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Device that recycles plastic into gas |
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Global Resource Corporation (GRC), a company in the United
States, is taking recycling to another level – by turning back
plastics into the oil they were made from, and gas. GRC claims
the process requires only a finely tuned microwave that uses
1,200 different frequencies within the microwave range, to act
on specific hydrocarbon materials and a mix of materials made
from oil to reduce the product back into oil, a fuel gas and
some residues.
As the material is microwaved at the appropriate wavelength,
part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber
in the material are broken down into diesel oil and
combustible gas. GRC’s machine is called the Hawk-10. Its
smaller incarnations look just like an industrial microwave
with bits of machinery attached to it. Larger versions
resemble a concrete mixer.
“Running 9.1 kg of ground-up tyres through the Hawk-10
produces 4.54 litres of diesel oil, 1.42 cubic metres of
combustible gas, 1 kg of steel and 3.40 kg of carbon black,”
said Mr. Jerry Meddick, GRC’s Business Development Director.
Contact: Mr. Frank Pringle, President, Global Resource
Corporation, Bloomfield Business Park, 408 Bloomfield Dr. Unit
3, West Berlin, NJ 08091, United States of America. Tel: +1
(856) 767 5661
E-mail:
FPringle@GlobalResourceCorp.com
Source:
www.environment.newscientist.com |
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Separation of multi-component polymeric materials
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Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc., the United States, has patented
a new method of separating one or more polymers from a waste
stream of mixed polymers. The method includes adjusting the
temperature of the mixture, either by heating or cooling, to
bring the temperature to a point at which unravelling of the
polymer mixture occurs. Mechanical processes, such as
grinding, are also used before, during or after temperature
adjustment to fracture and separate at least one polymer from
the mixture.
The prescribed temperature range may be determined, for
example, by differences in the glass transition temperature
between polymeric components and / or the temperature at which
adhesion is lost between various components. Separation of a
polymeric component is possible using conventional separation
techniques by fracturing that component to the extent that its
size and / or geometry is altered, or by causing delamination
or any loss of adhesion between the components, based on
differences in their physical properties or geometries. For
instance, the polymeric component with the higher glass
transition temperature can be ground to powder form while the
polymeric component with the lower glass transition
temperature remains fibrous even when ground. Thus the polymer
can be separated from the remainder of the waste stream using
screening, fluidized beds or any other suitable separation
technique, which separates particles by size, geometry or by
leveraging physical property differences.
The invention is particularly suitable for separating mixed
polymer waste streams from such processes as stretch-bond
laminating processes and vertical filament laminating
processes, and from waste streams resulting from the
manufacture of a variety of materials, such as non-woven
fabric made with multiple component polymeric strands. The
method can separate polypropylene, polyethylene, and / or
linear low-density polyethylene, for example, from such waste
streams.
Source:
www.freepatentsonline.com |
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A possible way to recycle Nylon-6 |
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Nylon-6 – an artificial polymer used in carpets, clothing and
car parts – is made by chemically linking large numbers of
molecules derived from a petroleum product called caprolactam.
Current processes to break apart (depolymerize) Nylon-6
typically need high temperatures and high pressures. The
processes are also relatively inefficient, says Mr. Akio
Kamimura, an organic chemist at the Yamaguchi University in
Ube, Japan. Incinerating the polymers in mixed trash can
create prodigious amounts of toxic compounds. Therefore,
Nylon-6 normally ends up in landfills.
Mr. Kamimura and his colleague Mr. Shigehiro Yamamoto have
developed a bench-scale process that depolymerizes Nylon-6 and
regenerates caprolactam. The chemists placed chips of Nylon-6
and small quanti-ties of a catalyst in various ionic liquids
(consisting solely of positively and negatively charged ions).
At 270ºC, the depolymerization reaction was inefficient, and
the team could recover only 7 per cent of the caprolactam
contained in the chips. At temperatures above 330ºC, the
reaction was more efficient, but only 55 per cent of the
caprolactam was recovered, as some of the substance decomposed
in the heat.
At the intermediate temperature of 300ºC the caprolactam yield
neared 86 per cent, says Mr. Kamimura. More importantly, at
that temperature the ionic liquid did not become tainted with
reaction by-products. The researchers were able to reuse their
ionic liquid five times without notable drops in caprolactam
yield.
Source:
www.sciencenews.org |
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Method for recycling articles based on vinyl
polymer |
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Solvay S.A., Belgium, has secured a United States patent on a
process for recycling an article based on at least one vinyl
chloride / vinylidene chloride polymer. The process
essentially has the following steps:
- The article is reduced to fragments with a mean size of
2 cm to 30 cm;
- The fragments are placed in a rotary drum and brought
into contact with an azeotropic or quasi-azeotropic mixture
of water and a solvent (methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl
ketone or tetrahydrofuran) capable of dissolving the
polymer, at a temperature of at least 120ºC and a pressure
of 4-10 bar;
- The polymer dissolved in the solvent is precipitated by
a reduction in pressure and by injection of steam into the
solution obtained, which also results in the entrainment of
the solvent-water azeotrope and thus leaves a mixture that
is essentially composed of water and solid polymer
particles; and
- The polymer particles are collected through filtration,
and the liquid fraction is recycled.
Source:
www.freepatentsonline.com |
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Plastics waste recycling machines |
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Energy Co. Ltd., Japan, offers a 3-in-1 machine for recycling
plastics waste. The machine combines in one unit a shredder,
an extruder and a pelletizer. It comes in four models
differing in processing capacities. The machine can process
wastes of HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS, ABS and EVA. The output capacity
ranges from 380 kg to 700 kg.
The shredder has a 2 hp conveyor of size 3,500 mm length and
650 mm width. It has 12 rotary cutters and 16 stationary
cutters. The extruder has an L/D ratio of 32:1 and is powered
by motors of 125 hp to 200 hp.
Contact: Energy Co. Ltd., Sky-Building 5b, 6-89-1 Onoecho
Naka-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan 231-0015. Tel: +81 (45) 640
0025; Fax: +81 (45) 641 7884.
Source:
www.alibaba.com |
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Shredder for bulky plastic containers |
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WEIMA America, the United States, has developed a new version
of the WLK 12 single-shaft shredder for the size reduction of
bulky plastic containers and parts with thin walls like totes,
barrels, drums, tanks, etc. The machine has a compact design
and includes a new press-down device that enables the customer
to shred even the largest size totes without the need to
pre-cut.
Whole pieces are directly loaded into the front of the
machine. In the cutting chamber, the press-down device pushes
the material down, and the horizontal ram pushes the material
into the rotor. Both pressing actions are controlled by
sophisticated electronic controls that optimize the pressure
applied to the rotor. The shredded material is will pass
through the screen (20-100 mm) mounted under the rotor.
The machine can handle intermediate bulk containers and other
large totes along with materials in sizes up to 1 m x 1 m x 1
m. WLK 12 is equipped with a 50 hp / 60 hp motor to achieve
capacities of 600-1,000 kg/hour.
Contact: WEIMA America Inc., 3678 Centre Circle, Fort Mill,
South Carolina, SC 29715, United States of America. Tel: +1 +1
(803) 802 7170; Fax: +1 (803) 802 7098
E-mail:
info@weimaamerica.com
Source:
www.weimaamerica.com |
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Scrap tyre recycling system |
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T. C. Chang Trading Co., Taiwan, offers a machine for
recycling scrap tyres. The machine has a processing capacity
of 800-2,000 kg/h of tyres, depending on the tyre type, with a
maximum size of 1,200 mm x 385 mm). It produces crumb rubber
of size below 6 mm. The weight of nylon that remains in the
crumb rubber is about 0.2 per cent for steel truck tyres and
0.5 per cent for car tyres. The machine outputs 150 to 500
kg/h of steel wire, and 20 to 500 kg/h of nylon and other
materials.
Contact: T. C. Chang Trading Co. Ltd., No. 5-1, Lane 44, I-Sou
Street, Taipei City, Taiwan, TW 104. Tel: +886 (2) 2591 1133;
Fax: +886 (2) 2593 1166.
Source:
www.alibaba.com |
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