PTH Technika – About Us

Technical and Commercial Enterprise PTH „TECHNIKA” Ltd. is based in Gliwice and is a company with over 30 years history. The company was registered in the District Court in Katowice on August 30, 1988.

PTH Technika is one of the few Polish companies from the SME sector that has been operating in the field of recycling for many years, including the recycling of chemical power sources. At the beginning of its activity, the company was operating in processing and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The first innovative technology implemented in the company’s operations (in the area of recycling) was the technology of treatment of waste CRT glass for production of slag-generating flux. In 2011-2016, the installation operated by Technika was applied to produce about 6,000 tons of the flux used in lead melting furnaces in Legnica. This innovative solution provided possibility for simultaneous recovery of lead (the lead content in the material was about 16%) and application of other chemical components as effective slag-forming additives, resulting in reduction of energy consumption of lead-bearing material smelting by shortening of the smelting cycle. In 2012 this solution was awarded with the Silver Medal at the 61st Fair of Invention, Research and New Techniques „Brussels INNOVA 2012” and is patent protected in Poland. The flux production was carried out until 2018. The technology was sold in 2016 in order to raise funds for new activities, including support for innovative and economically developing projects of metal recycling in the field of electromobility, and specifically the recovery of valuable components from waste and scrap chemical power sources, including lithium-ion batteries.

The company successfully cooperates with leading Polish research institutes and universities (e.g. AGH University of Technology, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Center for Environmental Research at the University of Warsaw, Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal and Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals) in development and implementation of new products and technologies in the field of waste recycling. Particularly noteworthy is the cooperation with the ŁUKASIEWICZ Research Network – Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals in Gliwice, whose scientists have developed many innovative technologies into high technology readiness level, concerning recycling of chemical power sources, both zinc-carbon and alkaline cells as well as nickel-metal hydride and – importantly – lithium-ion batteries. This cooperation has been going on for many years, and since 2014 has been intensified through execution of many joint research projects, such as development of a new technology for production of commercial products from fractions resulting from the processing of zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries and others.