A “second life” for plastic waste and brown coal/The state approves EUR 15 million for pilot plant

The German Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt is continuing to invest heavily in developing the research landscape: acting on a proposal from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Science and Digitalisation, the cabinet decided today to budget EUR 15 million for the construction of an innovative “CARBONTRANS” pilot plant in Leuna (Saale district) by 2024. The government is going to contribute another EUR 15 million. The plant being planned by the Fraunhofer Institute for the Microstructure of Active Agents and Systems IMWS (Halle) can pave the way to make local brown coal and carbon-containing waste, such as plastic waste, usable as raw materials for the chemical industry. With today’s decision by the cabinet, Saxony-Anhalt is clearing the path for the upcoming consultations on the Fraunhofer committee, which will finalise the joint financing of the Fraunhofer investment project.

Minister Willingmann emphasises: “We are killing two birds with one stone with the new pilot plant. On the one hand, the material use opens up perspectives for local brown coal and on the other hand our chemical industry can become less reliant on crude oil and natural gas. Both aspects strengthen the added value and employment in Saxony-Anhalt and also protect the climate into the bargain. As a result, the pilot plant can make a key contribution to establishing an innovative, low-emission carbon dioxide loop economy and successfully shaping the future structural change in coal regions.”

So far carbon-containing waste like plastic waste has largely been burnt, which releases a great deal of CO2. An innovative technology for gasification is to make it possible to extract basic materials for the chemical industry from the waste in combination with brown coal thus closing the carbon dioxide loop. The “CARBONTRANS” pilot plant is therefore going to be integrated into the energy and feedstock integration at the Leuna chemical location.

Several partners from business and science are involved in the project being led by Fraunhofer IMWS, including MIBRAG and ROMONTA. Approx. 30 quality jobs are going to be created by the EUR 30 million investment. The detailed plans are expected to run until 2021; the construction of the pilot plant is planned from 2022.

The prerequisite for building the pilot plant is also the initially prospective financing of a research facility at the Freiberg University of Mining in Saxony by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Once the BMBF finally gives the go-ahead for the funding, the innovative reactor for gasifying brown coal and carbon-containing waste is going to be developed and tested there – it is then planned to incorporate this into the pilot plant in Leuna.