{"id":12445,"date":"2026-05-11T14:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/rp\/lft-recyclate\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T16:23:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:23:37","slug":"lft-recyclate","status":"publish","type":"cpt_ikv_rp","link":"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/en\/rp\/lft-recyclate\/","title":{"rendered":"LFT recyclate"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n    #single-header-block_f6b03712c3d5fe0ff6f20ccdf2102ffa .swiperThumbsNavi .swiper-slide {\n        opacity: 0.4;\n    }\n\n    #single-header-block_f6b03712c3d5fe0ff6f20ccdf2102ffa .swiperThumbsNavi .swiper-slide-thumb-active {\n        opacity: 1;\n    }\n<\/style>\n    <section id=\"single-header-block_f6b03712c3d5fe0ff6f20ccdf2102ffa\" class=\"block-single-header theGridWrapper \">\n        <div class=\"theGrid12\">\n            <div class=\" col-start-2 col-span-10 md:col-start-3  md:col-span-8\">\n                <h2 class=\"font-serif font-semibold text-blue text-sm w-4\/5\">\n                    Combination of LFT with post-consumer and post-industrial recyclates                <\/h2>\n                                    <div class=\"mt-base text-blue text-sm font border-l-8  border-blue pl-base my-12 leading-normal \">\n                        For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project &#8220;LFT Recycling&#8221; addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. Furthermore, it can be inferred that during shredding, suitable classification enables removal of fine, heavily damaged fractions from the cycle to enhance material quality.                    <\/div>\n                                            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n\n\n<figure class=\" relative flex flex-col gap-2xs mb-xs md:mb-l xl:mb-xl\"><img decoding=\"async\"  class=\" w-full  \"  src=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/22995N.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/22995N-748x499.jpg 748w, https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/22995N-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/22995N-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"22995N\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><span class=\" text-copyright order-3 justify-end text-right w-full  w-full \">&copy; IKV<\/span><figcaption class=\" w-full  text-figcaption justify-end text-right \">Fig. 1: Processing and recycling chain for LFT recyclate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the material aspects, a life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluated the ecological potential of various process routes. The comparison between conventional processes and novel material cycles incorporating 25\u00a0% recyclate content reveals substantial savings potential (Fig.\u00a01). In the case of recycling, the elimination of energy recovery at end-of-life contributes particularly to marked improvements. Overall, the research demonstrates that LFT recyclates represent a sustainable alternative to virgin material. Challenges remain, however, in ensuring consistent material quality, process stability at high recyclate contents, and processing of contaminated post-consumer streams. The findings offer specific approaches for systematically addressing these challenges in future projects. The use of fibre-length-preserving processing technologies and the combination of recyclates with recycled UD tapes offer promising development directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Project data and funding<\/summary>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We would like to thank the BMWE for funding the IGF project (funding code 22995 N) and the project partners for their cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Project duration: 01.11.2023 &#8211; 31.10.2025<\/p>\n\n\n<section id=\"logo-bar-block_152ea151fb0c30a4c2c9d4623aa2e2a3\" class=\"block-logo-bar py-2xl  clear-both\">\n    <div class=\"theGridWrapper overflow-hidden  \">\n        <div class=\"grid grid-cols-[repeat(auto-fill,minmax(140px,1fr))] gap-base\">\n                            <figure class=\" relative h-full  \"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"low\"  class=\" object-contain w-full h-full mb-base  \"  src=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BMWE-Logo.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BMWE-Logo.png 500w, https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BMWE-Logo-335x335.png 335w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" alt=\"BMWE-Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>                                <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/details>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), there are currently no established recycling routes to maintain the fiber length during recycling. At IKV, the &#8220;LFT Recycling&#8221; project was dedicated to the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled and how recyclates can be reused in high quality. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a processing chain was implemented on a pilot plant scale, consisting of plasticization, extrusion, component production, mechanical comminution and reprocessing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12417,"parent":0,"template":"","tags":[879,845,1539,874],"research_fields":[840,809,817],"class_list":["post-12445","cpt_ikv_rp","type-cpt_ikv_rp","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-circular-economy","tag-long-fiber-reinforced-thermoplastics","tag-post-consumer-recyclate","tag-recycling-en","research_fields-circular-economy","research_fields-fiber-reinforced-plastics","research_fields-materials-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>LFT recyclate | IKV-Aachen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project &quot;LFT Recycling&quot; addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. Furthermore, it can be inferred that during shredding, suitable classification enables removal of fine, heavily damaged fractions from the cycle to enhance material quality.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/en\/rp\/lft-recyclate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LFT recyclate | IKV-Aachen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project &quot;LFT Recycling&quot; addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. Furthermore, it can be inferred that during shredding, suitable classification enables removal of fine, heavily damaged fractions from the cycle to enhance material quality.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/en\/rp\/lft-recyclate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IKV-Aachen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=523026911193540&amp;_rdr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-12T14:23:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/22995N.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/\",\"name\":\"LFT recyclate | IKV-Aachen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22995N.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T12:32:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-12T14:23:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project \\\"LFT Recycling\\\" addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. Furthermore, it can be inferred that during shredding, suitable classification enables removal of fine, heavily damaged fractions from the cycle to enhance material quality.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22995N.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22995N.jpg\",\"width\":1800,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Fig. 1: Processing and recycling chain for LFT recyclate\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/rp\\\/lft-recyclate\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LFT recyclate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"IKV-Aachen\",\"description\":\"Forschung f\u00fcr die Praxis\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Institut f\u00fcr Kunststoffverarbeitung\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"IKV-Aachen\",\"alternateName\":\"Institut f\u00fcr Kunststoffverarbeitung (IKV)\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/ikv-ikv-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/ikv-ikv-1.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"IKV-Aachen\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ikv-aachen.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/profile.php?id=523026911193540&_rdr\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ikvaachen\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LFT recyclate | IKV-Aachen","description":"For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project \"LFT Recycling\" addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. Furthermore, it can be inferred that during shredding, suitable classification enables removal of fine, heavily damaged fractions from the cycle to enhance material quality.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ikv-aachen.de\/en\/rp\/lft-recyclate\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"LFT recyclate | IKV-Aachen","og_description":"For long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), established recycling routes that preserve fibre length are not yet available. The IKV project \"LFT Recycling\" addresses the question of how large-volume LFT components can be recycled at the material level and how high-quality recyclates can be reused. To investigate the material recyclability of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), a pilot-scale processing chain was implemented, comprising plastification, compression moulding, component production, mechanical shredding, and reprocessing. Substantial fibre damage and shortening already occur during both shredding and plastification. Screw speed proved to be a key parameter. 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