Collaboration between
Refrigerators have a long lifespan. To ensure energy efficiency and as little CO2 emissions as possible, manufacturers of almost all appliances all around the world rely on the insulation performance of polyurethane. PUR is an energy saver during its service life. But what happens at the end of the life cycle when the refrigerators and thus the PUR rigid foam have done their job?
After disposal, as prescribed by the EU in Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the rigid foam ends up as regrind, which up until now has mainly been used for energy purposes. According to PlasticsEurope, this process recovers about 30 per cent of the energy used in the production of PUR, but the carbon is not retained in the material cycle. The four partners will change that by using a new chemical recycling process known as depolymerization to obtain a recycled polyol. This polyol is to be used in the production of PUR materials in order to close the material cycle.
This innovative process is particularly challenging, because it has to be very robust in order to reliably convert post-consumer waste with high levels of foreign substances into a high-quality recycled polyol. The progress made by the four partners is promising. The initial trials have already produced positive results.
To date, processes for the chemical recycling of PUR have mainly focused on industrial waste, usually from production. This industrial waste is characterized by a high degree of purity, which significantly facilitates recycling. The recycling stream originating from post-consumer waste is much more complex to handle, as it is heavily contaminated with foreign substances such as other types of plastics and metals.
For the process to make it from the lab to everyday life: Few partners, high efficiency
What works in pilot projects should ultimately be implemented on an industrial scale. Therefore, new technologies are needed, and all the players in the recycling chain – from the dismantling of the refrigerator to the use of recycled polyol in the production process – must work together efficiently. It is also important that every stage of the recycling process is assessed ecologically and economically. And this is precisely the approach taken by
First step: collection and processing of the waste material
A basic prerequisite for this recycling project is that the collection and dismantling of the old refrigerators and freezers run smoothly. This is one of the reasons why
As a machine and systems manufacturer,
Contact Information:
+49.7123.9342-0
Contact via Email
www.rampf-group.com
Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/870797
Press Release Distributed by PR.com
Copyright © 2022 PR.com and its licensors
, source