Center for Interdisciplinary Plastic Research

1. Circular Economy 
2. Monitoring 
3. Effects 
4. Citizen Science 
5. Science to policy & regulation 

Center for Interdisciplinary Plastic Research participates in a number of research projects. Among these are:

MarinePlastic - National center for forskning i marin plastikforurening

MarinePlastic is an interdisciplinary center for cutting-edge research into marine plastic pollution, uniting Danish researchers across institutions (four Danish universities and the National Museum) and disciplinary expertise.

The overall mission is to utilize the acquired knowledge in the consortium by ultimately proposing societal solutions and integrate decision makers. Fulfilling the goals requires that societal development form the point of departure for future research focus and that future policy measures on the other hand learn from scientific state of the art.

RePlastic

RePlastic is an R&D project carried out by two Danish universities and 5 industrial partners with the purpose to optimize use of plastic waste reject that is not mechanically recyclable through chemical recycling using thermal pyrolysis. The project entails Technical sphere R&D, Social sphere R&D and Environmental sphere R&D as well as full scale proof-of-concept campaigns. The ambition is to tailor optimized thermochemical processing of individual waste plastic reject fractions to obtain the highest potential value – economically as well as environmentally.

CircleHealth

The overall mission for the CircleHealth project is to, over the next few years, map the flows of plastics and textiles in selected Danish hospitals to understand how we can minimize resource use, waste, and CO2 emissions while sustaining the current healthcare standards. As 6 % of the Danish greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to the healthcare sector, and there are yet-to-be-implemented organized efforts on circular public procurement, design criteria, etc. there is immense potential for a national sustainable impact. With partners representing every step of the entire value chain, we consider everything from the design of products, use patterns, and procurement practice to better utilization of end-of-life materials. The goal for CircleHealth is to work as close to and with the people at the hospitals as possible so that the solutions we find will be meaningful and implementable right away.

Find additional projects at the Roskilde University Research Portal

Contact

Kristian Syberg, associate professor, ksyberg@ruc.dk
 

Researchers

From Roskilde University

Researchers at Center for Interdisciplinary Plastic Research
 

External collaborators 

National: 

Technical University of Denmark - DTU: Steffen Foss Hansen, Maria Bille Nielsen & Nanna Hartmann 
Aalborg University - AAU: Jes Vollertsen & Louise Møller Haase 
Aarhus University - AU: Susanne Pedersen & Jakob Strand 
University of Southern Denmark - SDU: Morten Birkved, Ciprian Cimpman, Lykke Margot Ricard 
Royal Danish Academy - DKA: Else Skjold

International: 

Dalhousie University: Tony Walker 
University of Gothenburg: Bethanie Carney Almroth 
NORCE: Farhan Khan
Toronto University: Chelsea Rochman 
KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Sofia Lingegaard 
NTTU: Martin Wagner 
Massey University: Trisia Farrely 
AWI: Melanie Bergmann
Plymouth University: Richard Thompson 
University of Georgia: Jenna Jambeck 
Food Packing Forum: Jane Muncke

The Environmental Dynamics Section is equipped with modern analytical facilities, as well as with facilities for growing plants and algae and assessing their physiological status. The latter include:

• Photobioreactors (PBRs) for the production of microalgae
  The PBRs include two bubble-column PBRs, each of 50 L, and two tubular PBRs, each of 250 L.
• Equipment for PAM fluorometry
  This equipment include a basic Hansatech FMS-1, as well as a Walz Image-Pam and a Walz Microscopy-PAM.
• IRGAs
  We have two infrared gas analyzers, a CIRAS-3 single channel system for absolute measurement and a CIRAS-3 dual channel system for differential measurements.
• Field spectroradiometer
  For field as well as laboratory measurements of plant and vegetation light reflection, we have an ASD FieldSpec spectroradiometer.

Other facilities

FTIR Spectrometer Frontier (Perkin Elmer)

• Infrared laser used to quickly and definitively test wavelengths of compound materials, such as plastic.
• Can test macro and micro plastic samples

Cryomill (Cryogenic Mixer Mill CryoMill, Retsch GmbH, Germany)

• laboratory ball mill with cooling system that results in high grinding efficiency for multiple sample types, including plastic.
• creates uniform, small particle sized samples

SEM

• can provide detailed high-resolution images of various sample types

UFO (explicit: AAU design)

• created by Jes Vollertsen,  Lasse Rasmussen, Lemvig Vand, the Laboratory for Microplastics and Linda Männisalu
• universal filtering objects: able to filter and identify microplastics and fibres in surface water through a triple filtering system.

The workshops at the Department of Science and Environment design and develop advanced equipment for use in teaching and research, in close collaboration with staff and students. The workshops have many facilities and have both manual and CNC-controlled machines, as well as advanced equipment for electronics development.

Visit the workshop's website