Symposium Details
For a comprehensive overview of event schedules and program details, please consult
the official Symposium Program.
Registration
The registration fee is $180 per person. When registering, please provide your name
along with the names of any additional attendees in your group.
Travel
October is peak travel season in Michigan's Upper Peninsula due to fall foliage. We
strongly recommend booking airfare and lodging as early as possible.
- Local airport: Houghton County Memorial Airport (CMX).
- Alternative airports:
- Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (MQT).
- Ford Airport-Iron Mountain/Kingsford (IMT).
Both are approximately 2 hours away from Houghton.
- Driving: May be convenient option for some attendees; free parking will be available
at the conference venue.
Location and Lodging
The Symposium on Solvent-Based Plastic Recycling Technologies will be hosted at Michigan
Tech in scenic Houghton, Michigan, located along the picturesque Portage Lake near
Lake Superior. Our conference sessions will be held at the Alumni Center (ATDC), Ford
Conference Room 101.
Michigan Tech is rooted in a strong tradition of hands-on education and boasts a broad
alumni base across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and all around the world. The surrounding
Keweenaw Peninsula offers a variety of lodging options —from well-known hotel chains to cozy local cabins and vacation rentals. Lodging
fills up quickly during peak times, so we encourage you to book early to secure your
stay!
Tentative Schedule
Day 1 - Thursday, October 29, 2026
| Time |
Event |
| 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. |
Registration and Gather |
| 9:00 - 9:30 a.m. |
Welcome and Greetings |
| 9:30 - 10:00 a.m. |
Opening Remarks
- George Huber, University of Wisconsin-Madison: The Inception of STRAP
- Magdi Azer, Chief Technology Officer, REMADE Institute: REMADE's Role in Plastic Recycling
|
| 10:00 - 10:30 a.m. |
Plenary, Chaired by Ezra Bar-Ziv
- Jan-Georg Rosenboom, MacroCycle, Solvent-Based Plastic Recycling: From the Lab to
Market Deployment, Symposium Plenary
|
| 10:30 - 10:45 a.m. |
Coffee Break
|
| 10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. |
Solvents for Plastic Recycling, Chaired by George Huber
- Reid Van Lehn, University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Theory Behind Solvent-Based Technologies
for Plastic Recycling, Topical Plenary
- Katrina Knauer, National Laboratory of the Rockies, Bio-Based Solvents for Dissolution-Based
Plastic Recycling: Opportunities, Challenges, and Sustainability Impacts, Topical
Plenary
- Victor Zavala, University of Wisconsin-Madison, AI/ML Techniques for Solvent-Based
Separations
- Jason Bara, The University of Alabama, Green Solvents Applied to PVC Waste: Simultaneous
Additive Removal and Molecular Weight Fractionation as a Gateway to Chemical Upcycling
|
| 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. |
Lunch |
| 1:30 - 2:15 p.m. |
Feedstock and Pre-Processing, Chaired by Wei Wei
- Jordan Klinger, Idaho National Labs, Feedstock Pre-Processing
- Lily Callen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mechanical Fractionation Pretreatment
for Polymer Recovery from MSW
|
| 2:15 - 3:45 p.m. |
Scaling Up, Chaired by Ellen Lee
- Fei Long, Michigan Tech, From Laboratory Research to Pilot-Scale Deployment: Advancing
STRAP for Circular Plastics Manufacturing, Topical Plenary
- Zach Wagner, Michigan Tech, Fast Dissolution for Up-Scale in STRAP
- Faith Gaertner, Michigan Tech, Filtration and Precipitation in STRAP
- Rebecca G. Ong, Michigan Tech, Scale-up of Ammonia-Based Deconstruction to Enable
Media-Free Biological Upcycling of Waste Plastics, Multilayered Materials, and Textiles
|
| 3:45 - 4:00 p.m. |
Coffee Break |
| 4:00 - 6:30 p.m. |
Tour of the STRAP Pilot System at the APS Lab |
| 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. |
Dinner |
Day 2 - Friday, October 30, 2026
| Time |
Event |
| 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. |
Gathering |
| 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. |
Recycling of Multi-Layer Films, Chaired by Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López
- Brent Martin, Amcor, The Potential Use of Solvent-Based Technologies for Plastic Recycling
in the Packaging Industry
- Tushar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Recycling of Single-Use Multilayer Plastics
for Biomanufacturing with Solvent-Targeted Recovery and Precipitation
- Paschalis Alexandridis, University at Buffalo, Delamination Recycling of Multilayer
Plastic Films: Solvent-assisted Separation and Recovery of Intact Solid Polyolefins
|
| 10:00 - 10:30 a.m. |
Coffee Break
|
| 10:30 am - 12:00 p.m. |
Process Analysis, TEA, LCA, Chaired by Victor Zavala
- Styliana Avraamidou, University of Wisconsin-Madison, A Process‑Modeling Platform
for STRAP: TEA, LCA, and System Integration, Topical Plenary
- Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López, University at Buffalo, Systems Engineering Approaches
for Sustainable Plastic Management
- Vinh Nguyen, Michigan Tech, AI Agent-Enabled Digital Twin for STRAP Process Control
- Elizaveta Radkevich, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Review of Solvent-Based Processes
and Current State of the Field
|
| 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. |
Lunch
|
| 1:00-2:00 p.m. |
Polyolefins Recycling, Chaired by Paschalis Alexandridis
- Ellen Lee, Ford Motor Company, Automotive Industry Needs for Plastics Recycling
- Marina Tsianou, University at Buffalo, Dissolution-Precipitation Separation of Polyolefins
for Plastics Recycling Applications
- Armando G. McDonald, University of Idaho, Polyolefin Recovery from Municipal Solid
Waste by Solvent Extraction
|
| 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. |
Decontamination and Characterization, Chaired by Fei Long
- Wei Wei, Michigan Tech, Integrated Characterization of Solvent-Recovered Polymer Streams
from STRAP Processing
- Bassam Abdelghani, Michigan Tech, On-Line Characterization of Plastic Wastes
- Yucheng Peng, Auburn University, Reclaiming Polyethylene from a Multilayer Plastic
Packaging Structure for Property Characterization
- Varsha Mahendran, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Getters: A Novel Approach to Recycle
High-Quality Polypropylene from Single-Use Technology (SUT) Waste Streams
|
| 3:30 - 4:00 p.m. |
Summary and Adjourn |
