Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Solvent-based plastic recycling for managing industrial-scale waste.

Innovations like the solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP™) process developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison can process flexible plastic packaging, which cannot be recycled mechanically. STRAP offers scalable, sustainable solutions to reduce waste.

See the STRAP difference

These images show that plastics produced by STRAP are visibly more similar in appearance to virgin plastics than those produced by mechanical recycling. The examples depicted include complex feedstocks processed by STRAP, such as plastic packaging with inks, mixed films and shrink wrap containing visible contaminants, illustrating the process’s ability to yield cleaner and more uniform material despite challenging input conditions.

Focus Areas

 

The technology

  

The equipment

  

Color removal

  

 

Featured People and Places

3-D model of the pilot plant
3-D model of the pilot plant

A pilot-scale STRAP™ plant at Michigan Technological University capable of recycling 25 kilograms of plastic per hour is under development. (See images of the plant.)
Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics logo
Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics

Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) is a multi-university research center with over 30 industrial partners funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. CUWP is dedicated to enabling a circular plastic economy by developing chemical processes that are suitable for commercial use.
George Huber
George Huber

George Huber, executive director of CUWP, is a professor of chemical and biological engineering. His research group uses chemical engineering to develop technologies which allow waste resources to be converted into useful fuels and chemicals.
Reid Van Lehn
Reid Van Lehn

Reid Van Lehn, a professor of chemical and biological engineering, uses computational techniques to predict the appropriate solvents to use in each step of the STRAP™ process, which makes the system more efficient and scalable.
Victor M. Zavala
Victor M. Zavala

Victor M. Zavala is a professor of chemical and biological engineering and a 2017 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). His research group specializes in developing optimization and statistical models.
Ezra Bar-Ziv
Ezra Bar-Ziv

Collaborator Ezra Bar-Ziv is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Michigan Tech. His group is scaling up a process development unit that will prove the commercial viability of STRAP™.
Bob Rozmiarek
Bob Rozmiarek

Advisor Bob Rozmiarek served in various roles at Virent for 20 years and is now supporting the group as they work to commercialize the STRAP™ technology.
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Featured Technologies

The technology

Recycling of Plastics by Solvent-Targeted Recovery And Precipitation (STRAP)
Uses selective dissolution to recycle and recover the components of printed multilayer plastic films. In development since 2019.
George Huber, Kevin Sanchez-Rivera, Reid Van Lehn, Theodore Walker, Panzheng Zhou

The equipment

Plastic Recycling System Using Solvent-Targeted Recovery And Precipitation (STRAP)
The proprietary STRAP system includes a shredder, a feeder, a dissolution vessel, high and low temperature filters, a cooler and precipitator, a solvent recovery unit, a distillation unit, a heat management system and an extruder.
George Huber, Zhuo Xu, Kevin Sanchez-Rivera, Ezra Bar-Ziv, Shreyas Kolapkar, Victor Ierulli

Color removal

Color “Getters” for Color Removal in Solvent-Based Plastic Recycling
Uses polymer-based “getters” to agglomerate pigments and make them easier to filter out from colored plastic waste.
George Huber, Charles Granger, Tianwei Yan

A Solvent-Based Plastic Recycling Method to Remove Inks and Produce Clear Films
Enhances the STRAP process by removing ink pigments and recycling solvents.
George Huber, Tianwei Yan, Charles Granger, Kevin Sanchez-Rivera, Reid Van Lehn, Ezra Bar-Ziv, Fei Long, Panzheng Zhou

WARF