Taking advantage of the resources contained in waste is a requirement of society and the industrial sector, as we are currently facing a shortage of materials, rising prices and complexity in the environments where most raw materials are found.
For this purpose, it has been decided to make the circular economy and “0” landfill a priority. The sector requires advanced material separation technologies to give the right qualities to fractions derived from waste streams, new methods for chemical recycling of plastic waste to obtain monomers and chemical products, as well as ensuring traceability. Different waste treatment solutions, processes and technologies must coexist in order to adapt to each waste stream, industrial environment and local circumstances.
At GAIKER, we have and develop mechanical recycling technologies, such as wet or dry density separation or separation methods based on automatic identification using innovative optical sensors, as well as chemical and thermochemical recycling processes, such as solvolysis, pyrolysis or gasification.
In all these cases, we have the capacity to scale up and validate the processes developed at laboratory level, as we have an industrial area with pilot plants where we can carry out demonstrations and pilot tests of waste treatment using different technologies and in sufficiently large quantities to obtain adequate and valuable information to carry out technical and economic feasibility studies.
This capacity for process scalability also covers pre-treatments, including size reduction for the release of materials, separation of unsuitable components present in complex waste mixtures, washing, conditioning in texture and shape, etc.
We carry out the full characterisation of the waste, which is the main stage in defining both the necessary pre-treatments and the final processes selected, and we cover the characterisation of the products obtained, whether they are pyrolysis oils, carbonaceous solids if the process is thermochemical or monomers or reaction products after solvolysis processes or characterisation and market analysis of recycled plastics if the treatment has been mechanical.
The aim is to develop a new, efficient, sustainable, technologically advanced circular value chain, geared towards recovering critical, strategic raw materials (CRMs) in a targeted manner. These CRMs can be found in post-consumer waste and the streams resulting from processing it, such as photovoltaic and hybrid panels, printed circuit boards (PCBs), end-of-life vehicle (ELV) fluff, steel mill tailings and other complex industrial solid waste materials. SERVET will focus on recovering key, strategic raw materials such as copper (Cu), silicon (Si), tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb), materials that are essential for critical sectors such as the energy transition, digitalisation, and the automotive and electronics industries.
Subsidised by the CDTI and supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
The aim is to structure a circular textile value chain on a cross-border scale, by organising the collection, reuse and recycling chains for textile waste in the POCTEFA territory. It also includes an awareness-raising and training component for local actors and the public in order to support the transition towards more sustainable practices. The project is based on the cooperation of 11 partners to strengthen territorial synergies.
This project is 65% co-financed by the European Union as part of the Interreg VI-A – Spain-France-Andorra programme (POCTEFA 2021-2027), which is aimed at strengthening the economic and social integration of the cross-border area.
The aim is to boost the effective circular economy of composite materials and of complex plastics in particular.
Leader: GAIKER
The objective is to develop artificial intelligence-based technologies to identify, sort and recover valuable metals in the recycling process of the new generation of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).
Subsidised by the Basque Government.
The objective is to complete industrial research in order to develop chemical recycling technologies by solvolysis and selective dissolution that treat complex plastic waste, such as multilayer plastics, textiles mixed with natural and synthetic fibres or composites reinforced with glass or carbon fibres, to obtain value-added products, such as plastics, monomers or fibres.
Leader: GAIKER
Design, development and evaluation of a prototype for automatically identifying and sorting plastic waste, with brominated flame retardants based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) applied to plastics from WEEE, CDW and aviation, developing recycled plastic formulations and demonstrating their validity in high value applications.
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This project received funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and development programme under contract number 869336. |
The project is based on designing a pre-treatment process, sorting the plastic waste in the WEEE stream, and separating high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and acrylonitrile–butadienestyrene (ABS) from WEEE for further purification and recovery of additives.
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This project received funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and development programme under contract number 821087 |
GAIKER is involved in developing the solvolysis chemical recycling process and scaling it up, and in constructing parts made of carbon fibre from recycled material or from reusing uncured pre-impregnated offcuts by moulding them.
Developing knowledge and technology that will enable the industrial fabric to make sustainable use of plastic waste, thereby closing the life cycle of these resources. Research is ongoing on obtaining raw materials for industry using chemical (solvolysis) and thermochemical (pyrolysis and gasification) processes capable of converting plastic waste into substances that enable new plastics to be obtained.
Subsidised by the Basque Government
Development of cost-effective, sustainable chemical recycling alternatives with scalable potential, eco-design of alternative synthesis strategies to produce polymers that can be recycled and reused, evaluation of upcycling and development of predictive models.
Recycling and Circular Economy Market Manager