Polymer Recycling Technology
In Ohio, when you think, “polymers,” you think “manufacturing.” But as everyone knows, large amounts of the polymers manufactured in Ohio or anywhere are likely to end their useful life in a landfill. Here’s where some very innovative Ohio companies are trying to change the trend by developing breakthrough technologies for recycling polymeric trash.
In the Akron area, PolyFlow Corp. is taking a somewhat different approach to a similar problem. Its patented technology breaks down almost any polymeric (plastic) material into its base chemicals, which can then be recycled back into plastic manufacturing. PolyFlow has built a demonstration facility at the Brown-graves Lumber Co. mill site in Akron. Like BCD Global’s system, the PolyFlow system also fits onto the bed of an 18-wheeler truck. The PolyFlow process vaporizes the plastic by means of pyrolysis, resulting is a dark-colored liquid, from which such useful chemicals as toluene, benzene, and styrene can be extracted.
BCD Global Ltd. in Cincinnati is applying a catalytic transfer hydrogenation process that originated as a method for recycling toxic and hazardous materials. With recent advances to their patented process available for license, BCD now has a low-temperature technique that can be applied to post-consumer wastes. Their processing equipment had been optimized to a small enough size that an entire plant can fit onto the chassis of standard highway truck. Focusing on the opportunity to convert municipal refuse into reusable materials, the BCD process produces carbon black (80 percent carbon) or syn gas. Proof-of-principle tests show that the process can transform waste chunks of vehicle tires into liquid rubber.
Both of these processes, and other similar processes being developed, hold promise for improving three critical challenges being faced in this country. First, large volumes of post-consumer materials will avoid going to landfills, where they take up a lot of space and take decades to decompose. Second, wastes can potentially be recycled into useful chemicals, which means trash can truly become treasure. And third, such technologies hold hope for decreasing our dependence on foreign crude oil.
For innovators of such recycling processes, there are many challenges. Not only must these companies prove the efficacy of their concept, but they also have to prove the economics. It is exciting to see proof that recycling can produce valuable materials. Next, these innovations have ramp up their business through venture capital and careful planning, so they can demonstrate that a curiosity can evolve into a profitable business.
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