Plastic manufacturing and sales can be said to have accompanied the birth of the industry chain, with global plastics production soaring from 230 million tons to 322 million tons in the ten years from 2005 to 2015. Although plastics have been Is full of our lives, but the plastic recycling is still in a relatively young state, because when the plastic is first put into use when no one really considered the issue of recycling, the question now, in the face of increasingly serious environmental problems plastic recycling It is also valued by more and more people.
While one can see so many opportunities for plastic recycling growth, there are still many challenges facing this less-mature recovery industry, and scientists around the world are now choosing from different perspectives Research methods to promote this industry toward a better and more scientific place through continuous exploration and ways and means of improving the recycling of waste plastics.
At present, the commonly used methods of recycling and recycling waste plastic mainly use mechanical and physical recovery, energy recovery and chemical recovery in three ways.Recently published in the "Science" on the study introduced a new way to use this method can greatly enhance the plastic The amount and quality of successful recovery of solid waste primarily covers the recovery of different types of plastics together in a single waste cycle to avoid costly and time-consuming sorting and to break down plastics in a more energy-efficient manner. Pointed out two key issues.
1, compatibilizer
Recycling of traditional plastics must be reclaimed after classification, which adds to the workload and expense Plastic, mainly composed of macromolecules, so most similar molecular materials do not mix with each other when heated The main focus of the research is to find materials that promote the mixing of different types of plastics, that is, compatibilizers, so that they can be recycled and utilized together.It is ideal to find a compatibilizer that can be applied to all polymers State, scientists put forward the existing technical requirements for each plastic mixture must have tailored ways and means.
2, the catalyst
Chemical recovery also involves the use of catalysts to break down plastics to get small molecule products.The researchers said: 'The high energy costs have created a big hurdle for this process.Research and development of more efficient catalysts is the top priority .
At present, the entire plastic recycling industry is faced with the problems of high technology and high cost. There is still a long way to go to grow and develop.