Services, equipment and pilot plant

Services

LCPE offers a broad range of services for both other research institutions and industrial partners:

Sample preparations of plastic or organic samples at different levels, among other things, shredding, pulverisette and dry ashing.
Various analytical equipment including GC-MS, ICP-OES, HPLC, TGA-IR, FT-IR, DSC, ...
Diverse unit operations such as continuous and batch distillation, wind sifting, and flotation.
Simulations with various software programs (ASPEN Plus®, MATLAB, and Python).
Pilot scale equipment for plastic recycling.

An overview of all the equipment available for services can be found below.

Besides the mentioned analytical and engineering services, LCPE also performs chemical and physical experiments to solve industrial problems in the field of plastic or organic waste recycling.

Equipment

LCPE uses different analytical and chemical lab and pilot-scale equipment and has experience with various software programs.

The table below gives an overview of the equipment and software present at LCPE.

Sample preparation

Analytics

Unit operations

Process design with

•Microwave digestion

•Pulverisette

•Shredder

•Dry ashing

•Sieving

•Pyrolysis-GC-MS

•GC-MS

•GC-FID

•HPLC

•FT-IR

•TGA-IR

•DSC

•UV-VIS

•ICP-OES

•AAS

•XRF

•Viscometer SVM: Rotary and
kinematic

•Colorimeter

•Conductometer

•Particle sizing
(Laser Particle sizer, sieve
analysis)

•Solid-liquid extraction

•Liquid-liquid extraction

•Continuous and batch distillation

•Density and froth flotation

•Pilot-scale friction washer

•Air classification/wind shifting

•Hydrocyclone

•Decanter centrifuge

•Drying

•Adsorption/desorption

•Precipitation

•Counter current gas
absorption/stripping

•Filtration: pressure and
sand filtration

•Column testing
(Active carbon, Ion Exchange,…)

•Heated pressure reactor

•Diffusion cell

•ASPEN Plus®

•Aspen HYSYS

•Aspen Heat Exchanger
Design and Rating

•DoE with JMP and RStudio

•MATLAB

•Python

•Material flow analysis

Below you can find images of the LCPE laboratories and selected equipment used for analytical work, sample preparation, and unit operations.

Pilot plant

In September 2025, the LCPE research group commissioned the CLARIFY pilot plant, a versatile installation designed with a strong focus on flexibility, chemical resistance, and realistic process conditions. The pilot line bridges the gap between laboratory-scale experiments and industrially relevant operation, supported with in‑house engineering, laboratory assistance, and analytical capabilities.

The CLARIFY pilot plant enables pilot‑scale advanced mechanical recycling, dissolution recycling, and other innovative material‑processing routes. A wide variety of input materials can be tested. By working with sufficiently large material quantities, the installation provides essential insights into recyclability, process robustness, and product quality, helping to minimize upscaling challenges before industrial implementation.

The system allows a high degree of process configurability, including:

Multiple media cycles, including transfer from a second reactor back to the first or via buffer vessels
Stepwise or selective precipitation and purification of dissolved polymers
Flexible integration of external units such as adsorption columns or filtration modules

The pilot plant consists of two 40 L reactors tailored for diverse recycling pathways:

A glass reactor for solid input handling and high-friction environments
A Nutsch filter, combining reactor, dryer, neutralization, and solvent-recovery functions

Its chemical-resistant construction is compatible with strong acids, bases, aqueous systems, and organic solvents. Integrated features include inline heating and tracing, inert N₂ atmosphere, filtration modules, and camera-based internal monitoring. The pilot line operates up to 200°C and from atmospheric pressure down to deep vacuum.

On 29 January, the CLARIFY pilot plant was officially inaugurated during our opening event. Below, you can explore photos from the opening day.

Interested in partnering with us? We welcome collaborations to co-develop the future of sustainable recycling.
Contact: Tobias De Somer (e-mail, +32 (0) 56 32 21 94)

The pilot line was made possible through the support of Catalisti and was co-financed by the EFRO R3PACK Project, with additional support from the Province of West Flanders, POM West Flanders, and VLAIO.