A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) washing a plurality of flakes of recycled PET; (B) providing a PET crystallizer; (C) after the step of washing the plurality of flakes, passing the plurality of flakes of recycled PET through the PET crystallizer; (D) at least partially melting the plurality of flakes into a polymer melt; (E) providing a multi-rotating screw (MRS) extruder having an MRS section; and a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (F) using the vacuum pump to reduce a pressure within the MRS Section; (G) after the step of passing the plurality of flakes through the PET crystallizer, passing the polymer melt through the MRS Section; and (H) after the step of passing the polymer melt through the MRS extruder, forming the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A plant (1) and method for recovering plastic materials of post-consumption materials, such as vehicle bumpers and tanks, in the plant, downstream of the volumetric reduction grinder (2), there is provided an intermediate grinder (6) and the washing vat (9) and the centrifuge (12) additionally being arranged upstream of the windmill/granulator (14), while in the method, an intermediate grinding step is arranged upstream of the grinding/granulation step and a subsequent washing step and separation in the vat of the parts of foreign materials through the difference of specific weight, including ferrous, non-ferrous materials and alloys thereof, of the material made of intermediate size, before the grinding/granulation step through windmill/granulator, wherein the washing and centrifugation water is subjected to a continuous purification cycle. In order to increase the productivity of the plant and reducing the maintenance times, the conveying elements for transporting the material are provided mobile, mounted on swivel wheels.

A method for recycling of laminated glass is disclosed. The laminated glass comprises at least one glass layer and at least one polyvinyl butyral (PVB). The method comprises mechanical removal of at least part of the glass, placing residual waste with glass particles in a vat comprising a separation fluid to produce a mixture of glass particles and one polyvinyl butyral (PVB) pieces from the residual waste, from which the one polyvinyl butyral (PVB) pieces can be screened off, washed, and dried for reuse. The separation fluid comprises water and butyl diglycol.

A method for separating and recycling a waste polyester-cotton textile by a hydrothermal reaction catalyzed by an organic acid, comprising the following steps: dividing a waste polyester-cotton textile into fragments and dispersing in an aqueous solution system of the organic acid catalyst to obtain a mixed system; in a high-pressure reactor, heating the mixed system to 110˜180° C. so that cotton fibers in the waste polyester-cotton textile undergo a degradation reaction for 0.5˜3 h to obtain a mixture; and filtering the mixture by a sieve, washing to obtain a polyester fiber aggregate, and then filtering the remaining portion by a filtration membrane in vacuum so as to obtain cotton fiber fragments after washing. Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide advantages for the separation, recycling and reuse of waste polyester-cotton textiles. For example, the catalyst used during processing is derived from nature and is biodegradable.

Components of a system for marking, identification and segregation of plastic waste, including waste of multi-layer and multi-component plastics is disclosed herein. The coating material for marking plastics contains a base of the coating material and fluorescent markers dissolved or dispersed in the base of the coating material. The composition of the coating material or the way it is printed constitutes an arbitrary code, consistent with the adopted marking system. The coating material can be washed off from the surface of marked material with a washing agent. The code contained in the composition of the coating material or in the way it is printed is readable after irradiating with appropriate wavelength. The use of printed graphic or text patterns with at least two coating materials containing different fluorescent markers allows for creation of a practically unlimited number of individual identification codes.

A method for reducing an amount of a contaminant in a thermoplastic polymer comprising shearing a combination comprising a contaminated thermoplastic polymer in melt form, water, and a dispersing agent where the shearing causes a portion of the contaminant to be removed from the contaminated thermoplastic polymer (e.g. moved into an aqueous phase with the water or into another separate phase from the water and the polymer), and after shearing, separating the thermoplastic from the aqueous phase to recover thermoplastic polymer.

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 method and a system for comminuting and cleaning waste plastic are described. For this purpose, waste plastic is comminuted and pre-washed in a wet mill and then cleaned in a washing system. The resulting wastewater is subjected to mechanical filtration and flotation and then temporarily stored as circulating water. Based on this, some of the circulating water is returned to the wet mill as first process water and some of the circulating water is returned to the washing system as second process water. In this way, the first and second portions of the circulating water may be specifically adapted to the respective water requirements of the wet mill and the washing system as well as to the required water qualities, if necessary with selective post-cleaning of the second portion of the circulating water. As a result, the fresh water requirement for the process described may be minimized.

A polymeric aerosol dispenser that is recyclable. The recyclable polymeric aerosol dispenser including all polymeric components. These components being selectively either fixedly joined or separably joined based on the material composition of the component. Further, components may be selected for their density and, thus, their ability to float or sink during the recycling process. The recyclable polymeric aerosol dispenser is designed to minimize its impact on the PET recycling stream and to align with industry recyclability guidelines.

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.