There are provided processes for recycling waste such as polystyrene thermoplastic polymer waste and/or polystyrene thermoplastic copolymer waste as well as recycled polystyrene thermoplastic polymer and/or recycled thermoplastic copolymer that may, for example, be obtained from such processes. The processes can comprise dissolving the waste in cymene, xylene or ethylbenzene or a suitable solvent, to obtain a mixture followed by heating the mixture under acidic conditions and then optionally neutral conditions in the presence of a reducing agent then cooling to obtain a supernatant comprising polystyrene thermoplastic polymer and/or polystyrene thermoplastic copolymer and a solid waste residue. The supernatant can optionally be treated with a filtration aid, then the supernatant can be contacted with a hydrocarbon polystyrene non-solvent under conditions to obtain precipitated polystyrene thermoplastic polymer and/or precipitated polystyrene thermoplastic copolymer which can be washed with additional hydrocarbon polystyrene non-solvent, and optionally dried and formed into polystyrene thermoplastic polymer pellets and/or polystyrene thermoplastic copolymer pellets.

The invention relates to a process and an installation to produce a monovinylaromatic polymer (3) comprising post-consumer recycled polystyrene (PCR-PS) wherein the process comprises the steps of mixing the PCR-PS (5) and the monovinylaromatic monomer (7) within a dissolver (9) to dissolve the PCR-PS (5) in the monovinylaromatic monomer (7) so as to produce a polymerization mixture (13); and a step of filtering the polymerization mixture (13) that includes continuously redirecting at least a part of the stream of the filtered polymerization mixture (17) back to the dissolver (9) and mixing it with the polymerization mixture (13) so as to continuously reduce the content of insoluble material in the polymerization mixture (13) contained in the dissolver (9).

A waste management system for plastic or other material floating on the surface and in the subsurface of a body of water. A shredding device will reduce the size of the particles of waste. Ocean water is removed by a drying device. The dried waste material is frozen to a temperature at or below minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit, using liquid nitrogen or other suitable means. The frozen waste material is then pulverized and ground into a powder. The powder may then be sprayed into a gas-filled chamber and heated. Temperature, pressure and humidity are maintained within the chamber for more than one minute. Microwave or other radiation and catalysts may be used to enhance the process of extraction. The processed material is then removed from the chamber. Carbon may be recycled or used as fuel by the ship. Water may be used by the ship or returned to the ocean.

Methods and equipment for the recycling of carpet are disclosed that produce a clean fiber product suitable for industrial use. The methods allow the recovery of face fiber material, for example a polyester, polyolefin, or a polyamide, from carpets that includes a face fiber material, a polypropylene backing material, and an adhesive, and include the steps of mechanically impacting the carpet to break the bonds between the adhesive and the fibrous components, treating the fibrous components to remove adhesive granules from the fibrous components, and optionally separating the polypropylene backing from the face fiber. A clean adhesive/calcium carbonate product can also be produced from this process.

A multifunctional ship for the collection and recycling of ocean debris and the system thereof may include a hull; a detection device provided on the hull to detect ocean debris floating on the sea or deposited on the seabed; a collection device installed on the hull to collect the ocean debris detected by the detection device; a sorting device installed on the hull to sort the ocean debris collected by the collection device; a compressing device installed on the hull to compress the sorted ocean debris to compress and remove moisture and reduce the volume; a waste plastic recycling device installed on the hull to produce recycled oil by thermally decomposing the waste plastic compressed in the compressing device; a storage tank installed at the bottom of the hull to store the recycled oil produced; and a purifier for purifying wastewater generated in the process of producing recycled oil.

Methods of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprise: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder (400) while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion (420) of the MRS extruder (400) below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter (450) having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

Pre-treating a waste polyester material with dichloromethane (DCM) produce purified polyester for reuse. The purified polyester can be recycled via any chemical or mechanical recycling process. Where the waste polyester material includes non-polyester contaminants, the DCM-treated polyester material produces a slurry that includes the DCM, a solid component that includes a polyester monomer product for reuse, and a waste liquid component where the non-polyester contaminants can be filtered from the top of the liquid component.

A method for manufacturing pellets from polymer, comprising: (1) melting polymer flakes in a first section of a melt processing unit to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt by means of a separation element; (3) passing the multiple streams through a multiple stream section of said melt processing unit and exposing the multiple streams to a pressure within the multiple stream section of the melt processing unit as the multiple streams pass through the multiple stream section; (4) recombining the multiple streams into at least one combined stream of polymer melt; and (5) cooling the polymer melt and forming said pellets from the at least one combined stream. The intrinsic viscosity of the at least one combined stream may be determined and, in response, the chamber pressure within the multiple stream section adjusted.

A waste management system, primarily intended to be for waste floating in water, though it can also be used on land. A shredding device will reduce the size of the particles of waste. Ocean water is removed by a drying device. The dried waste material is cryogenically frozen using liquid nitrogen or other suitable means. The frozen waste material is then pulverized and ground into a powder. The powder may then be sprayed into a gas-filled chamber and heated. Temperature, pressure and humidity are maintained within the chamber for more than one minute. Microwave or other radiation and catalysts may be used to enhance the process of extraction. The processed material is then removed from the chamber. Carbon and water may be recycled. The carbon may be used as fuel by the ship. Water may also be used by the ship or returned to the ocean in a non-toxic condition.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from recycled polymer. In various embodiments, the method includes: (1) reducing recycled polymer material into polymer flakes; (2) cleansing the polymer flakes; (3) melting the flakes into a polymer melt; (4) removing water and contaminants from the polymer melt by dividing the polymer melt into a plurality of polymer streams and exposing those streams to pressures below 25 millibars or another predetermined pressure; (5) recombining the streams; and (6) using the resulting purified polymer to produce bulked continuous carpet filament.