? How long has it taken to develop the Up-Cycling process?

Schwalm: It has taken 25 years in total. A first patent application was filed as early as 1993. The first construction measures for a recycling plant were initiated a few years later, but were executed with another target objective due to new priorities. Another milestone in the project was the collaboration with a South African company around the turn of the millennium. This led to important insights with regard to the process method as well as other patent applications.

? To what extent did Dyneon collaborate with external partners (University of Bayreuth, etc.)?

Schwalm: The collaboration with the University of Bayreuth and the non-profit research institute InVerTec commenced in 2005 and was critical to the success of the project. The support of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) in all project phases until 2010 was also decisive, because, with a project of this size, Dyneon required fellow combatants who shared its vision. This includes the Federal Ministry of Environment (Bundesumweltministerium), which supported the construction of the facility with nearly one million Euros. Today the Up-Cycling Plant not only functions as a sustainable system but also economically, because it saves fluorspar raw material and energy costs.

? Is there any plan to build further or larger Up-Cycling plants?

Schwalm: The pilot plant can process up to 500 tonnes annually. The objective is to conceive and build an industrial-scale production plant with the insights gained from the operation of the pilot plant. That will take some years yet.

? Where are they to be built and what are the biggest challenges involved?

Schwalm: The plant will also be built at the Burgkirchen site in Gendorf Works. The biggest challenges are, firstly, the technical implementation and the scale-up to the larger scale and, secondly, there must be a functioning network for the collection and logistics of fully fluorinated polymer waste with the goal that these will no longer be dumped or incinerated.

? In your opinion, what will happen in the next ten to twenty years in the field of Up-Cycling or, to put it another way, what would be your vision?

Schwalm: The objective is to be able to up-cycle all fully-fluorinated polymer waste including the PTFE compounds and then to transfer the established process to partly fluorinated polymer waste.