A solar panel cutting unit may include a frame, a transport roller unit provided at the frame to transport, in a first direction, a solar panel having a glass plate, an adhesive layer, a solar cell layer, and a backsheet layer stacked sequentially, a heating unit to heat the solar panel, a pair of pressurization roller units to pressurize and transport the solar panel, a trimmer unit that moves in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and removes the backsheet layer, the solar cell layer, and the adhesive layer, a peeling unit that inserts a blade into the adhesive layer of the solar panel passing by the trimmer unit and removes a flexible film to which the solar cell layer and the backsheet layer is adhered, and a collection roller that collects the flexible film peeled by the peeling unit.

A system, method, and apparatus for fabricating, hauling, and deploying an industrial crane mat constructed from recycled windmill turbine spars.

Provided is a method of recycling carbon fibers that allows obtaining continuous carbon fibers. The present embodiment is a method of recycling carbon fibers that includes preparing a carbon fiber reinforced plastic molded product including carbon fiber reinforced plastic containing carbon fibers and a resin and drawing the carbon fiber reinforced plastic while performing a heating treatment on the carbon fiber reinforced plastic molded product. A temperature of the heating treatment is equal to or above a glass-transition temperature of the resin and below a thermal decomposition start temperature, and the temperature is below a thermal degradation temperature of the carbon fibers.

The present invention relates to a method for removing interlaminar adhesives and/or inks on laminated plastic material, which comprises the following steps:

a) microperforating the laminated plastic material with at least one microperforation per cm.sup.2,

b) removing the ink and/or adhesive by adding a washing solution to the microperforated plastic resulting from step a),

c) separating the plastic material and the aqueous material.

An automated process for separating and recycling a broad mix of waste material including industrial and commercial streams. The process begins by collecting the broad mix of waste material. Optionally, the broad mix of waste material is sorted to remove contamination from the broad mix of waste material. Next, the broad mix of waste material is coarsely shredded. Plastic film is removed from the broad mix of waste material, creating a stream of plastic film and a separate stream of dirty cardboard. Residual plastic is separated from the cardboard stream and included either in the plastic stream or in an independent third stream. The process yields separate streams of a film-rich recycled plastic and a clean recycled cardboard having a purity of at least about 95%. Also provided are a related system and at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium embodying software for performing the process.

A system and method for fabricating, hauling, and deploying an industrial crane mat constructed from recycled windmill turbine spars. The system and method comprising: removing outer covering from a wind turbine blade with a trimmer, cutting the wind turbine blade into a plurality of uniform boards using a cutter, connecting the plurality of the plurality of uniform boards side by side into two rows of the plurality of uniform boards, using a plurality of rings, wherein the two rows each have a first end and a second end, and wherein the plurality of rings connects a first end of the first row to a second end of the second row together to form a crane mat, bifolding the crane mat onto itself in half along a latitudinal axis of the crane mat using a loader, loading the bifolded crane mat onto a trailer using a line attached to the bifolded crane mat to pull the bifolded crane mat onto the trailer and pulling the bifolded crane mat onto the trailer using a winch.

The invention comprises methods of robotically separating unwanted heteroatom-containing materials from a plastic mixture and catalytically pyrolyzing the resulting mixed plastics to obtain olefins and aromatics. Systems and compositions useful in the catalytic pyrolysis of plastics are also described.

A pod processing device includes a top plate having a first aperture, and a cutting plate having a top surface and a bottom surface. The cutting plate can be attached to the top plate such that the cutting plate is spaced a distance from the top plate. The cutting plate can include at least one cutting blade extending at an angle from the top surface of the cutting plate along a portion of the distance towards the top plate. The pod processing device can be used to remove the lid from a pod to facilitate composting of the contents of the pod.

A method of reclaiming used tennis balls and transforming the material reclaimed from the tennis balls into soles for footwear. This multi-step process requires acquiring used tennis balls, grinding the tennis balls into ground rubber bits (usable elements) and tennis ball “fuzz” (unusable elements). The rubber and fuzz are passed through a screen which allows the rubber bits to exit the screen but retains the fuzz. The rubber is then mixed with an H.sub.2O and Polyurethane mixture to form a rubber mixture. This mixture is then pressed into a shape using a mold, cured, and then used to manufacture footwear.

An advanced manufacturing plant and process to efficiently deconstruct and recycle post-consumer carpet primarily in an aqueous environment. The water-based technology substantially eliminates airborne particulate emissions into the workplace and the environment. It also significantly increases the quality and quantity of the resources recovered from the carpet. In addition to recycling residential carpet, it also reclaims and recycles material from commercial broadloom carpet.