RECYCLING OF FIBERS, PLASTICS AND COMPOSITES State of the art Bob Vander Beke
content 1. Generalities about polymeric materials and polymeric waste treatments 2. Mechanical recycling 3. Converting recycled materials into products 4. Feedstock recycling 5. Recycling of composites 6. Certification of products with recycled content
1. GENERALITIES ABOUT POLYMERIC MATERIALS AND POLYMERIC WASTE TREATMENTS.
polymers and polymeric products Polymers are large molecules composed of many repeated units, known as monomers. Because of their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life. Polymers are interessant materials: cheap, easy to be shaped, lightweight, non corrosif, strong (after stretching of polymeric chains, easy to functionalise, some of them can be cured in 3Dnetworks
market of polymeric materials Worldwide production 2011: 280.000.000 ton 65% thermoplastics 13% textile fibers 4% PUR-foams 2% composites (> 90% GFRP) Resins for thermosets, glues, coatings, paints,
market share of different polymers PO: 48% PP: 19% PE-LD / PE-LLD: 17% PE-HD: 12% PVC: 11% PS / PS-E: 7,5% PUR: 7% PET: 6,5% Others: PA, ABS, SAN, PMMA, : 20% Engineering plastics (PA, PEEK, PEI,..;) showed the highest growth rate
applications of plastics
life cycle of plastics
different waste options
evolution of legislative measures
European legislations 2008/98/EC: waste framework directive 91/689/EEC: hazardous waste directives 99/31/EC: landfill directive 94/62/EC: packaging and packaging waste directive 2000/1907/EC: directive of the incineration of waste 2006/1907/EC: Reach guidance on waste and recovered substances 2002/96/EC: Waste Electrical and electronic equiment directive (WEEE) 2000/53/EC: end of life vehicles (ELV) 2005/32/EC: ecodesign directive 2002/72/EC: plastics intended to come in contact with food directive 2006/1013/EC: regulation on shipments of waste
analysis of post consumer waste (EU27) In 2011 +/- 25.000.000 ton of post consumer - & post industrial polymeric waste was collected in Europe. 90% of the waste can be classified as thermoplastics 55% of the polymeric waste is PO-based (PE and PP) 70% is packaging (bottles, flacons, wrapping film, bags, ) 40% is disposed (disposal / landfill) 60% is recovered 42% energy recovery (as complementary fuel in power plants and cement kilns) 18% recycling
In Flanders: Collection: 150 kg/pp municipal waste 14% plastics 30kg/pp bulky waste (container-park): 43% furniture, 20% wood, 9%matrasses, 7%plastics, 6% carpets and textiles, 5% construction and demolition) Waste treatment 5% disposal / landfill 65% energy recovery 30% recycling (short living beverage bottles)
gebruik van recyclaat t.o.v. virgin polymeer
aantal patents recycling processes and products 35 30 aantal toegekende "recyclage" octrooien per jaar en polymeertype 25 20 15 10 5 PO PET PUR PVC 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 jaar
recycling and recovery of polymeric waste
importance of disposal / recycling / recovery
2. MECHANICAL RECYCLING
mixed polymeric waste streams Different products: - Composition - Forms - Colors - Pollution dirt
mechanical recycling of polymeric waste
State of the art concerning mechanical recycling of thermoplastics collection and preparation processes size reduction: transformation of waste products in recycled materials such as fibers, granulates, flakes, powders, micronised powders, identification and detection, separation and sorting cleaning, compounding,
size reduction by cutting, shredding, fraying, milling, grinding, micronisation, techniques Fiber cutting Fraying (effilochage) powdering
separation techniques based on density differences Mixed waste streams are treated with Cyclone technology (air flow) Flotation (density liquids)
separation by density differences
separation of substrates (Cu, glass, PET, ) and plasticized PVC by selective dissolution
identification of waste streams RFID on waste containers Sorted by color of PET-bottles detection and sorting technology
detection techniques (can be combined with sorting machines) Hyper spectral analysis non wanted detected particles are eliminated by oriented pneumatic air flow Near infrared (NIR) analysis
cleaning technologies washing solvent extraction extraction with SC-liquids extraction with ionic liquids chemical treatments enzymatic treatments Purification - deodorising decolourisation of waste streams Elimination of non wanted components, pollutants
cleaning of plastic bottles B2B B2F
Extraction of colours by super critical CO2
blending and compouding of recycled material Upgrading & homogenisation recycled polymeric materials
use of compatibilizers Waste treatments of mixed non compatible polymers
standards recycling & recyclates BS/EN 15342:2007: characterisation of PS recyclates BS/EN 15343: plastics recycling tracebility and assessment of conformity and recycled content BS/EN 15344: characterisation of PE recyclates BS/EN 15345: characterisation of PP recyclates BS/EN 15346: characterisation of PVC recyclates BS/EN 15347: characterisation of plastic waste BS/EN 15348: characterisation of PET recyclates 2nd workdocument JRC/IPTS (mai 2012) EOW criteria for polymeric waste
3. CONVERTING RECYCLED POLYMERIC MATERIALS INTO PRODUCTS
Converting recycled materials in products converting techniques and processes for recycled polymeric materials: with and without melting of polymeric material, glueing and welding techniques, surface treatments
3.1. melting technologies
Rotation molding classical converting techniques Injection molding extrusion calandering
Blowmolding Spunlaid nonwovens Thermoforming Pultrusion
Additive manufacturing with recycled polymers (filaments of powders)
use of crosslinking agents upgrading the properties of recycled product thermoplastics becomes thermosets
hotmelt glue applications Hotmelt gun Different hotmelt products Hotmelt coating line
powdercoating After electrostatic application of the powder onto the substrate, the coating must heated up (melted / cured ) to become a film
fibroline technology After application of the powders into the substrate the powders are melted and glues the fibers of non woven together
3.2. non melting techniques Spinning recycled fibers around filaments Flocking substrates with recycled fibers
nonwoven technologies using recycled fibers Air lay (long fibers) Needle punch
wet laid nonwovens Paper technology
(micro)powders in liquids and pastes Dispersing polymeric (micro)powders / particles in latices, resins, paints, coatings,
3.3. surface treaments - coating technologies
3.4. glueing & welding recycled materials Glueing PUR-foam particles Thermal Laser
4. FEEDSTOCK RECYCLING
State of the art feedstock recycling techniques
depolymerisation of (condensation) polymers
PA-recycling
thermal feedstock recycling (catalytic) hydrogenetion gasification (catalytic) pyrolysis (catalytic) cracking Gas, fluids and solids
plastics to fuel
energy recovery of polymeric waste
heat content of materials
5. RECYCLING OF COMPOSITES
composite market Total market 2011: Composite materials: 19,6 billion $ End use composite products: 55,6 billion $ Applications 16% 22% 9% 17% 18% 15% 3% tranportation marine aerospace pipe & tank construction wind energy consumer goods consumer goods wind energy construction pipe & tank aerospace marine tranportation 4 7 3,6 10 14 Composite penetration (%) compared to competing materials (metals) Construction and automotive are seen as emerging markets for CFRP- Composites. (annual growth rate min.15%) 38 68
reinforcement fiber market glass carbon aramide natural 4% 3% 4% In tons 89% Fiber volume content 10-60% 80% thermosets CFRP is growing faster than GFRP NFRP are well used in non structural Automotive-parts Thermoplastics are growing faster, They are more appropriate for high volume production. Composites are compared to classical plastics mostly long living products. The composite waste volumes are much smaller, but important enough to find adequate solutions. Reliable figures for waste composite material waste are not available, but it has been reported that an estimated 3.000 tons of CFRP and 50.000 ton of GFRP scrap is generated annually in Europe and USA.
CF-market Expansion of CF-production Collaboration between CF-producers and industrie (Airbus, Boeing, Mercedes, BMW, VW, ) 95% of CF are used in CRP (carbon reinforced plastic)
composite recycling
recycling of composites
Carbon fiber recovery from CFRP-scrap
pyrolysis of windmill wings
solvolysis of composites
compounding recycled polymeric waste with (recycled) fibers of fillers
Applications of recycled composite fibers New FRP Reinforcement of other materials: bitumen, concrete, ceramics, rubber, R-CF as functional additive in plastic compounds: conduction, antistatics, EMI-shielding, (used in electronic devices and chip carriers)
6. CERTIFICATION OF PRODUCTS WITH RECYCLED CONTENT
Certification of products with recycled content Polymeric waste can be an interesting an durable material source. There are no chemical or physical techniques to indicate differences between virgin and recycled materials in a product Certification of companies using recycled materials can make bring added value to the market To give confidence, certification has to be done by an independent third party. QA-CER is an certification system based on the ISO 9001and EN 15343 standards to guarantee the quality of the products with recycled content
Quality Assurance of Content and Eco-data of Recycled materials in Polymeric Products Certification system based on ISO 9001 + specific requirement concerning R-content 3 levels: QA-CER 1, 2 and 3 Level 2: audit + product Q-control Level 3: level 2 + product controls on specific ecodata QA-CER is the certification set up by BQA Centexbel Flanders Plastic Vision
Level 1 (bronze) A documented QA-system (cfr. ISO 9001) Specific requirements concerning: Controls on incoming recycled materials Batch registration and traceability
Level 2 (silver) Level 1 + Periodic sample checks of product conformity with datafiles Technical controls of end products with recycled content
Level 3 (gold) Level 1 + level 2 + Product controls on eco -parameters like absence of toxic components or non wanted components for specific applications
Thanks for your attention!!