Investigation on an innovative technology for wet separation of plastic wastes

From prospecting to mining: A review of enabling technologies, LCAs, and LCCAs for improved construction and demolition waste management

Knowledge gained from anthropogenic resource prospecting can shed light on the theoretical potential of secondary resources stored in anthropogenic systems. Among others, secondary resources accumulated in the built environment account for a big fraction of anthropogenic resources, indicating great potential for urban mining. However, realizing these opportunities and developing urban mining strategies will require a comprehensive understanding of the technical viability of urban mining technologies, and how their implementation will affect the technical, economic, and environmental performance of a construction and demolition waste (C&DW) management system. To address these important issues, this review summarizes (1) current and emerging technologies that can enable the transition from anthropogenic resource prospecting to anthropogenic resource mining, (2) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) results to date on various C&DW management systems, (3) key parameters that govern the technical, economic, and environmental performance of a C&DW management system, and (4) opportunities for improving the methodology of LCAs and LCCAs for future C&DW management. We find that enhancing the utility of extant LCAs and LCCAs in guiding technology deployment and policy decisions can be achieved by considering key parameters governing the techno-economic and environmental performance of C&DW management. In addition, it is critical to adopt and upscale emerging technologies to increase the added value of materials or products recovered from C&DW.

Automatic magnetic projection for one-step separation of mixed plastics using ring magnets

Magnetic projection, a novel separation method proposed recently, can separate multiple mixed materials in an efficient and low-cost way. Although promising, existing magnetic projection method cannot achieve the automatic feeding of mixed materials, which limits its applications. To address this challenge, ring magnets were used to replace conventional square magnets in this research. Specifically, a mixture of particles with different densities were fed through the hole of ring magnets and then projected to the corresponding area. Moreover, to increase the magnetic field strength, magnets were superimposed. To predict the projection process, magnetic field analysis was conducted. And from the results, an interesting trap area was found, where the separated materials may be constrained, leading to the failure of projection. The simulation of the projection process revealed that with the increase of the number of magnets (1-3 magnets), the magnetic field strength increased. However, the projection distance will not keep increasing with the increase of the magnetic field strength, which also was verified by experiments (Err within 10%). Based on this principle, an automatic feeding device with ring track and pendulum was designed and manufactured. In the separation experiment, six different plastics, that were PP, ABS, PC, PLA, PET and PVC, were used to verify the separation effect. The experimental results showed that the proposed method can automatically separate a plastic mixture with a recovery rate of over 95%. This study presents a break-through in magnetic projection, laying the foundation for the practical application of magnetic projection.

Magnetic projection: A novel separation method and its first application on separating mixed plastics

A novel magnetic separation method, denoted as "magnetic projection", was proposed. The method is based on a simple configuration: a container full of paramagnetic medium is placed beside a permanent magnet. Particles of different densities that submerge in the medium are driven by the magnetic force, moving in accordance with different trajectories, and are finally landed in different collection regions. We applied this method to separate mixed plastics, because most of the extant plastic separation processes can only deal with binary mixture. In the experiment, four common plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were used to simulate the plastic mixture. The experimental results showed that the proposed method can effectively separate the plastic mixture, as the purity of each type of recovered plastics was over 95 wt%. This approach demonstrates its tremendous potential in solid waste management and worth further investigation.

Plastic waste as a significant threat to environment - a systematic literature review

Context Materials which exceed the balance of their production and destruction lead to the deterioration in the environment. Plastic is one such material which poses a big threat to the environment. A huge amount of plastic is produced and dumped into the environment which does not readily degrade naturally. In this paper, we address the organization of a large body of literature published on the management of waste plastics being the most challenging issue of the modern world. Objectives To address the issue of the management of waste plastics, there is a dire need to organize the literature published in this field. This paper presents a systematic literature review on plastic waste, its fate and biodegradation in the environment. The objective is to make conclusions on possible practical techniques to lessen the effects of plastic waste on the environment. Method A systematic literature review protocol was followed for conducting the present study [Kitchenham B, Brereton OP, Budgen D, Turner M, Bailey J, Linkman S. Systematic literature reviews in software engineering - A systematic literature review. Inf Softw Technol 2009;51(1):7-15.]. A predefined set of book sections, conference proceedings and high-quality journal publications during the years 1999 to September 2017 were used for data collection. Results One hundred and fifty-three primary studies are selected, based on predefined exclusion, inclusion and quality criteria. These studies will help to identify the fate of different waste plastics, their impact and management and the disposal techniques frequently used. The study also identifies a number of significant techniques and measures for the conversion of waste plastic materials into useful products. Conclusion Five fundamental strategies are used for the handling of plastic waste. These strategies include: recycling, depositing in landfill, incineration, microbial degradation and conversion into useful materials. All of these methods have their own limitations, due to which there is need to explore the studies for optimum solutions of the management of plastics waste.

Temperature dependent separation of immiscible polymer blend in a melted state

The density and the spectral fingerprint of a compounded blend or composite vary widely depending on the type of the components and their composition. However, the currently used polymer separation techniques, such as density-based and optical sorting systems are not suitable for recovering these materials fully due to the physical-chemical bonding between the components. The application of a novel separation principle creates the opportunity to enrich the blend fractions to neat, homogeneous zones in a melted state by utilising centrifugal force. In this study three different types of plastics: high density polyethylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate were deeply investigated in order to understand the separability of their blends as a function of rotation time and melt temperature. The results showed that the separation of polymer mixtures and blends depends strongly on the viscosity and bulk density at a given temperature, and the initial particle size also has a significant impact.

Separation of mixed waste plastics via magnetic levitation

Separation becomes a bottleneck of dealing with the enormous stream of waste plastics, as most of the extant methods can only handle binary mixtures. In this paper, a novel method that based on magnetic levitation was proposed for separating multiple mixed plastics. Six types of plastics, i.e., polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyamide 6 (PA6), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), were used to simulate the mixed waste plastics. The samples were mixed and immersed into paramagnetic medium that placed into a magnetic levitation configuration with two identical NdFeB magnets with like-poles facing each other, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to verify the separation outputs. Unlike any conventional separation methods such as froth flotation and hydrocyclone, this method is not limited by particle sizes, as mixtures of different size fractions reached their respective equilibrium positions in the initial tests. The two-stage separation tests demonstrated that the plastics can be completely separated with purities reached 100%. The method has the potential to be industrialised into an economically-viable and environmentally-friendly mass production procedure, since quantitative correlations are determined, and the paramagnetic medium can be reused indefinitely.

Hydraulic separation of plastic wastes: Analysis of liquid-solid interaction

The separation of plastic wastes in mechanical recycling plants is the process that ensures high-quality secondary raw materials. An innovative device employing a wet technology for particle separation is presented in this work. Due to the combination of the characteristic flow pattern developing within the apparatus and density, shape and size differences among two or more polymers, it allows their separation into two products, one collected within the instrument and the other one expelled through its outlet ducts. The kinematic investigation of the fluid flowing within the apparatus seeded with a passive tracer was conducted via image analysis for different hydraulic configurations. The two-dimensional turbulent kinetic energy results strictly connected to the apparatus separation efficacy. Image analysis was also employed to study the behaviour of mixtures of passive tracer and plastic particles with different physical characteristics in order to understand the coupling regime between fluid and solid phases. The two-dimensional turbulent kinetic energy analysis turned out to be fundamental to this aim. For the tested operating conditions, two-way coupling takes place, i.e., the fluid exerts an influence on the plastic particle and the opposite occurs too. Image analysis confirms the outcomes from the investigation of the two-phase flow via non-dimensional numbers (particle Reynolds number, Stokes number and solid phase volume fraction).