A first assessment of the impact ofimpurities in PP and PE recycled plastics

Chacon, Fresia Alvarado; Brouwer, M.T.; Velzen, E.U. Thoden van; Smeding, I.W.

doi:10.18174/518299

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The NIR‐based flake analysis is a more reliable method to obtain the polymeric composition of recycled plastic flakes. The data acquisition is laborious and requires a good protocol to minimise NIR identification mistakes 20 . The data analysis is straightforward.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After sorting, the masses of the various polymer types were weighted, from which the polymer composition was derived. The polymeric composition of the flake samples 6E and 6F was measured with a SiroPAD analyser and a dedicated protocol for rigid samples 20 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hitherto, most technological studies on the recycling of PE packaging waste dealt with either post‐industrial rPE, 9,10 blends of virgin plastics with various rPE 11–13 and the repetitive processing of virgin PE 14,15 . Only a limited amount of studies analysed rPE made from sorted products that originate from PC plastic packaging waste collection and sorting schemes 16–20 . The tensile strength and impact resistance of PC rPE are usually reduced in comparison with virgin HDPE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of impurities on the mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene

et al. 2020

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The mechanical properties of mechanically recycled polyethylene (rPE) were studied in relation to the composition of the feedstock. This composition varied in six steps from only bottle bodies from a single type of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) to the complete composition of an industrially sorted polyethylene (PE) product, including other packaging components, other PE‐based packages, sorting faults and residual waste. The rPE with the highest impact resistance was made from the single‐grade bottle bodies. The addition of bodies made from other types of PE already reduced the impact resistance with 11%. All the other stepwise additions of packaging components and faultily sorted objects caused the impact resistance to decrease further. Conversely, the elongation at break grew with the stepwise addition of these packaging components and faultily sorted objects. From the used methods, the best analysis method to accurately determine the polymeric composition of the rPE was found to be near‐infrared‐assisted flake analysis. This method can not only be used to determine the polymeric composition, but due to the strong correlation with the impact resistance, it is also a valuable indicator for the expected mechanical properties of rPE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of impurities on the mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene

et al. 2020

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“…The middle-infrared spectroscopy works in the range of 4000-600 cm −1 and is reported to be able to detect black material [206]. Flake-sorting by NIR in combination with colour detection cameras can further increase the purity of the material stream before the extrusion process [207][208][209].…”

Section: Exploring Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Higher Quality of Recycled Plastics: Limitations from the Material’s Perspective

et al. 2021

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The increasing consumption of plastics and plastic products results in correspondingly substantial volumes of waste, which poses considerable environmental burdens. With the ongoing environmental actions, the application of circular economy on this waste stream is becoming inevitable. In this paper, the topics of plastics recycling, circular economy on plastics, and challenges to plastic waste recycling are critically reviewed. In the first part of this paper, the development of research on plastic recycling was viewed from 1950 until 2020 using the scientific database Web of Science, and 682 related studies were found and used to assess the changing research priorities along that timeline. The following sections discuss the potentials and requirements to enhance the quality of the produced recycled plastic, in connection with the factors that currently limit it. In conclusion, the quality of recycled plastic is generally determined by the homogeneity of the recovered plastic feed. There are various strategies which could be implemented to overcome the hindrances identified in the paper and to improve the quality of the recycled plastic, such as working on enhanced product designs for minimised waste heterogeneity and controlling the materials’ degree of contamination by applying advanced sorting.

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“…However, these PP materials would have to be made of different grades with different tacticity and MFI values. Mixing grades will result in a more average PP recycled product [50]. We choose to model the caps to be made of PE.…”

Section: Continued Packaging Type Materials Composition Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Limits in Circularity for Plastic Packages

et al. 2020

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The current Dutch recycling value chain for plastic packaging waste (PPW) has not reached its full circularity potential, as is apparent from two Circular Performance Indicators (CPIs): net packaging recycling rate and average polymer purity of the recycled plastics. The performance of the recycling value chain can be optimised at four stages: packaging design, collection, sorting, and recycling. This study explores the maximally achievable performance of a circular PPW recycling value chain, in case all stakeholders would implement the required radical improvement measures in a concerted action. The effects of the measures were modelled with material flow analysis. For such a utopic scenario, a net plastic packaging recycling rate of 72% can be attained and the produced recycled plastics will have an average polymeric purity of 97%. This is substantially more than the net packaging recycling rate of 37% for 2017 and will exceed the EU target of 50% for 2025. In such an ideal circular value chain more recycled plastics are produced for more demanding applications, such as food packaging, compared to the current recycling value chain. However, all stakeholders would need to implement drastic and coordinated changes, signifying unprecedented investments, to achieve this optimal circular PPW recycling value chain.

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A first assessment of the impact ofimpurities in PP and PE recycled plastics

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

The impact of impurities on the mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene

The impact of impurities on the mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene

Towards Higher Quality of Recycled Plastics: Limitations from the Material’s Perspective

Technical Limits in Circularity for Plastic Packages

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