For the recycling of carpet and artificial turf the latex backing is often a real stumble block. Many strategies have been developed like freezing the carpet, followed by grinding and subsequent separation of the milled particles. Once it has been separated from its backing materials, PA 6 is relatively easy to depolymerise. This produces fresh caprolactam that can be used to manufacture PA 6 with no loss in quality, and is suitable for further recycling [1]. The comparable process for PA 6,6 is not as easy, but DuPont and Polyamid 2000 have developed and patented a process that depolymerises any mixture of PA 6 and 6,6 using ammonia. The result is fresh caprolactam and 1,6 diaminohexane for manufacture of PA 6 and 6,6 respectively [2]. Obviously a lot of research has been devoted to avoiding latex as a backing like e.g. polyurethane carpet backing systems based on natural oil polyols and polymer polyols [4]. Still carboxylated styrene butadiene is the leading synthetic latex polymer used in EU-27 for carpet backing, followed by styrene-acrylics and pure acrylics. This contrasts with Eastern Europe, Russia, and Turkey where styrene-acrylics dominate, followed by PVAc and redispersible powders [3]. In addition there has been a lot of research into developing alternative backing systems where the backing can easily be removed. Examples are the use of gecko technology [5] or using click chemistry (reversible Diels Alder reactions) [6]. But the best option for recycling is of course to develop carpets based completely on monomaterials. Paper for the 14th Autex World Textile Conference May 26th-28th 2014, Bursa, Turkey.
MULTIFILE
The present invention relates to a novel process for the preparation of low molecular weight aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) from plastics. Provided is a thermo-catalytic pyrolysis process for the preparation of aromatic compounds from a feed stream comprising plastic, comprising the steps of: a) subjecting a feed stream comprising a plastic to a pyrolysis treatment at a pyrolysis temperature in the range of 600-1000°C to produce pyrolysis vapors; b) optionally cooling the pyrolysis vapors to a temperature that is below the pyrolysis temperature; c) contacting the vaporous phase with an aromatization catalyst at an aromatization temperature in the range of 450 - 700 °C, which aromatization temperature is at least 50°C lower than the pyrolysis temperature, in a catalytic conversion step to yield a conversion product comprising aromatic compounds; and d) optionally recovering the aromatic compounds from the conversion product.
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Concepts to protect wood from factors like ultraviolet (UV) radiation, water and wood-decaying fungi with the help of fungi exist in different variants. The idea to treat wood with the help of linseed oil and the living fungus Aureobasidium pullulans originated in 1996 during an European project assessing sustainable protection systems (Sailer et al., 2010). At that time, wood impregnated with natural oils resulted surprisingly in an evenly dark colored surface. These color changes were usually associated with irregular discoloration and staining and were further investigated. It has been shown that the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans was growing on surfaces treated with linseed oil. The fact that Aureobasium pullulans reproducibly grows on water repellent linseed surfaces in many regions around the world makes it suitable for use in a wide range of applications. Research did show that Aureobasidium pullulans produces pigments and binders on its own. This contribution documents the investigation to, identify the possibilities of biological wood surface treatment with Aureobasidium. The combination of the hydrophobizing effect of linseed oil and the surface treatment with the so-called biofinish creates an aesthetically appealing dark living surface, which significantly prolongs the life of wood outdoors and reduces maintenance costs. Since the idea has been developed into an industrially applicable process (Xyhlo biofinish, 2018). Using this concept, building components e.g. façades can be protected with a biological and functional coating thereby contribution to lessen the environmental impact of buildings.
MULTIFILE
Paper sludge contains papermaking mineral additives and fibers, which could be reused or recycled, thus enhancing the circularity. One of the promising technologies is the fast pyrolysis of paper sludge, which is capable of recovering > 99 wt.% of the fine minerals in the paper sludge and also affording a bio-liquid. The fine minerals (e.g., ‘circular’ CaCO3) can be reused as filler in consumer products thereby reducing the required primary resources. However, the bio-liquid has a lower quality compared to fossil fuels, and only a limited application, e.g., for heat generation, has been applied. This could be significantly improved by catalytic upgrading of the fast pyrolysis vapor, known as an ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis approach. We have recently found that a high-quality bio-oil (mainly ‘bio-based’ paraffins and low-molecular-weight aromatics, carbon yield of 21%, and HHV of 41.1 MJ kg-1) was produced (Chem. Eng. J., 420 (2021), 129714). Nevertheless, catalyst deactivation occurred after a few hours’ of reaction. As such, catalyst stability and regenerability are of research interest and also of high relevance for industrial implementation. This project aims to study the potential of the add-on catalytic upgrading step to the industrial fast pyrolysis of paper sludge process. One important performance metric for sustainable catalysis in the industry is the level of catalyst consumption (kgcat tprod-1) for catalytic pyrolysis of paper sludge. Another important research topic is to establish the correlation between yield and selectivity of the bio-chemicals and the catalyst characteristics. For this, different types of catalysts (e.g., FCC-type E-Cat) will be tested and several reaction-regeneration cycles will be performed. These studies will determine under which conditions catalytic fast pyrolysis of paper sludge is technically and economically viable.
