TEER supports EnEWA research project on Energy savings in paper production
Seeking to enhance paper production, the research project EnEWA delves into exploring the potential of reclaiming paper fibers from mixed waste streams, encompassing light packaging waste, commercial waste, and residual waste. The objective is to recover paper fibers from these lightweight packages, since their amount drastically increased in the recent years. Notably, the food industry already boasts a substantial presence of paper-based packaging, resulting in increased amounts of paper in these waste streams. While the Chair for Anthropogenic Material Cycles (ANTS) focuses on the fiber recovery, TEER evaluates the thermochemical recycling of the residuals, so-called paper rejects. These rejects contain high amounts of plastics and agglomerates which might be used for thermochemical recycling. Together with the project partners, we evaluate the pyrolytic conversion and challenges ahead to improve the circularity of packaging waste. Paper sludge can be a pollutant sink, so we are also looking at pollutant concentrations - with a particular focus on PFAS.