting by more than 40% the emissions of CO2 to the environment per ton-equivalent of non-recyclable thermosetting and composites, as compared to the practices of incineration or landfilling.  The process is capable of recovering gas (syngas), liquid (tar, mostly paraffinic rich) and solid carbon-rich phases, with overall efficiency of conversion higher than 99%.

PEGASO is setting up a strategy to develop a brand-new industrial pilot plant that can effectively be exploited to manage more than 10 k ton wastes per year.

Through alliances with waste processing companies, traders, and other industrialists already deploying circular economy solutions, the ambition is to create a industrial cluster capable to convert different streams of waste and secondary materials into new high-added value resources, cutting the emissions and enabling a high overall energy efficiency.