5-7 OCTOBERISFR2011

153

TOLEDO (SPAIN)

DEVELOPMENT OF MECHANICAL RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY FORWASTE POLYOLEFIN COMPOSITES BASED ON HIGH-SPEEDCENTRIFUGAL BEATING TECHNOLOGY
Takashi Yamawaki1, and Yoshimi Ozaki1
1 Plastic Waste Management Institute 1-4-1 Shinkawa Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0033, Japane-mail:yamawaki@pwmi.or.jp

Abstract
Most of the waste disposed of in the automotive interior parts production process are landfilled or incinerated due to thecomposite nature, which is difficult to recycle. If floor materials, which are typical fiber-resin multilayer automobile parts, canbe separated into the resin and fiber components, a high level of recycling can be achieved. We decided to launch a project
to apply the high-speed centrifugal beating method and develop a technology using floor materials as the specific model. By
setting the beater screen diameter to 5 mm and peripheral speed to 110 m/s and adding a fiber-component re-beatingprocess, the 96% purity of PE and 74% recovery rate were achieved. The recycled PE pellets were added to the currently
used conventional material by 40% to fabricate prototypes in the primary-carpet fabric production line. It was confirmed thatthe production of primary carpet fabric was obtainable and the prototypes met the moldability and quality standards. Thesound-insulating floor materials can be recycled into PE resin material through the beating technology, and if the conditions
for collecting 80 tons or more of the floor material per month are fulfilled, recycling can be economically viable.

Keywords: high-speed centrifugal beating method, recycled PE, multilayer automobile parts, landfill, mechanicalrecycling

1. Introduction
The plastic interior parts used in the automotive industry
include instrument panels, sheet, ceiling liners, door trim,
and floor carpets. Because most of these interior parts
are composite comprising base and surface materials
and are molded or trimmed into different profiles, theamount of waste is substantial. It is estimated that thewaste rate is 30% or more depending on the shape. Mostof the waste disposed of in the production process arelandfilled or incinerated due to the composite nature,
which is difficult to recycle. Improvement of recycling
ratio is required in accordance with the Basic Plan basedon the Basic Act on Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle
Society.

(1) Shredding of the test specimen (i) (sound-insulatingmaterial)(2) Pulverization of the pieces produced in (1)(3) Separation and recovery of each component (fiberand resin)(4) Pelletizing of the recovered resin(5) Prototyping of a primary floor material using recycledresin pellets(6) Molding of the primary floor material produced in (5)into a floor mat
Issue (ii)(7) Fabrication of a fiber web/mat from the fiber
recoveredin(3)2. Materials and Methods
Materials
Waste automobile floor mats obtained from theproduction process
The material retains the fiber layer (polyester + rayon)
shape by the molding property of polyethylene resin
sheet and is composed of approximately 40% fiber and60% resin.

Methods
High-Speed Centrifugal Beating Method was used in theexperiment described below, and the produced recycledresin was molded into recycled products using themolding technology.
Issue (i)interiores libro.indd 153

Figure㧝Conceptual model of the continuous production line

3. Results and Discussion
By setting the High-Speed Centrifugal beater screen
diameter to 5 mm and peripheral speed to 110 m/s andadding a fiber-component re-beating process, the 96%
purity and 74% recovery rate were achieved. The
recycled PE pellets with the target purity were added to26/9/11 13:13:16

154

6th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials

the currently used conventional material by 20% or 40%
to fabricate prototypes in the primary-carpet fabricproduction line. Although a small amount of PET
components formed in a sea-island structure wasobserved in the molten PE, it was confirmed that theproduction of primary carpet fabric was obtainable. The
primary fabric was processed into prototype parts on anautomobile parts molding line, and it was confirmed thatthe prototypes met the moldability and quality standards.
During the prototype process, another possibility was
revealed that the mixture of fiber-rich components fromaccessing the resin in the separated fiber component andbinder fiber may be used to fabricate recycled mats.
Consequently, further improvement in the resin recovery
rate is expected by introducing the resin-rich components
produced from the process into the beater once again.
For the purpose of putting this technology into practicaluse, a simple system with a single beater equipped witha fiber exhaust unit with a 3–5 mm screen is proposed.
And it becomes economical viable, if 80 tons or more of
the material to be processed is collected per month.

4. Conclusions
By using a high-speed centrifugal beating method andsetting the beater screen diameter to 5 mm andperipheral speed to 110 m/s and adding a fibercomponent re-beating process, the 96% purity of PE and
74% recovery rate were achieved from a waste
automotive floor materials . The recycled PE pellets wereadded to the currently used conventional material by
40% to fabricate prototypes in the primary-carpet fabricproduction line. It was confirmed that the production ofprimary carpet fabric was obtainable and the prototypes
met the moldability and quality standards. The soundinsulating floor materials can be recycled into PE resinmaterial through the beating technology, and if theconditions for collecting 80 tons or more of the floor
material per month are fulfilled, recycling can beeconomically viable.

References[1] A. Koyama Y. Sawada and T. Nishishita.
Fundamental Study on for Recycled PVC sheets used
construction Waste. Architectural Institute of Japan,
Kanto Conference Preprint (2006) pg745–pg746.

interiores libro.indd 154

26/9/11 13:13:17