Simon Farnfield, event director at Advanced Engineering, explains how the industry is adopting the 'five R' strategy (rethink, reduce, remake, recycle and recover) for a more sustainable future and the latest methods.
Advanced Engineering
As environmental concerns grow, companies are setting ambitious sustainability goals to reduce their environmental footprint. Academia is also trying to integrate climate-related conversations into educational programmes.
'Rethink, reduce, remake, recycle and recover' is the five R strategy. Emphasis is on sustainability in manufacturing by ‘rethinking’ product use and ‘reducing’ material and energy consumption during design. It also promotes ‘remaking’ products for easy repair and refurbishment, prioritises ‘recycling’ by selecting recyclable materials and focuses on ‘recovering’ energy from products at the end of their life cycle.
The role of AI
Advancements in AI enhance robots' decision-making abilities, opening up new opportunities for companies to improve the sustainability of their operations. For instance, FPD Recycling, an Irish technology start-up, has developed a solution to address the growing issue of electronic waste, particularly from flat panel displays (FPDs) like TVs, monitors and laptops.
Every year, around 50 million tonnes of e-waste are discarded globally, including valuable materials such as gold, silver and copper. Recovering them is vital to reduce the need to mine new resources. However, e-waste often contains toxic chemicals like mercury and lead, making safe recovery challenging.
To tackle this, FPD Recycling has introduced the UK's first fully automated robotic system designed for processing and recycling complex and potentially hazardous e-waste. Two ABB robots are used to process up to 120 screens per hour when operating at full capacity in an AI-driven compact system that fits into a 40-foot container. This is made up of two machines that can work independently or together to handle different types of devices.
The recycling process involves three stages. First, each device is weighed and identified. Next, a robot arm scans the screen, determines the appropriate processing method and removes the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. This ensures that valuable materials are extracted and hazardous substances are safely handled, leaving a clean waste stream for further processing.
An advantage of this system is its ability to gather detailed data on every device processed, including weight, size, manufacturer and model. This is crucial for compliance with the EU's WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulation, which requires manufacturers to pay producer responsibility fees.
Revolutionising plastic recycling
Traditionally, many plastics deemed non-recyclable were destined for landfills, incineration or environmental leakage. However, Mura Technology’s multi-million-pound facility in Teesside, North East England, shows that these plastics can be effectively recycled.
The facility is the first Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling System (HydroPRS), which converts waste plastics into virgin-grade recycled hydrocarbons. This aims to create a circular economy for plastics while reducing carbon emissions associated with traditional plastic waste management methods.
The HydroPRS process involves several steps. First, plastics are shredded and contaminants like metals and glass are removed for standard recycling. The remaining plastics are pressurised and heated before being sent to HydroPRS reactor, where they are mixed with supercritical steam. This process breaks down the plastics into their component molecules, enabling their reuse in new plastic production.
A key advantage of the HydroPRS technology is its use of water as a solvent under high pressure and temperature to convert solid plastics back into liquid oils and hydrocarbons, the original materials used to make them. This allows for the indefinite recycling of plastics without quality degradation, creating a sustainable loop for plastic materials.
Mura's plant is projected to produce 20,000 tonnes of recycled hydrocarbons annually, with plans for expansion.