A method and device are used for separating particles of plastic foil from organic material. The device includes a chamber with a perforated wall. A mixture of particles of plastic foil and organic material is fed into the chamber through a feed opening. The mixture is set into a rotating movement inside the chamber by a rotor. In the vicinity of the perforations, the centrifugal force to which a particle is subjected is at least fifty times greater than the gravitational force to which the particle is subjected. An airflow is generated in the chamber parallel to the rotational axis of the rotor. Particles of organic material leave the chamber through the perforations. Particles of plastic foil are carried along by the first airflow and then discharge through an opening in the chamber.

A system for physically dismantling a solar cell module includes two fragmenting apparatuses. The solar cell module includes a cell encapsulation laminate, and a back plate and a cover plate respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the cell encapsulation laminate. Each fragmenting apparatus includes a platform, a fragmenting unit disposed on and movable relative to the platform in three axial directions for fragmenting one of the cell encapsulation laminate and the back plate of the solar cell module, and a material-collecting and sorting device connected to the platform and the fragmenting unit for collecting and sorting recycled materials produced by the fragmenting unit.

An apparatus and process for thermally de-manufacturing tires and other materials. The apparatus is a retort chamber with various zones in which tires are combusted to provide energy for the thermal depolymerization reaction, depolymerization takes place, and products leave the retort chamber. In one embodiment, the process reacts water with iron present in steel-belted tires to produce hydrogen, which helps to break sulfur-sulfur bonds in vulcanized materials. The water also helps control the temperature of the reaction, which allows for control over the types and relative amounts of the various depolymerization products.

A method includes producing recycled products from a plurality of used absorbent articles, each including a top sheet, a back sheet and an absorbent body including absorbent body materials, by recovering a plurality of structural members from the plurality of used absorbent articles. At least one of the top sheet and the back sheet includes a film. The method includes: separating the plurality of used absorbent articles into a plurality of the films and the absorbent body materials; sorting the plurality of films into a plurality of types of recyclable films according to the filler contents of the plurality of films; and forming a plurality of types of recycled resin pellets from the plurality of types of recyclable films.

Processes are disclosed for recovering stiff poly(vinyl butyral) from a plasticized poly(vinyl butyral) multilayer sheet containing the stiff poly(vinyl butyral) and soft poly(vinyl butyral). The processes include grinding the plasticized poly(vinyl butyral) multilayer sheet to obtain a granulate; adding additional plasticizer to the granulate to remove at least a portion of the soft poly(vinyl butyral); and physically separating the granulate from the resulting solution.

A process for separation and recovery of waste carpet components, wherein waste carpets are predominantly composed of a face fiber material, a backing material and an adhesive coating which includes latex and filler. Virtually all of the filler, i.e. calcium carbonate, is removed prior to fine grinding and passing the mixture to a high speed centrifuge for separation of the face fiber material from the backing material. A high friction washer is disclosed which separates the face giver material, the backing material and the adhesive coating. The fine grinding of the material to be recycled may be done only once before passing the mixture to the centrifuge by which the loss of the fiber material is highly reduced before its separation into face fiber and backing material and also the life time of the fine grinder and the centrifuge can be prolonged.

A process (1, 101, 201) for separating a fibrous target component (21) from textile waste (2, 5) is shown, said textile waste (2, 5) containing the target component (21) and at least one ancillary component (22), whereby the target component (21) consists of water-swellable textile fibers (51) with a density higher than the density of water, the process (1, 101, 201) comprising the steps: a) dispersing the comminuted textile waste (5) in an aqueous solution (7) to obtain a suspension (8) containing the textile waste (5), and b) separating the dispersed textile waste (5) into a high-density target fraction (81) comprising the target component (21), and a low-density residual fraction (82) comprising the at least one ancillary component (22), according to the respective density of said components (21, 22). In order to provide a reliable, fast process for the separation of water-swellable fibers from other textile fibers which are similar in density, it is proposed, that the aqueous solution (7) is an alkaline aqueous solution (7) and the target component fibers (51) are swelled in the alkaline aqueous solution (7) prior to step b), thereby increasing the density and weight of said target component (21) relative to the density and weight of the ancillary component (22).

An apparatus and process for thermally de-manufacturing tires and other materials. The apparatus is a retort chamber with various zones in which tires are combusted to provide energy for the thermal depolymerization reaction, depolymerization takes place, and products leave the retort chamber. In one embodiment, the process reacts water with iron present in steel-belted tires to produce hydrogen, which helps to break sulfur-sulfur bonds in vulcanized materials. The water also helps control the temperature of the reaction, which allows for control over the types and relative amounts of the various depolymerization products.

Methods and systems for separating mixed plastic waste are provided herein. The methods generally comprise separating the mixed plastic waste into a PET-enriched stream and one or more PET-depleted streams. The separating may be accomplished using the combinations of two or more density separation stages. Exemplary density separation stages include sink-float separators and centrifugal force separators. The PET-enriched and PET-depleted streams may be recovered and/or directed to downstream chemical recycling processes.

The present technology generally relates to a method for recovering carbon black (rCB) from a vulcanized polymer matrix, the method comprising performing oxidative desulfurization of the vulcanized polymer matrix with an aqueous chloramine solution. The present technology also relates to compositions comprising rCB obtained from the methods defined herein.