Characteristics of Plastic Waste Processing in the Modern Recycling Plant Operating in Poland

Abstract

Although Poland is one of the leading recipients of the waste stream in the European Union (EU), it is at the same time below the average in terms of efficiency of their use/utilization. The adopted technological solutions cause waste processing rates to be relatively low in Poland. As a result, the report of the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) of the EU indicated Poland as one of the 14 countries of the EU which are at risk in terms of possibility of achieving 50% recycling of waste. This article discusses the implemented technological solutions, and shows the profitability of the investment and the values of the process heat demand both for extractor and reactor. The experimental part analyzed the composition of the input and output of the process and compared it to the required fuel specifications. Attention was drawn to the need to improve the recycling process in order to increase the quality of manufactured fuel components. As potential ways of solving the problem of low fuel quality, cleaning the sorted reaction mass from solid particles and extending the technological line with a distillation column have been proposed. The recommended direction of improvement of the technology is also the optimization of the process of the reactor’s purification and removal of contaminants.