PLASTICE technologies take centre stage at the EFCE Spotlight Talk on chemical recycling

Three PLASTICE partners will present the project's thermochemical recycling routes at the EFCE Spotlight Talk "Chemical Recycling of Plastics – recent developments in thermochemical technologies", organised by the Section on Sustainability of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) on Friday 30 October 2026, 14:00–16:15 CET.

The session looks at how chemical, thermal and solvothermal conversion routes — among them pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction — can turn plastic waste into fuels, chemicals and monomers, and how these technologies can complement mechanical recycling in a circular plastics economy. Two of the four recycling routes developed in PLASTICE, microwave-assisted pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, are on the programme, presented by the teams working on them within the consortium.

The webinar is chaired by PLASTICE partner Ass. Prof. Shiju Raveendran of the Catalysis Engineering Group at the University of Amsterdam, with opening remarks by Prof. Antonis Kokossis, Chair of the EFCE Section on Sustainability, and Jarka Glassey, EFCE President.

Programme

  • 14:00 — Welcome and introduction
  • 14:10 — Advances in solvothermal molecular recycling of PET — Prof. Phillip E. Savage, Institute of Energy and the Environment, Penn State University (USA)
  • 14:40 — Chemical recycling of plastics: constraints and opportunities — Dr Ahmad Al Farra, TotalEnergies Research & Technology Gonfreville (France)
  • 15:10 — Process intensification in plastic waste pyrolysis through selective microwave heating — Dr Ignacio Julián Burillo, CIRCE, Zaragoza (Spain)
  • 15:40 — Assessing the economic feasibility of olefins production from plastic waste via hydrothermal liquefaction — Dr Roni Mallick, Catalysis Engineering Group, University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
  • 16:10 — Conclusions

For anyone following the project’s technical progress, it is an opportunity to hear the results discussed in a wider scientific and industrial context, and to put questions directly to the researchers.

Register here — participation is free but registration is required.

Photo credits: Mikhail Nilov on Pexels