| OBSERVATION'S |
Co has looked into the challenge posed by new European Parliament’s legisla tion. “The final version of the legislation doesn’t give us much flexibility. Chemical or mechanical recycling must take place. Co. as a supplier of polyols & isocyanates to PU foam makers, has a vested interest in seeing it done right Today, most European countries recycle about 75% of cars by wt., & most of that is metal. Plastic, rubber, & glass, making up about 25% of car’s wt., are a real challenge to recycle. Co is exploring 2 processes for recycling the PU foam used in car seats, in headrests, behind dashboards & under carpets: Mechanical pulverization process Solvolysis process that dissolves the foam in dicarboxylic acid to produce a “recyclate” Earlier foam recycling schemes based on hydrolysis, glycolysis, or aminolysis produced recyclable materials contg large amounts of short-chain polyols unsuitable for recycling back into flexible foam. Another strike against the earlier methods: Car seat foams often contain styrene acrylonitrile resin, which gels in reactors – a problem not encountered with the solvolysis method Either pulverization or solvolysis could provide recycled polymer to replace up to 7% by wt of virgin ingredients & still meet automobile manufacturer’ specifications for car seat foam. “The 7% figure is not high, but “it is true recycling” The European legislation doesn’t require that foam recovered from autos go back into new cars. So foam with higher recycled content could go into less demanding applications, such as noise & vibration dampening. “We haven’t achieved closed-loop recycling yet”, “but we are getting closer” |
| UPDATE | 09.01 |
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