New Technology: Polluted Plastic Waste Is Revived Through Dissolution And Recycling
At present, innovation in recycling technology is constantly developing to solve the global problem of plastic waste. However, there is always a problem, which is the limited availability of high-quality and recyclable raw materials. As the chemical industry attempts to deal with plastic waste, pollution has become a concern, such as materials with coatings or films, or materials that have been painted, printed, or colored. Due to the inability of traditional recycling techniques to handle highly polluted raw materials, most of these materials are discarded into landfills or incinerated.
In Europe, with the introduction of new regulations for scrap disposal, such as the new scrap vehicle directive, companies must start considering how to handle complex materials. Dissolution is a new technology that can overcome these challenges.
A true cyclical process
Dissolution recycling is a physical recovery process that uses selective solvents to extract the desired polymer. The extracted polymer can be used to manufacture new recycled materials. The dissolution process is an advanced technology, through which pre - and post consumer materials containing the desired polymer can be directly placed into the solvent without any significant pretreatment. The solvent will dissolve the required substance, while all other waste remains in a solid state and can be filtered out. The extracted dissolved polymer is 100% recovered and can be used for synthesizing new materials. In addition, the remaining materials can be further processed through other recycling technologies. To achieve true circulation in this process, used solvents can also be recycled and circulated within the circulation system, which is a cost-effective approach. As mentioned above, this physical recycling technology does not require extensive pretreatment and can achieve high conversion rates. Dissolution recycling is considered a powerful technology that will play an important role in the future plastic cycle.
Polycarbonate/PC is a material with great potential for dissolution. As a versatile engineering polymer, many PC based application products are currently being buried or incinerated, such as PC and PC/ABS used in automobiles, glass filled or flame-retardant PC, and PC/ABS in consumer electronics, all of which are considered highly polluting. Now these materials can be recovered by dissolution. The resulting recycled polymer is transparent and can be used for high demand products, providing product designers with the flexibility they need and offering extended designs with recycling options.
Dissolved recycling is a technology that can be used immediately
PC dissolution technology can bring benefits to many companies as it is an embedded solution that can be easily adopted without significant investment. The resulting recycled materials have the original quality and performance, making them suitable for many applications. In addition, products made from recycled PC have a much lower carbon footprint than those made from traditional fossil based materials. This technology is a groundbreaking recycling innovation that provides a practical circular solution for dealing with scrapped products encountered in daily life.
This technology is not limited to PC: companies throughout the chemical industry are exploring this process using polystyrene, polyethylene food packaging, polypropylene, and other materials. Dissolution is a supplement to other mechanical recycling processes in order to maximize the reuse of plastic waste that would otherwise be discarded.
