The production of nylon in North America currently results in the generation of around 25 million pounds/year of mixed plastic reject which then becomes an industrial waste. This project will develop technology for recovering the nylon and other plastics from this mixed plastic waste for in-plant re-use. This will be done using a “froth flotation” separation technology that has been successfully applied to other mixed plastics waste steams. Phase I will characterize the nylon waste streams, define the process conditions necessary for separating the nylon and other plastics from these streams using froth flotation, and characterize and evaluate the recovered plastics. In addition, reformulated compounds will be prepared from the recovered materials, and these compounds will be compared with virgin compounds. Finally, an economic analysis of the process will be made.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: If the process proves to be technically and economically feasible, the recycling of the mixed plastic reject could result in more than $12 million/year in cost-savings, a reduction in the landfilling of 25 million pounds of solid waste each year, and the reclamation of wastes containing over 1 trillion Btus of energy--the equivalent of 200,000 barrels of oil.
