DRIVING WITH POLYURETHANES

DRIVING WITH POLYURETHANESChemical RecyclingFeedstock RecyclingVarious polyurethane processors are evaluatingglycolysis technologies, either on a pilot or on acommercial scale. The recycled polyols obtained fromglycolysis processes fulfil the requirements of someniche applications. Glycolysis, therefore, complementsmechanical and feedstock recycling.Feedstock recycling is a technology used for recoveringvalue from large quantities of post consumer andindustrial plastics waste. Essentially, the process involvesrecovering hydrocarbons from mixed plastics waste andfeeding them back into the petrochemical manufacturingchain as feedstock materials.Glycolysis is a liquefying technique for polyurethanesin which basic building blocks can be recoveredand used to produce new polyurethanes. Differenttypes of polyurethane require tailor-made glycolysisprocesses. These techniques are particularly appropriatefor recycling production waste. They are appliedcommercially for a range of applications, using over1,000 tonnes/year polyurethane scrap.Oil refineryThe waste plastics are heated and melted down intoliquid and gaseous hydrocarbons from which oil andgas products can be recovered. These are re-used asraw materials (feedstock) in chemical or petrochemicalprocesses to produce a variety of different products.DashboardsIn the automotive field, the use of glycolysis polyolsamounts to about 200 tonnes/year: for example,glycolysis is used for the recycling of the trimmingsfrom the all-polyurethane dashboards of a Germancar manufacturer.Polyurethane materials in a mixed plastics stream canbe successfully incorporated into many of the existingfeedstock technologies. ISOPA sees feedstock recyclingas an important future option to absorb increasingamounts of mixed plastics waste streams all over Europe.Although any kind of polyurethane can be glycolysed, theglycolysates obtained are not always easy to market.Also, the amount of glycolysates is always larger than theamount of waste consumed by the process. Glycolysisalone, therefore, cannot solve recycling problems.6