Increasing the stream of recycled plastic necessitates an approach beyond the traditional recycling via melting and re‐extrusion. Various chemical recycling processes have great potential to enhance ...recycling rates. In this Review, a summary of the various chemical recycling routes and assessment via life‐cycle analysis is complemented by an extensive list of processes developed by companies active in chemical recycling. We show that each of the currently available processes is applicable for specific plastic waste streams. Thus, only a combination of different technologies can address the plastic waste problem. Research should focus on more realistic, more contaminated and mixed waste streams, while collection and sorting infrastructure will need to be improved, that is, by stricter regulation. This Review aims to inspire both science and innovation for the production of higher value and quality products from plastic recycling suitable for reuse or valorization to create the necessary economic and environmental push for a circular economy.
Plastic fantastic: Plastic can rise again and again as a new product. Researchers now know methods with which new plastics can be produced from 100 % recycled material, products that can even be used for food applications. This development is possible thanks to chemical recycling, through which polymer chains are first broken to then be reformed into new molecules, such as plastics but also other chemicals.
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Challenges in Metal Recycling Reck, Barbara K.; Graedel, T. E.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
08/2012, Volume:
337, Issue:
6095
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Metals are infinitely recyclable in principle, but in practice, recycling is often inefficient or essentially nonexistent because of limits imposed by social behavior, product design, recycling ...technologies, and the thermodynamics of separation. We review these topics, distinguishing among common, specialty, and precious metals. The most beneficial actions that could improve recycling rates are increased collection rates of discarded products, improved design for recycling, and the enhanced deployment of modern recycling methodology. As a global society, we are currently far away from a closed-loop material system. Much improvement is possible, but limitations of many kinds—not all of them technological—will preclude complete closure of the materials cycle.
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•This paper reviews the current pathways for recycling of solid plastic waste, via both mechanical and chemical recycling.•The predominant industrial technologies, design strategies and recycling ...examples of specific waste streams are reviewed.•The main challenges and some potential remedies are discussed.
This review presents a comprehensive description of the current pathways for recycling of polymers, via both mechanical and chemical recycling. The principles of these recycling pathways are framed against current-day industrial reality, by discussing predominant industrial technologies, design strategies and recycling examples of specific waste streams. Starting with an overview on types of solid plastic waste (SPW) and their origins, the manuscript continues with a discussion on the different valorisation options for SPW. The section on mechanical recycling contains an overview of current sorting technologies, specific challenges for mechanical recycling such as thermo-mechanical or lifetime degradation and the immiscibility of polymer blends. It also includes some industrial examples such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling, and SPW from post-consumer packaging, end-of-life vehicles or electr(on)ic devices. A separate section is dedicated to the relationship between design and recycling, emphasizing the role of concepts such as Design from Recycling. The section on chemical recycling collects a state-of-the-art on techniques such as chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrogen techniques and gasification. Additionally, this review discusses the main challenges (and some potential remedies) to these recycling strategies and ground them in the relevant polymer science, thus providing an academic angle as well as an applied one.
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This book offers a range of views on spolia and appropriation in art and architecture from fourth-century Rome to the late twentieth century. Using case studies from different historical moments and ...cultures, contributors test the limits of spolia as a critical category and seek to define its specific character in relation to other forms of artistic appropriation. Several authors explore the ethical issues raised by spoliation and their implications for the evaluation and interpretation of new work made with spolia. The contemporary fascination with spolia is part of a larger cultural preoccupation with reuse, recycling, appropriation and re-presentation in the Western world. All of these practices speak to a desire to make use of pre-existing artifacts (objects, images, expressions) for contemporary purposes. Several essays in this volume focus on the distinction between spolia and other forms of reused objects. While some authors prefer to elide such distinctions, others insist that spolia entail some form of taking, often violent, and a diminution of the source from which they are removed. The book opens with an essay by the scholar most responsible for the popularity of spolia studies in the later twentieth century, Arnold Esch, whose seminal article 'Spolien' was published in 1969. Subsequent essays treat late Roman antiquity, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Middle Ages, medieval and modern attitudes to spolia in Southern Asia, the Italian Renaissance, the European Enlightenment, modern America, and contemporary architecture and visual culture.
Thank you for your letters enquiring about recycling options for the plastic wrapper used to mail out journal copies of Vet Record. The current wrapper we use is fully recyclable LDPE 4 poly ...(low-density polyethylene).
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This paper reviews studies of the environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling, to provide a summary of the current knowledge and point out areas for further research. Forty-one studies were ...reviewed, whereof 85% deal with recycling and 41% with reuse (27% cover both reuse and recycling). Fibre recycling is the most studied recycling type (57%), followed by polymer/oligomer recycling (37%), monomer recycling (29%), and fabric recycling (14%). Cotton (76%) and polyester (63%) are the most studied materials.
The reviewed publications provide strong support for claims that textile reuse and recycling in general reduce environmental impact compared to incineration and landfilling, and that reuse is more beneficial than recycling. The studies do, however, expose scenarios under which reuse and recycling are not beneficial for certain environmental impacts. For example, as benefits mainly arise due to the avoided production of new products, benefits may not occur in cases with low replacement rates or if the avoided production processes are relatively clean. Also, for reuse, induced customer transport may cause environmental impact that exceeds the benefits of avoided production, unless the use phase is sufficiently extended.
In terms of critical methodological assumptions, authors most often assume that textiles sent to recycling are wastes free of environmental burden, and that reused products and products made from recycled materials replace products made from virgin fibres. Examples of other content mapped in the review are: trends of publications over time, common aims and geographical scopes, commonly included and omitted impact categories, available sources of primary inventory data, knowledge gaps and future research needs. The latter include the need to study cascade systems, to explore the potential of combining various reuse and recycling routes.
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•We reviewed 41 studies of the environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling.•In general, there are environmental benefits with textile reuse and recycling.•Textile reuse leads to greater environmental benefits compared to recycling.•Most benefits come from avoided production, so the replacement rate is a key factor.•We list sources of inventory data, reveal knowledge gaps and suggest research needs.
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The plastics have produced a lot of serious environmental problems because there are large quantities of which the majority ends up in landfills or even in the seas. In addition, they are produced ...from exhaustible fossil fuels. For these reasons, recycling plastics is an alternative which may reduce environmental problems and resource depletion. Currently, the most common technique used for chemical recycling of plastics is pyrolysis. In this work, the pyrolysis process was carried out on a plastic waste (polyethylene film) from the fraction not collected selectively, with the aim of obtaining a liquid fuel. Both physical and chemical characterization of different oil samples was performed, which were obtained under different operating conditions. The main objective was to determine the quality of the fuel and whether this quality depended on the operating conditions used. It was determined that the properties of the fuel studied do not vary depending on the operating conditions used. The physical and chemical characteristics of the oil samples were very similar to those of commercial fuels (gasoline and diesel), with the exception of viscosity because the fuel studied has not been fractionated and therefore has light and heavy naphthas.
•PE film from not collected selectively municipal solid waste was pyrolyzed.•Physical and chemical characterization obtained oil samples was performed.•Studied operating conditions did not influenced main properties of oil samples.•The main characteristics of the oil samples were very similar to those of diesel.•Obtained oil samples could replace commercial diesel in future applications.
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Based on 19 high-quality articles, this Special Issue presents methods for further improving the currently achievable recycling rate, product quality in terms of focused elements, and approaches for ...the enhanced mobilization of lithium, graphite, and electrolyte components. In particular, the target of early-stage Li removal is a central point of various research approaches in the world, which has been reported, for example, under the names early-stage lithium recovery (ESLR process) with or without gaseous CO2 and supercritical CO2 leaching (COOL process). Furthermore, many more approaches are present in this Special Issue, ranging from robotic disassembly and the dismantling of Li‐ion batteries, or the optimization of various pyro‐ and hydrometallurgical as well as combined battery recycling processes for the treatment of conventional Li‐ion batteries, all the way to an evaluation of the recycling on an industrial level. In addition to the consideration of Li distribution in compounds of a Li2O-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-CaO system, Li recovery from battery slags is also discussed. The development of suitable recycling strategies of six new battery systems, such as all-solid-state batteries, but also lithium–sulfur batteries, is also taken into account here. Some of the articles also discuss the fact that battery recycling processes do not have to produce end products such as high-purity battery materials, but that the aim should be to find an “entry point” into existing, proven large-scale industrial processes. Participants in this Special Issue originate from 18 research institutions from eight countries.
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