This project seeks to convert cross-linked EVA footwear industrial scrap that can then be re-incorporated into the manufacturing process.
Project Team:
Braskem America, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Allbirds, Inc.
20-01-RR-4029
This Education and Workforce Development project focused on developing training in advanced fibers recycling for the Awareness, Practitioner, and Expert levels. Courses developed included:
New Technology Developments in Paper Recycling (Awareness)
Recycled Paper Lab Research and Testing with TAPPI Standards (Awareness)
Paper Recycling Pilot Plant and Industry Tours (Awareness)
The Recycling System: Value Chains, Collection, MRFs, & Markets (Awareness, Practitioner)
Manufacturing of Paper from Recycled Fibers-Process, Products, and Technologies (Awareness, Practitioner)
Fiber Properties and Paper Physics (Awareness, Practitioner)
Printing Inks and Deinking in the Paper Recycling Process (Awareness, Practitioner, Expert)
Chemical Agents Used in Paper Recycling to Improve Process Operation and Process Quality (Awareness, Practitioner, Expert)
Stickies and Organic Materials Characterization and Removal in the Paper Recycling Process (Awareness, Practitioner, Expert)
Project Team:
Western Michigan University, Graphic Packaging International, Recourse Recovery Systems (RRS)
19-01-EWD-01
The goal of this project is to develop curriculum and coursework for training modules in advanced fibers recycling for the REMADE Education and Workforce Development Tiered Certificate Pathway program. The specific objectives of the project are to develop course content that fills the knowledge gap including (1) developing course materials to cover all the major recycled fibers and all major paper grades; (2) developing course materials to cover the entire fiber recycling process; (3) develop course materials to address specific challenges in the paper recycling process; (4) develop course materials to cover fiber identification, testing, and quality control, and sensor technologies in sorting; (5) develop a coursework structure that is in line with REMADE Tiered Certificate Pathway framework and that can be delivered through traditional teaching methods, online and distance learning, and hands-on experience in-person short course format.
The aluminum casting industry uses limited quantities of secondary alloys because of their poor quality (i.e. high concentrations of residual contaminants such as iron). In this project thermodynamic and kinetic models coupled with experimental validation and testing will be used to develop holistic contaminant control techniques including alloy, flux and refractory chemistries to increase melt efficiencies with higher levels of secondary materials use.
Project Team:
The Ohio State University (OSU), Alcoa USA Corp., North American Die Casting Association (NADCA)
18-01-MM-08
This project seeks to demonstrate the potential of solvent-based extraction process to recover plastics mixed metals and plastics electronic waste (e‐waste) for cross-industry reuse. Following extraction of the plastics, the mixed-stream would be primarily metals. The plastics would be recovered from the process solvent using an anti-solvent. If successful, this project will significantly increase the recycling rates of e-waste, and the recovery of plastics and metals from this source material. The potential energy savings and emission reduction from this project are estimated at 16PJ per year and 334,000 MT of CO2eq. per year.
Project Team:
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Sunnking, Inc., Institute of Scrap Recycling
18-02-RR-17
This project addresses paper fiber recycling needs. The paper industry in the U.S. replaces more than half of its fiber needs with secondary resources recovered from post-consumer paper and paper products. This project will help the industry to further increase their economically competitive recycling rates to those achieved in Europe by developing more efficient separation technologies that can produce higher brightness fibers by removing impurities more efficiently from spent wood fibers. The project could enable the use of an additional 1.3 million metric tons per year of secondary fiber.
Project Team:
Virginia Tech and Thiele Kaolin Company
18-02-RR-15
The goal of the proposed work is to develop, design, and demonstrate novel bench scale processes for efficient, low-cost, and environmentally benign elemental separation from low concentration solutions obtained from leaching of electronic waste (e-waste) processing streams. These are key processes for the recovery of valuable materials from e-waste and will provide a pathway to profitable recycling processes for high-value metals. Separation of multiple elements from complex metal-bearing waste streams (with low concentration) through traditional metal separation processes, such as solvent extraction (SX), ion exchange (IX), and precipitation, is economically and environmentally challenging. The objective of this proposal is to evaluate two innovative processes/technology, viz., electrosterically stabilized nanocrystalline cellulose (ENCC), and Continuous Ion Exchange and Ion Chromatography (CIX-CIC) with modified zeolite and polymers, for the separation of Al, Cu, Au, Ag, and Pd from e-waste streams (i.e., printed wiring boards).
Project Team:
The Pennsylvania State University, CHZ Technologies LLC
19-01-RR-12
This project lays out a novel technique - high speed laser cladding - for remanufacturing high-strength components such as crankshafts and camshafts. While cladding is a proven technique for applying wear-resistant metal coatings In manufacturing, high-speed laser cladding increases productivity and significantly reduce the cost of applying the layers That will enable use of this technology in remanufacturing.
The new approach to cladding will result in increasing the reuse rate in engine remanufacturing from 70% to 95%, reducing annual embodied energy and emissions by 1.3 PJ and 44,000 metric tons, respectively.
Project Team:
Rochester Institute of Technology, Caterpillar Inc., Synergy Additive Manufacturing
18-02-RM-03
Thermal spray process inspection is currently lot-based which can result in the rejection of entire lots of parts due to process variation. This project will focus on development of non-destructive in-process evaluation of thermal spray to minimize reject rates of good parts.
Project Team:
Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Caterpillar Inc.
18-01-RM-11
This project seeks to adapt relatively low-cost and low-energy leaching technologies to directly recover copper and precious metals from e-waste. This approach will enable the recovery of these metals from the mixed metals and plastics streams from e-waste and also enable recovery of the plastics. This technology could replace energy-intensive pyrometallurgical processes such as high-temperature smelting that might otherwise be used to recover metals, but due to the high-temperature the plastics are consumed.
Utilizing these less energy-intensive and lower-cost technologies will provide the economic incentive to dramatically increase e-waste recycling by as much as 20%. The potential energy and emissions reduction are estimated at 21PJ per year and 1.2 million MT of CO2eq per year.
Project Team:
University of Utah, Sunnking, Inc.
18-02-RR-06
Industry is increasingly combining layers of different polymer materials to construct highly functional, lightweight packaging (e.g. to extend food life). These multilayer films are unfortunately less recyclable than single layer films. This project will investigate catalytic depolymerization as a cost-effective approach to process these films into higher value products suitable for use in a variety of applications.
Project Team:
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Michigan State University, Unilever, American Chemistry Council, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
18-01-RR-20
Alternative process technologies will be experimentally evaluated to upgrade carbon black recovered from end-of-life tires to meet carbon black market quality specifications. Approximately 3.87 Mt of waste tires accrue every year in the United States. If all these tires were processed to recover the carbon black, about 1.1 Mt of carbon black could be recovered to use as a secondary feedstock.
Project Team:
University of Utah, OTR Wheel Engineering/Green Carbon Inc., Idaho National Laboratory
18-01-RR-19
The objective of this project is to develop and validate a remanufacturability assessment method that will support decision making about the viability of remanufacturing a component. The proposed method is based on development of machine learning (ML) techniques for recognizing different types of component damage, embedding developed ML algorithms in low-cost, damage-identification hardware for use in-process at the remanufacturing factory floor, and using this in-process technique to develop a real- time estimate of remanufacturing costs for a component. Although most high-value, metal-alloy components can be remanufactured, sufficiently accurate and rapid decision making support tools are needed to significantly reduce remanufacturing costs and increase the throughput and volume of remanufactured components.
Project Team:
Iowa State University, John Deere & Company
19-01-RM-05
The quality of coated surfaces from thermal spray repairs is determined by the particles impacting the surface. A better understanding of in-flight particle dynamics will enable improved success rates for repairs in the remanufacturing industry.
Project Team:
Iowa State University, John Deere
18-01-RM-09
More cost-effective technologies are needed to remove coating or potting materials from circuit boards to enable repair and reuse. Two alternative technologies, laser ablation and micro-media blasting, will be tested and evaluated to quantify cost-effectiveness relative to industry specified cost targets.
Project Team:
Rochester Institute of Technology, Caterpillar Inc., CoreCentric Solutions
18-01-RM-13
This project seeks to increase recycling of bottles and carpeting materials by combining both materials into desirable composite materials (such as repairable plastic pallets and acoustic panels) of a combined value significantly greater than each separately. Increasing the value of the recycled materials will motivate collection, recovery and recycle rates.
The project also provides the opportunity and motivation for the recyclers to introduce new technologies for recycling, including and especially that for the secondary material streams such as PET and carpet, making recycled plastic more economically attractive.
Project Team:
Oklahoma State University, Niagara Bottling LLC, Shaw Industries
18-02-RR-13
Current single-sensor non-destructive fatigue damage evaluation techniques have limited accuracy in predicting actual fatigue damage and the remaining useful life of a recovered part. The integration of multiple sensors which respond differently to fatigue damage has the potential of increasing the predictive accuracy of remaining useful life of materials to enable higher remanufacturing rates of parts.
Project Team:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pennsylvania State University
18-01-RM-12
This project aims to evaluate the impact of single stream recycling (SSR) on paper contamination in recovery operations and explore emerging recovery processes for minimizing fiber contamination.
Project Team:
University fo Miami
17-FP-RR-03
The objective of this project is to develop a robust weld repair process that does not require pre-heat temperatures greater than 315°C and shortens cool down periods to less than eight hours. In addition, the process will be able to consistently create a weld with minimal regions of high hardness and no cracks in or around the weld.
Project Team:
Rochester Institute of Technology, John Deere Reman
19-01-RM-04
Cost-effective technologies for the in-melt removal and/or neutralization of trace contaminants in metals is critical for secondary feedstocks to achieve cost parity with primary feedstocks. This exploratory project will experimentally evaluate the addition of “scoping” elements in molten aluminum to neutralize trace contaminants that would otherwise constrain the recycling of aluminum.
Project Team:
The Ohio State University, Alcoa, Computherm
18-01-RR-21
Non-destructive methods to measure accumulated mechanical damage (i.e., fatigue) prior to failure do not exist. Research will focus on methods to reliably detect features associated with early stage fatigue damage to predict the remaining useful life of the part.
Project Team:
Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Caterpillar Inc.
18-01-RM-10