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A new approach to metal- and polymer-recovery from metallized plastic waste using mechanical treatment and subcritical solvents

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Abstract

Galvanized or “chromium-plated” plastics are well known to the consumer from the automotive sector and sanitary area. Polymers such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) are typically coated with a layer system of chromium, nickel and copper to obtain the characteristic optical surface and resistance properties. Due to the complex manufacturing process and high quality requirements, the production of these plastic metal composites generates 10–30% of rejects. We, therefore, developed an innovative process cascade for the recovery of both components (metal and polymer) applying established technologies (mechanical pre-treatment, classification, melt filtration, CreaSolv® Process) and were able to obtain ABS regranulate having excellent properties regarding the characteristic values for strength but slight compromises in impact characteristics. Blends with different amounts of virgin ABS, virgin PC and recycled ABS material as well as the pure cases were successfully re-metallized, all of them passing adhesion test, thermal shock resistance and CASS test. The high purity of the recovered materials led to increased redemption prices for metal and polymer by a factor of 6 and 2.5, respectively. Thus, the value added of metallized plastic waste is maximized, revealing a highly positive economic prognosis of a commercial implementation of the developed process—even at moderate scale.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (Grant Number BAF01SoFo-65342). The authors would like to thank the networking partners of the ForCYCLE project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Alte Akademie 8, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Fabian Knappich

  2. Process Development for Polymer Recycling, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Giggenhauser Straße 35, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Fabian Knappich, Martin Schlummer & Andreas Mäurer

  3. WAFA Germany GmbH, Schafweidstraße 37, 86179, Augsburg, Germany

    Harald Prestel

Authors
  1. Fabian Knappich
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  2. Martin Schlummer
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  3. Andreas Mäurer
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  4. Harald Prestel
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Correspondence to Fabian Knappich.

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Knappich, F., Schlummer, M., Mäurer, A. et al. A new approach to metal- and polymer-recovery from metallized plastic waste using mechanical treatment and subcritical solvents. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 20, 1541–1552 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-018-0717-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-018-0717-6

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