INNOVATIONS | POLYURETHANES
Right: PU foam is a focus of Dow’s Renuva circular economy program
production plant (now in the final stages of construction) for the production of new polyols for use in flexible or rigid foams. Dow expects to enter production of chemically recycled polyols later this year.
waste material into high-quality polyols. “We have already sold three plants for customers throughout the world, who manufacture polyols from produc- tion or post-consumer waste,” says a representative. “The market used to be very volatile. In conse-
quence, the use of recycled products was generally dependent largely on factors such as the price of oil. In the meantime, we are seeing a fundamental rethinking here – on the one hand due to regula- tory requirements and social developments, on the other because the quality of the products has improved significantly. Thermosetting polyure- thanes were once considered unrecyclable. With our technology, this disadvantage is no longer hindering recycling processes.”
Recycled polyols Some projects to establish chemical recycling as a commercially viable proposition are being driven by the polyurethane raw material producers themselves. For example, last year,Dow Polyurethanes unveiled its sustainability strategy, which the company says places an important emphasis on its belief that polyurethanes should continue being a material of choice in various applications in the future. In Europe and countries in the EMEAI region, Dow is advancing the Renuva “circular economy” program, with the aim of chemical recycling end-of-life PU products in collaboration with partners along the value chain. Dow unveiled the Renuva program at the end of May last year. With its flagship mattress recycling program, Dow says it will help create markets for the resulting material and also demonstrate the possibility of closing the use-recycle-reuse loop. France has been a key area so far for advancing
this project. This involves the recovery of PUR from used mattresses, the chemical recycling of the material (using a combination of glycolysis and acidolysis), and supply to an industrial-scale
36 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | January/February 2021
Dow’s partners in the project are Eco-mobilier, Orrion Chemicals, and Vita Group. Eco-mobilier, a French mattress and furniture EPR organisation, will recover the PUR foam (Eco-mobilier has been collecting used mattresses since 2013 and by 2019, the volumes collected already reached 66,000 tonnes); Orrion Chemicals Orgaform is responsible for installation and operation of the plant to recycle material into new polyols, in Semoy, France. The reactor unit and process know-how come from process and turnkey installations provider H&S Anlagentechnik. Vita Group, a leading flexible polyurethane foam solutions provider in Europe, will use the polyols from the project in production of new foams at its ICOA site in Crancey, France. New capital equipment is currently being installed and commissioned and it is expected production will start towards the end of the first half of this year. Vita says it has for several years used an innova- tive technology that pulverises foam by-products and incorporates this as a raw material for specific PUR foams at sites in Germany and Lithuania. A representative says the group also collects and regenerates all trim across its European footprint to manufacture 100% new products in various forms. The ability to use the Renuva polyol is the next step in this evolution. “We use a number of different polyols to produce foams with a wide range of properties and comfort characteristics. The chemistry of Renuva differs from existing polyols, therefore Vita is performing precise tests on its formulations and manufacturing process to ensure it can produce foams of high quality, along with the required physical properties of density and hardness. Initial customer interest has been from the bedding market, but due to the potential for our customers to increase their position in the circular economy we are receiving enquiries from several technical and industrial customers,” says the Vita representative. Vita’s MD for Comfort, Gilbert Davids, says: “We
are already seeing strong interest from customers across Europe for the Renuva technology and in response to this demand we are looking to have this capability expanded across some other selected sites.” Further applications for Renuva polyols will be
explored, says Dow. It sees potential applications in products such as building insulation, while polyols in
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: DOW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
