Polyamide 2000 is the name of a DM 350m nylon carpet fibre recycling project planned by the engineering group of Germany's Metallgesellschaft (mg) and German private investor Werner Poppe. mg subsidiary Lurgi Zimmer AG (Borsigallee 1, D-60388 Frankfurt) has developed the process. Slated for start-up in mid 2001 at the site of the old mamade fibres combine at Premnitz in eastern Germany, the facility will have initial capacity to reprocess 120,000 t/y of discarded carpeting into around 20,000 tpa of PA 6 and PA 6.6 granules, depending on the quality of the carpets. PA 6 will be sold to the plastics industry, PA 6.6 to manmade fibres manufacturers. Waste products will be converted into energy or used as fillers in cement manufacture.

Capacity can be tripled to 360,000 t/y, if necessary, the engineering group said. According to Lurgi Zimmer ceo Michael Strätling, the PA 6 recovered is of such high quality that it is suitable for producing high-end engineering plastics and thus will command a "relatively high price." Polyamide 2000 also will market the polymer. Financing will be provided by mg (which is taking a minority stake in the venture), along with Germany's Helaba bank. Although the project is eligible to receive state aid to eastern German industry, Poppe said he believes it could be profitable even without subsidies; disposing of carpeting wastes currently costs DEM 80-250/ t. German households discard some 500,000 t of carpeting annually, around 60% of which contains polyamide. Starting in 2005, new waste disposal laws will ban carpeting from landfills.