Recycling Banknote Fibres – Again and Again (and Again…)

One of the highlights of the Currency Technology Symposium was the tour of Louisenthal’s paper mill and features production centre just south of Munich, and in particular the chance to see its award- winning Banknote Fiber Extraction (BFE) system in action.

The BFE was first launched in 2023, at the previous Currency Technology Symposium, and last year G+D announced the successful first real-life test case of converting fibres from old banknotes into high quality cardboard at an industrial scale. Last month, it won the award for Best Environmental Project at the HSP Latin America conference in Brazil.

As previously noted, G+D’s BFE decomposes paper banknotes, regardless of the format – whether it’s an entire banknote, only a part of it or shreds, right down to the fibres, unlike conventional banknote destruction techniques, which only shred the banknotes.

The mechanical technique for the BFE, which uses no water or chemicals but pure physics, decomposes the material using pressure shear stress, pressure changes and air turbulence/microturbulence. The solution offers the same throughput rates as G+D’s banknote destruction systems – starting from less than 100kg/h to almost unlimited volumes with the combination of multiple systems.