Recovery and separation of high-value plastics from discarded household appliances
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Energy Systems Div.
Argonne National Laboratory is conducting research to develop a cost- effective and environmentally acceptable process for the separation of high-value plastics from discarded household appliances. The process under development has separated individual high purity (greater than 99.5%) acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and high- impact polystyrene (HIPS) from commingled plastics generated by appliance-shredding and metal-recovery operations. The process consists of size-reduction steps for the commingled plastics, followed by a series of gravity-separation techniques to separate plastic materials of different densities. Individual plastics of similar densities, such as ABS and HIPS, are further separated by using a chemical solution. By controlling the surface tension, the density, and the temperature of the chemical solution we are able to selectively float/separate plastics that have different surface energies. This separation technique has proven to be highly effective in recovering high-purity plastics materials from discarded household appliances. A conceptual design of a continuous process to recover high-value plastics from discarded appliances is also discussed. In addition to plastics separation research, Argonne National Laboratory is conducting research to develop cost-effective techniques for improving the mechanical properties of plastics recovered from appliances.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Energy Systems Div.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31-109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 205922
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ES/CP-87943; CONF-960202-6; ON: DE96006900
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Annual meeting and exhibition of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), Anaheim, CA (United States), 4-8 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
White goods recycling in the United States: Economic and technical issues in recovering, reclaiming, and reusing nonmetallic materials
Separation and recovery of thermoplastics by froth floatation