Abstract
The accumulation of automotive plastic waste poses a growing environmental threat; while recycling has the potential to address this, its use remains limited by the complexity of the materials used in vehicle components. Specifically, the presence of mixtures of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polyoxymethylene (POM) in the materials makes mechanical recycling challenging due to the difficulty of separation. To address the inefficiency of current end-of-life management, we present a systematic computational framework integrating computer-aided molecular and process design (CAMPD) with technoeconomic assessment (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) to design a solvent-based recycling process capable of producing near-virgin quality resins. This framework involves utilizing the SAFT-?? Mie equation of state to predict thermodynamic properties and employing nonlinear programming (NLP) to perform process optimization. From an evaluation of 875 solvent candidates, we identify 72 feasible solvent combinations, amongst which cymene and cyclohexanone is the most promising solvent pair to separate polyolefins selectively and dissolve POM, enabling reduced dissolution temperatures and minimized unit capital costs. TEA and LCA indicate that the proposed process is highly competitive, as all feasible designs yield a minimum selling price (MSP) below the market price of virgin polymers and achieve global warming potentials (GWP) significantly lower than those of virgin polymer production. Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of the design, showing that both economic viability and environmental competitiveness relative to virgin production are maintained, even under conservative solvent loss scenarios of up to 5%. These findings suggest that solvent-based recycling offers a commercially viable pathway to meet emerging EU circularity mandates for the automotive sector.