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What happens to technology and its component materials when reuse, repair or refurbishment are no longer viable? Effective material recovery is an essential part of closing the loop and it is here that separation technology has an increasingly important role to play. At Circular Tech Expo 2026, Circulyzer GmbH will showcase its approach to wet-mechanical separation and washing, designed to help recover valuable materials from complex waste streams.

The Austrian company develops and builds systems for processing plastic-containing waste fractions, using centrifugal force and density differences to separate materials efficiently. Visitors will be able to meet the Circulyzer team at Circular Tech Expo, taking place at Farnborough International on 13–14 October 2026.

From research to industrial application

Circulyzer is a spin-off from Austria’s Montanuniversität Leoben, founded by Markus Bauer and Daniel Schwabl, whose backgrounds combine process engineering, environmental protection and research into post-consumer plastics processing.

That research background has been translated into a practical challenge: creating separation technology that is effective without becoming unnecessarily complex.

At the centre of the Circulyzer system is its centrifugal force separator, a cylindrical separation unit in which a water vortex is generated by flow. Unlike conventional machinery dependent on multiple rotating components within the separation chamber, Circulyzer's separation cylinder itself contains no rotating or moving parts. The company says this design is intended to support simple operation, robustness and lower maintenance requirements.

How does the Circulyzer system work?

The technology uses wet density separation.

Pre-shredded material enters the system alongside a separation medium – in its simplest form, water. The resulting vortex creates a centrifugal field in which different materials can be separated according to their density.

Depending on the specific material stream and separation requirements, Circulyzer states that other media, including brines, slurries or water-surfactant mixtures, can also be used.

This means separation and washing can take place within the same process.

The system is particularly suited to mixtures including:

* plastic and plastic
* plastic and metal
* plastic and paper

Circulyzer specifies that materials should be shredded before entering the separation process, with the appropriate particle size depending on the application.

Designed around efficiency

One of the most important questions surrounding any recycling technology is whether improved material recovery can be achieved at commercially realistic operating costs.

Circulyzer's approach has therefore been designed around more than separation performance alone.

Its separation units use automated monitoring of parameters including pressure, level and flow, alongside a controlled material feed and adjustable system configuration. Circulyzer reports a specific energy requirement of approximately 3–15 kWh per tonne of input material, although actual performance will naturally depend upon the material and process configuration.

The company also reports that its combined separation and washing technology can achieve more than 95% material purity and recovery in suitable applications, while its modular design enables the equipment to be incorporated into both new and existing recycling infrastructure.

Recovering more value from complex material streams

For the circular technology sector, the importance of solutions such as this extends beyond plastics recycling itself.

The first priority within a circular technology lifecycle should be to keep products and components in productive use wherever possible – through better asset management, repair, reuse, refurbishment and secondary markets.

Eventually, however, every product reaches a point at which further use is no longer technically or economically viable.

At that stage, circularity depends on our ability to identify, separate and recover the materials contained within increasingly complex products and waste streams.

Improving that final recovery stage can increase the quantity and quality of material available to return to manufacturing, reducing the amount of potentially valuable resource that is lost from the cycle.

It is this complete lifecycle – from extending the useful life of technology through to responsible end-of-life material recovery – that forms an important part of the wider conversation at Circular Tech Expo.

Meet Circulyzer at Circular Tech Expo

Circulyzer will be exhibiting at Circular Tech Expo 2026, giving visitors the opportunity to explore its separation and washing technology and speak directly with the team about potential applications.

Circular Tech Expo takes place on 13–14 October 2026 at Farnborough International, bringing together organisations from across IT asset management, ITAD, reuse and refurbishment, recycling, enterprise technology, data centres and the wider circular technology ecosystem.

Register to attend and discover the technologies, expertise and partnerships helping organisations extract greater value from technology and its materials throughout the lifecycle.