Leibniz Universität Hannover – IKK Institute for Plastics and Recycling Technology

Company description:

Defossilization strategies for increased sustainability in the plastics sector are the overarching focus of research work at the IKK. By recycling plastics, petrochemical carbon is used several times and thus replaces primary carbon from crude oil. This means that less “fresh” petrochemical carbon is used at the beginning of the life cycle and at the same time the petro-based carbon becomes a renewable source of raw materials.

The IKK – Institute for Plastics and Recycling Technology therefore supports the industry in the development of product-specific recycling strategies, from design and processing to the practical implementation and optimization of material developments, recycling processes and sustainability assessment. The entire life cycle of plastic products is considered, i.e. material production and processing, process optimization and the development and practical investigation of sustainable, efficient recycling approaches. The IKK also has a state-of-the-art technical infrastructure. Extensive destructive and non-destructive material testing and chemical analysis accompany the entire development process. With its plastics expertise, the IKK complements the technical profile of the Hannover Production Technology Center (PZH) at the new Mechanical Engineering Campus in Garbsen (CMG) very well.

Another approach to defossilizing the plastics industry is the use of biogenic carbon for the production of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. In particular, the persistence and degradation behavior of conventional plastics and the degradation mechanisms and decomposition products of bioplastics are therefore the subject of research at the IKK. The basic degradability and degradation behavior of plastics in aquatic and terrestrial environmental compartments can be investigated using various multi-scale test concepts. By recreating the environmental conditions of the various environmental compartments, the relationships between material structure, environmental conditions and the resulting degradation mechanisms and degradation products can be investigated.