This project seeks to increase post-consumer polyurethane foam recycling and circularity through an innovative reprocessing strategy which incorporates a catalyst into the post-consumer materials to enable these materials to be reprocessed by extrusion or injection molding at elevated temperatures to useful products.
Project Team:
Northwestern University, BASF
20-01-RR-4071
This project seeks to increase the average number of times commercial vehicle tires are re-manufactured (retreaded) through the development of instruments and techniques that can assess the remaining useful life of tires in operation and optimize tire remanufacture.
Project Team:
Michelin North America, Northwestern University
20-01-RM-4006
This project seeks to convert mixed plastics waste to re-usable products through the development of catalysts to convert polymer pyrolysis products to BTX and olefins. The feedstock for the proposed two-stage process (pyrolysis followed by catalytic upgrading of the pyrolysis products to BTX and olefins) is a mix of PET and PP waste plastics.
Project Team:
The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Northwestern University, Shaw Group Industries, Inc., Process Systems Enterprise, Inc. - A Siemens Business
20-01-RR-4034
This project seeks to improve the recycling efficiency of recovered rubber materials from used tires back into new tires, by increasing the addition of micronized rubber powder (MRP) from used tires in the production of composite polymer materials (CPM) which is used in the production of new tires. CPM is a blend of MRP and virgin rubber. Increasing the use of MRP for new tires significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions versus other tire recycling processes such as tire burning in cement kilns, crumb or reclaimed rubber manufacturing. While MRP is an attractive cost-effective option for recycling of tires, its incorporation into new tire compounds is limited to ensure that those compounds have properties equivalent to virgin polymers.
This project will develop an understanding of the properties of MRP as a function of the MRP feedstock (used tires) and processing conditions for the production of MRP. This would enable the development of specifications for sorting of used tires and grinding of the tires MRP, together with the associated formulations and tire constructions that will allow higher incorporation of MRP back into new tires without degradation in tire performance, including reliability, durability and rolling resistance. The estimated energy savings for this project are 21PJ per year.
Project Team:
Michelin, Northwestern University, Nike
18-02-RR-02
This project will model and test the U.S. fiber recycling industry – specifically for paper and paperboard – to improve its long-term profitability and increase its environmental benefits.
The project will provide a virtual testbed that will explore resilience to volatility in scrap quantities, quality, markets, and prices, and consider changes to current and future recycling capacities and technologies in order to increase domestic fiber recycling by 15% or more.
Project Team:
Northwestern University, Yale University, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
18-02-SA-02