The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Recycling: Separation of major thermoplastics from postconsumer plastics stream
Author:	Rodriguez, Rafael A.
View Online:	njit-etd1990-046 (vii, 128 pages ~ 2.6 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Chemical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Hanesian, Deran (Committee chair) Roche, Edward Charles, Jr. (Committee member) Lei, George Y. (Committee member)
Date:	1990-09
Keywords:	Recycling (Waste, etc.) Thermoplastics -- Recycling Plastic containers -- Recycling Plastics in packaging -- Recycling Academic theses
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The complete process for separating Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Polyurethane (PU), and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) from a mixture of postconsumer plastics materials was presented. The driving forces considered to achieve separation were different densities and selective solubility of plastics in specific solvents. The proposed process separates Polyurethane and Polystyrene by using aqueous solutions of different densities. On the other hand, the other five plastics are separated using solvents. Diagrams showing streams and plastics separation in each unit were discussed. Individual material balances for each step were performed for a total feed stream of 50,000,000 pounds per year of the different plastics mixture. The complete material balance for the entire process was programmed using QUATTRO PRO, which allows fast calculation of the streams when changes in data are introduced.