Towards Circular Economy: Different Strategies for Polyurethane Waste Recycling and the Obtaining of New Products

As a consequence of the high production and simultaneous consumption of polyurethanes (PU) a great volume of PU waste is landfilled. In this scenario, suitable and efficient routes for PU waste recycling have been searched for many years. In this work two series of PUs using different recycled PU so...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ugarte Soraluce, Lorena, Calvo Correas, Tamara, González Gurrutxaga, Itziar, Peña Rodríguez, Cristina, Etxeberria Altuna, Oihane, Corcuera Maeso, María Ángeles, Eceiza Mendiguren, María Aranzazu
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/31872
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/31872
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:polyurethane waste
chemical recycling
mechanical recycling
glycolysis
polyol
thermoplastic polyurethanes
polyurethane foams
Descripción
Sumario:As a consequence of the high production and simultaneous consumption of polyurethanes (PU) a great volume of PU waste is landfilled. In this scenario, suitable and efficient routes for PU waste recycling have been searched for many years. In this work two series of PUs using different recycled PU sources were synthesized: a thermoplastic PU series using a glycolysated polyol obtained from the glycolysis of elastomeric PU waste (chemical recycling) and a PU flexible foam series loaded with PU dust waste created in the shaping of PU surf tables (mechanical recycling). Results showed that the incorporation of recycled components in the formulation improved mechanical properties both in the case of thermoplastic polyurethanes and polyurethane foams. The optimum glycolysated polyol was fixed in 15% over the total polyol weight for thermoplastic PUs. In the case of foams, a maximum of 20% PU dust over the polyol weight was incorporated.