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Schneider Electric has partnered with GR3N, a Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) chemical recycler, to create an open automation system for the advanced plastic recycling industry, leveraging Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Automation Expert along with the shared automation runtime managed by Universal Automation based on the IEC 61499 standard, along with GR3N's proprietary PET recycling solution.
With an estimated 50% of global plastic waste ending up in landfills and an estimated only 9% recycled, solutions need to be developed to drastically reduce the plastic waste that ends up in landfills and drastically increase the percentage of that plastic waste that gets recycled. GR3N has developed a solution designed to help decrease plastic waste in landfills and increase plastic recycling called "MADE", Microwave Assisted DEpolymerization solution. This new process breaks down PET into its chemical building blocks that can be recombined to create new PET pellets with virgin-like quality for packaging and textiles, helping to closing the loop for hard to recycle plastic. The technology is based on alkaline hydrolysis, and it can manage a higher number of impurities than existing technologies.
The software-defined automation system decouples hardware from software, allowing devices and equipment to be more easily connected across architecture layers, regardless of vendor. It acts as a digital backbone of industrial operations at the plant, providing the foundation for users to make more informed decisions. This approach has enabled MADE to be an example of a new generation of automation system, where the convergence between IT and OT enables the deployment of more advanced functionalities for operations management and data analytics.
Due to Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Automation Expert’s modular and agnostic nature, GR3N was able to choose an optimal technology for its solution that more easily scales to various sites. Benefits include:
Industrial scalability – helps to minimize the risk of investment during the scale-up of GR3N’s technology in industrial plants, while offering a way to help protect its intellectual property as process licensor.
Design flexibility – using a vendor and hardware agnostic system enabled GR3N to design the best possible solution without being held back by vendor lock in or being impacted by supply chain issues.
Engineering time and time-to-market reduction – the modular design of control software, supported by digital continuity across the plant lifecycle with automation-focused decision making designed into the solution, helps to reduce human error at the development stage by up to an estimated 40%.
Control simplification – Vendor-independence allows controls to be distributed or centralized depending on need.
New opportunities – IT/OT integration provides greater potential for efficiency and optimization across the value chain due to a more seamless incorporation of advanced data analytics techniques.
Reduced costs – a software-defined approach to automation is expected to reduce engineering costs by up to an estimated 30%.
Next-gen workforce – attracts the next generation of workers with systems that share similarities with those in IT.
The partnership between GR3N and Schneider Electric, that begain with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding, will enable GR3N to scale operations to new sites more quickly and cost-effectively. The solution is expected to reach industrial scale by 2027 with the construction of a 35-40kta plant that will include the pre-treatment, depolymerization, and repolymerization.