As we are aware, one of the greatest threats to a healthy environment is the indiscriminate disposal of non-biodegradable wastes. Plastics, glass, ceramics and metals primarily account for the manufacturing of various products, automobiles being the leaders among them. Though used cars are recycled, we are not sure about how efficiently it is done, how many of them are actually recycled and to what extent the recycled products are put to use.
In the conventional recycling process, the polymers land in non-metallic shredder residue along with dust, slivers of metal and textile fluff, and are made into granulate using the SiCon process. This makes it almost impossible to separate the different types of plastics from eachother.
However, Toyota and Sicon, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising have developed a process called CreaSolv® process, which makes use of a solvent that can dissolve a particular type of plastic called polyolefins that can be used to make make air filter housings, shock absorbers, side panels etc. The other plastic types remain suspended in the solvent. The solvent separated from polyolefins can also be reused. The CreaSolv® method can also remove toxins which the polymer may have contracted during shredding. If this is process is carried out consistently for all end-of-life cars, it should increase the usage of recycled plastics by 90%. The same process can be employed for various electrical appliances also to recycle about 50 percent of the high plastic content in discarded electrical appliances.
Scientists are hoping to develop appropriate solvent for each such type of plastic. Besides they, are also trying to recover other plastics by combining the methods for recovering styrene copolymers and polyolefins. These attempts having proven to be successful, if made proper use of, plastics can actually transform into not-so-eco-unfriendly resource.
via : Sciencedaily
