Method for recycling electronic waste are included that enable electronic waste separation and recycling to a high level of separation efficiency and end product purity which are improvements over prior methods. In preferred methods, separated electronic waste which has been subjected to magnetic separation to remove ferrous materials and shredded to an average width of less than about 40 mm is provided and then introduced to a first water tank treated so as to have a specific gravity of about 1.20 to about 1.30 and allowing a first portion of the electronic waste to float in the first water tank and a second portion of the electronic waste to sink in the first water tank; and the second portion of the electronic waste is introduced to a water vibrating table, wherein the remaining second portion of the electronic waste leaving the water vibrating table yields at least about 98% sorted recovered materials comprising pure and clean copper, aluminum, wire, circuit boards, stainless steel and mixed plastics. Other preferred embodiments employ use of a horizontal friction dehydrator in secondary separation, use of color sorting of various plastics, employing fresh-water fed vertical dehydrators at end steps of separation and use of a high purity electrostatic separation process for final products.

The present invention relates to the methods of recycling electrochromic devices and also designing such devices while keeping recyclability in perspective. Recyclability includes recovering of certain materials for re-use within the same application or other applications. Using recycling reduces or eliminates waste stream quantities to be disposed of and/or reduces toxicity of these waste streams.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 5 millibars. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream and formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A centrifugal field-flow fractionation device 1 includes a rotation unit 10, a rotation sensor 41, a first vibration sensor 51, a second vibration sensor 52, and an imbalance amount calculation unit 312. When an imbalance occurs in the rotation unit 10, the imbalance amount calculation unit 312 calculates the imbalance amount, based on a detection signal from the rotation sensor 41, a detection signal from the first vibration sensor 51, and a detection signal from the second vibration sensor 52. That is, when an imbalance occurs in the rotation unit 10, the imbalance is calculated by the configuration in the centrifugal field-flow fractionation device 1.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 25 millibars, or another predetermined pressure. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream. Polymer from the polymer stream is then formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

The present invention relates to the methods of recycling electrochromic devices and also designing such devices while keeping recyclability in perspective. Recyclability includes recovering of certain materials for re-use within the same application or other applications. Using recycling reduces or eliminates waste stream quantities to be disposed of and/or reduces toxicity of these waste streams.

A process for separating and recovering at least one polymer component from a melt of a multiple number of polymer components including the steps of: (A) shearing a multi-polymer component melt in the presence of a pressurized aqueous solution; wherein the multi-polymer component melt comprises a blend of at least a first polymer component and at least a second polymer component; wherein the multi-polymer component melt has at least two melting temperatures, at least two glass transition temperatures or combinations thereof; wherein the pressurized aqueous solution comprises an aqueous liquid mixture of: (i) water, and (ii) at least one dispersing agent; wherein the shearing of the multi-polymer component melt in contact with the pressurized aqueous solution forms a dispersion, particles, or strands of the at least one first polymer component having an enriched first polymer component concentration; and (B) after the shearing of step (A), isolating the at least first polymer component from the other polymer components of the multi-polymer component melt by separating the dispersion, particles, or strands of the at least one first polymer component having an enriched first polymer component concentration from the water, the at least one dispersing agent, the at least second polymer component, and any remaining thermoplastic polymer resins present in the mixture of the multi-polymer component melt in the pressurized aqueous solution.

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 washing and separating pieces of plastics material from contaminating material that also includes metal elements, comprises the steps of: supplying, to a washing container, a washing fluid, having a first specific weight value , and the pieces of plastics material joined to the contaminating material; driving, in the washing container, a stirring arrangement provided with blades for generating in the washing fluid a turbulent stirring action to remove from the plastics material, through mechanical action, the part of contaminating material adhering thereto. The tilt of the blades and the rotation speed of the stirring arrangement are chosen carefully to generate a thrusting action upwards so as to maintain in a floating condition the plastics material with a specific weight that is greater than the specific weight of the fluid; the force of the thrusting action is limited to a value that is such as not to hinder the downward precipitation of the contaminating metal elements that have a further specific weight value that is greater than the aforesaid second value. The plastics material is retained inside the container for sufficient time to obtain a desired degree of purity and decontamination for the plastics material, after which it is evacuated by controlled overflow. The heavy contaminating material, in particular the metal elements that accumulate on the bottom, are periodically evacuated by a device of valve or pump type. The apparatus for implementing the aforesaid method is also disclosed.

One embodiment provides a modular green roof tray, house plant growth media and horticulture growth media, and a tree protection mat for weed and moisture control made from recycled disposable diapers. The growth medium and tree protection mat contain superabsorbent materials from diaper that can absorb waters and greatly reduce irrigation so to provide a drought resistant feature. One embodiment also provides a manufacturing process to perform 100% recycling of disposed diapers.