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Waste Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA): Recycling and High-Yield Monomer Recovery

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Handbook of Ecomaterials

Abstract

In recent years, the production and consumption of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), an expensive versatile polymer, are widely increased for its superior properties. The extensive use of this material leads to the major concern on management of the waste PMMA and how to recycle it. Approaches to PMMA recycling mainly include different methods for depolymerization of the polymer to recover MMA monomer and then either re-polymerization of the recycled monomer or other utilization of the recycled products. In this chapter, a general background on different processes used for PMMA recycling and the employed apparatus for recycling is presented. Chemical recycling of PMMA with different methods such as gasification, thermal cracking, and catalytic cracking is discussed. Solvent recycling of PMMA is illustrated as well. The features of the main apparatuses of waste PMMA recycling are explained in detail including molten media bath reactor, fluidized bed reactor, conical spouted bed reactor, and extruder. Thermal and mechanical analyses on recycled products are provided in order to enlighten the properties of the recovered material produced through different recycling processes. The effect of fillers as reinforcing agent on recycle process of waste PMMA and also the process of filled PMMA recovery is illustrated. In the end some applications of recycled PMMA in fabrication of nanocomposites and polymeric blends are given. Thus this study paves way to new advances for PMMA waste generation and management while solving many environmental problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Bonab, Bonab, Iran

    Elnaz Esmizadeh, Saeed Khalili & Ali Vahidifar

  2. Faculty of Process, Rubber Department, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, Tehran, Iran

    Ghasem Naderi

  3. Center for Applied Research on Polymers and Composites, CREPEC, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montréal, Canada

    Ghasem Naderi & Charles Dubois

Authors
  1. Elnaz Esmizadeh
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  2. Saeed Khalili
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  3. Ali Vahidifar
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  4. Ghasem Naderi
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  5. Charles Dubois
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elnaz Esmizadeh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ingeniería Civil Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Leticia Myriam Torres Martínez

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico

    Oxana Vasilievna Kharissova

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Boris Ildusovich Kharisov

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Esmizadeh, E., Khalili, S., Vahidifar, A., Naderi, G., Dubois, C. (2019). Waste Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA): Recycling and High-Yield Monomer Recovery. In: Martínez, L., Kharissova, O., Kharisov, B. (eds) Handbook of Ecomaterials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68255-6_164

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