Chemical recycling company Mura Technology and the Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT) at Ghent University, have announced they have signed a new, 5-year research partnership. The partnership will see the construction of a continuous flow, pilot scale testing facility for use in a range of research programmes.
This new testing facility will enable hard to recycle polymers, including complex composite materials to be evaluated, furthering the understanding of how the technology can be deployed in the processing of a broader range of waste plastics while providing Mura’s chemical partners with more insight into the potential of products from circular feedstocks.
“The knowledge and expertise of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology in advanced recycling and petrochemical sectors makes them natural partners to help develop the potential of our technology and really showcase the benefits of advanced recycling,” said Steve Mahon, CEO of Mura Technology.
Mura Technology’s Hydro-PRT process makes use of supercritical water (water under elevated pressure and temperature), to convert plastic waste to hydrocarbons, which distinguishes it from other recycling processes, such as pyrolysis. The process is efficient and scalable, and results in high yields of recycled hydrocarbons for use in the manufacture of virgin-quality, recycled plastics. According to Mura, there is no limit to the number of times the same material can be recycled.
The process developed by Mura is highly complementary to traditional mechanical recycling technologies, as was highlighted in the 2023 technical report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)[i]. This report also benchmarked Mura’s Hydro-PRT as the best in class, with a c50% lower carbon footprint, compared to two pyrolysis technologies, helping end customers to meet their Net Zero targets.