Head of Compounding/Extrusion
Prof. Dr. Daniel Schwendemann
Head of Compounding/Extrusion | IWK at OST
Presentation topic:
From bottle waste to technical parts
Abstract
Abstract
Even in a closed recycling loop system, achieving a 100% closed loop is not feasible. This is because a certain percentage of collected PET cannot be reused in the bottle cycle due to non-conformity with food-safety regulations or colour specifications. Additionally, not all bottles are disposed correctly and some end up in general waste collection systems or worse in the environment.
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To address this issue, the IWK, together with industry partners, is working on solutions, to introduce this waste streams in the production of technical parts and other challenging applications.
Bio
Bio
Daniel Schwendemann is Professor for Plastics Processing at OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences in the IWK Institute for Material Technology and Plastics Processing. His research focuses on plastics processing, in particular compounding and extrusion. For many years, he has been working on solutions for the circular use of plastics and the use of bio-based materials. Various projects have received awards in recent years, such as the Swiss Environmental Award in 2016, which he won with project partner Fluid-Solids AG for the new biocomposite FluidSolids ®, or the Materialica Gold of Award in 2019 and the Swiss Plastics Expo Sustainability Award in 2020 for the innovative solution to reduce plastic in the ocean and convert waste into new products.
He received his Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany in 1997. After his studies he joined Coperion GmbH as a process engineer. Daniel Schwendemann was heavily involved in developing the D-LFT and other inline processes.