Plastic recycling is an important topic at Igus. Igus has been taking a bold step in traditional recycling - the shredding and reuse of plastics - since October last year with its new chainge program. The company takes back "e-chains"/energy chains, regardless of manufacturer, at the end of a machine's life, regranulates the plastic and reprocesses it. "With the igus chainge program, we have started recycling plastics from old products. This is the best way for high-performance plastics," says Frank Blase, Managing Director of Igus.

Back to crude oil with water, high temperatures and pressure
All over the world, mixed waste always remains, in the case of non-technical plastics in quantities 100 to 1000 times larger. "This is where 'chemical recycling' offers new solutions," explains Blase. "In the middle of the year, an article in the FAZ newspaper drew my attention to the Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor technology and I contacted the German inventor Professor Thomas Maschmeyer in Sydney." Seven months later, after intensive research, Igus is now investing four million British pounds (4.7 million euros) in Mura Technology Limited and thus also in the construction of the first Cat HTR plant.

The patented Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor was developed in 2007 and tested over ten years in a pilot plant in Australia. With Cat-HTR, conventional non-recyclable plastic waste can be converted back into crude oil within 20 minutes, which saves resources compared to the extraction of fossil crude oil. Only water, high temperatures and pressure are used to separate and recombine the cells. One plant alone can process 20,000 tons of plastic in one year and thus_{reduce CO2} emissions by 28,180 tons. This corresponds to the annual consumption of 5,983 cars or the annual energy requirements of 4,914 households.

Plastics recycling with Cat HTR plant
The first commercial Cat HTR plant is currently being planned in Wilton, UK. Construction is due to start this year. Waste companies supply the waste to achieve their recycling targets. Oil is then recovered, which the customer can purchase at a similar price to fossil oil. A total of four Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactors will be built in Wilton to process over 80,000 tons of plastic waste annually. In the next step, Mura plans to issue licenses and build plants worldwide. "We are committed to bringing the world of plastics into balance with technical solutions," says Frank Blase. as