Deuss and Karka partner in MOOI consortium Closing Carbon Cycles with Renewable Amines (3CRA)

Prof. dr. Peter Deuss and Dr. Paraskevi Karka of ENTEG are partner in a consortium that has been awarded 3.2 M€ by RVO for a "missiegedreven onderzoek, ontwikkeling en innovatie" (MOOI) project. The Closing Carbon Cycles with Renewable Amines (3CRA) consortium of knowledge institutes (WO and HBO), led by Dr. Andre Heeres from The Hanze University of Applied Sciences will together with industrial partners aim to carry out the synthesis of platform amines from biomass and end-of-life plastics. Furthermore, it will investigate the chemical re/upcycling of polyamides and polyurethanes by means of an ammonolysis, a depolymerisation reaction using ammonia (NH3). The products obtained are then purified from impurities and by-products, and in the case of polyurethanes, the amines obtained are used for repolymerization. In the depolymerisation of polyamides the amides are first hydrolysed towards the corresponding carboxylic acids and used in the repolymerisation towards polyamides.The above cycles are particularly suitable for end-of-life plastic streams from sorting installations that are not suitable for mechanical/chemical recycling. Any loss of material is compensated for by synthesis of amines from (mixtures of) end-of-life plastics and biomass (organic waste streams). The ammonia required for depolymerisation can be synthesised from green hydrogen (Haber-Bosch process).

The University of Groningen will receive approximately 600 k€. A PhD student, supported by other research and technical staff, will investigate new routes from waste biomass and end-of-life plastics to renewable amines such as aniline from which 4,4ʹ-methylene diphenyl diamine (MDA) and subsequently 4,4ʹ-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) a key polycarbonate precursor for polycarbonates. The key technology to be investigated will be the development of efficient catalytic pyrolysis in the presence of nitrogen species and the subsequent downstream separation and purification. Furthermore, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic analysis tools will be developed and used to compare different routes in terms of environmental sustainability and economic viability.