Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid 28-02-2022 - Arhive

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Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

-Tomra signs deal for PET sorting system in Middle East

Sorting technology firm to supply BariQ in Egypt.

The Tomra Recycling business unit of Norway-based Tomra Group says it has been selected to supply bottle-to-bottle sorting and recycling to what it calls the largest rPET (recycled-content polyethylene terephthalate) producer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Tomra says it will be working with BariQ for Techno and Advanced Industries after signing on to build a new PET bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Giza Governorate, Egypt, which will feature “the latest plastic sorting systems from Tomra Recycling.”

In mid-February, BariQ welcomed ministers from the Egyptian government, ambassadors, brand owners, equipment providers and local and foreign financial institutes to its expansion ceremony to officially announce and celebrate the construction of a new bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Giza Governorate.

The event revealed the new plant’s design to produce more than 38,600 tons of food-grade rPET annually, which will have the potential to eliminate some 88,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

The new facility will complement a sorting plant that has been fully operational since 2010 and features four of Tomra’s sensor-based sorting systems that process more than 3.3 tons of PET bottles per hour. To date, the company produces some 16,500 tons annually of food-grade rPET that is compliant with the standards set by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration), Health Canada and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals), says Tomra.

Recycled-Plastic - Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

-Recycled Plastic: Important Things To Know

With less than 10 percent of the plastic used across the world recycled, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), here are five things to know about recycling techniques and how they are evolving.

Mechanical Recycling

Sorting, shredding and heating are the three stages of mechanical recycling employed in 99 percent of operations worldwide, France’s IFP Energies Nouvelles institute says.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

After collection and sorting into polymer groups by optical equipment or flotation systems, the plastics are washed and crushed into granulated material. They are then melted down and can be re-used.

The technique does not remove additives, such as colouring, making recycled plastic packaging unsuitable for food. Bin bags are fine.

As a result, manufacturers prefer cheap new plastic over the recycled version that is of lower quality and more expensive. What’s more, a large part of waste plastic from the developed world ends up being dumped abroad, NGOs say.

Today the processes are improving, particularly with PET or polyethylene terephthalate, the most common thermoplastic polymer resin. Poly-condensation allows for the recovery of degraded molecules and the removal of impurities under pressure and heat. Recycled plastic water bottles have recently made their appearance on supermarket shelves in Europe.

A Factory For Each And Every Plastic

Almost every molecule requires a particular type of factory with specialised equipment.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Out of the dozens of plastic polymers, polyethylene is the most common and is used to make shampoo bottles and plastic packaging for packs of water bottles, which are made of PET. Their tops are made of polypropylene, Marc Madec, a sustainable development specialist for France’s Polyvia Federation of Plastics and Composites, told AFP.

Recycled-Plastic - Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

-Global GDP forecasts slashed on higher crude expectations, energy instability

Economists are cutting back 2022 global GDP projections in the wake of the Russia/Ukraine war and elevated crude oil and natural gas prices. Heightened concerns on energy instability, supply chain disruptions and the potential for crippling cyber attacks – including on infrastructure – will also weigh on global economies.

The economically sensitive chemicals industry will be closely watching developments, especially around supply chain and demand destruction.

On 24 February, Oxford Economics revised its 2022 global GDP forecast lower by 0.2 percentage point to 3.8%, with the eurozone taking the biggest hit of 0.5 percentage points.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

“Russia’s actions clearly show that a prolonged period of instability, with possible large spillovers for Europe and potentially the world, is now more than a tail risk,” said Oxford economists Tatiana Orlova and Innes McFee in a research note.

“We will incorporate higher European gas, oil and food prices over the medium term in our baseline, as well as more financial market disruption and tougher EU and US sanctions on Russia,” they added.

US GDP GROWTH TO SLOW

ICIS senior economist Kevin Swift now expects US GDP growth to slow from 5.7% in 2021 to 3.5% in 2022 – down 0.2 percentage point from his prior forecast – and to a 2.4% gain in 2023.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Recycled-Plastic - Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

-Are microbes the future of recycling? It’s complicated.

An enzyme-based recycling technology is poised to go commercial, but questions about cost and scalability linger.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

This story was originally published by Undark Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Since the first factories began manufacturing polyester from petroleum in the 1950s, humans have produced an estimated 9.1 billion tons of plastic.

Of the waste generated from that plastic, less than a tenth of that has been recycled, researchers estimate. About 12 percent has been incinerated, releasing dioxins and other carcinogens into the air. Most of the rest, a mass equivalent to about 35 million blue whales, has accumulated in landfills and in the natural environment. Plastic inhabits the oceans, building up in the guts of seagulls and great white sharks. It rains down, in tiny flecks, on cities and national parks. According to some research, from production to disposal, it is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the aviation industry.

This pollution problem is made worse, experts say, by the fact that even the small share of plastic that does get recycled is destined to end up, sooner or later, in the trash heap. Conventional, thermomechanical recycling — in which old containers are ground into flakes, washed, melted down, and then reformed into new products — inevitably yields products that are more brittle, and less durable, than the starting material. At best, material from a plastic bottle might be recycled this way about three times before it becomes unusable. More likely, it will be “downcycled” into lower value materials like clothing and carpeting—materials that will eventually be disposed of in landfills.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Recycled-Plastic - Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

-Chemical Recycling Process Breaks Down Polycarbonate in 20 Minutes at Room Temperature

The process is scalable and could be economically competitive with mechanical recycling, according to the researchers.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Addressing the need to create robust feedstocks of post-use plastics, researchers at the UK’s University of Bath have developed a rapid chemical recycling process that breaks down polycarbonates within 20 minutes at room temperature.

The process uses a zinc-based catalyst and methanol to break down commercial poly(bisphenol A carbonate) beads completely. From there, waste can be converted into bisphenol A (BPA) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). DMC is a “green” solvent and component of additional industrial chemicals. BPA, a potential environmental pollutant, is isolated and prevented from leaking.

Polycarbonates feature prominently in construction and engineering applications. The catalyst employed in this process is useful with multiple commercial sources of BPA-PC and mixed waste feeds, according to the team at the university’s Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT). For instance, the process can break down PLA and PET, albeit at higher temperatures.

Ultimately, the CSCT’s chemical recycling process leads to the recovery of high-quality constituent components, asserted Jack Payne, first author of a recently published paper, in an exclusive interview with PlasticsToday.

Harvesting virgin-quality resins

“Following reaction completion, crude BPA is easily recoverable via removal of the volatile components,” he explained. “Pure BPA can then be obtained by recrystallization from water followed by drying. DMC should be easily recoverable via fractional distillation of the volatile components; this is necessary to separate it from the solvent, 2-Me-THF, which has a comparable boiling point.

“Following this, we expect both BPA and DMC to be of virgin quality and, therefore, suitable for repolymerization.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Since fractional distillation is a standard industrial technique and the operating conditions are quite mild — between 80 and 90°C — I would expect most costs to be associated with drying the BPA to remove H2O.”

-Chemical Recycling Process Breaks Down Polycarbonate in 20 Minutes at Room Temperature

-AMI Consulting: European mechanical plastics recycling exceeded 8 million tonnes in 2021 despite feedstock insecurities

The waste plastics value chain is a complex and dynamic sector, with an evolving operating environment. New legislation and targets for the recycling of plastics and the use of recyclate are changing the way the whole plastics industry must operate.  The mechanical plastics recycling industry, therefore, has become the focal point for investments, acquisition, and expansion.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

AMI Consulting: European mechanical plastics recycling exceeded 8 million tonnes in 2021 despite feedstock insecurities

Although the volume of commodity plastic entering the waste stream on a yearly basis is extremely large, estimated by AMI as 35.6 million tonnes in 2021, feedstock availability should not be taken for granted.  Much of this waste is currently uncollected for recycling or ‘lost’ at the sorting stage and ends up in landfill or used by EfW plants. Feedstock is therefore a finite resource, characterised by bail price fluctuations and variable quality and supply.

Plastics recyclate production was 8.2 million tonnes in 2021 and is forecast to grow at a rate of 5.6%/year to 2030. To put this figure into context, one must review it in tandem with the 35.6 million tonnes of commodity plastic entered the waste stream in 2021. This implies that Europe achieved an overall plastic recycling rate of 23.1%, far lower than one might have assumed.  Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on both the volume of waste being collected for recycling as well as simultaneously reducing the demand for recyclate, as factories close or reduce production. However, to date it has not seemed to have had a long-lasting effect, as the industry has in general bounced back.

AMI Consulting: European mechanical plastics recycling exceeded 8 million tonnes in 2021 despite feedstock insecurities

Recycled-Plastic – Nylon66-Adipic-Acid

Automotive-nonwoven -Themoplastic-polymers 26-02-2022