Exploring the Potential to Repurpose Flexible Moulded Polyurethane Foams as Acoustic Insulators

Polyurethane flexible foams are widely used for a variety of applications to improve comfort and durability. Their long-term frequent use inevitably leads to the generation of waste that needs to be treated. The recycling and reuse of polyurethane waste are essential to achieve an environmentally friendly economy. The present study investigates the potential to reuse and repurpose flexible polyurethane foam from automotive seat cushion waste materials. Flexible foams were prepared with different hardnesses using isocyanate–polyol ratios between 0.8 and 1.2 NCO-index. Dry heat aging tests were performed to mimic the long-term usage of the materials. The decrease in compressive strength was compared with the change in acoustic damping properties before and after the aging tests using an acoustic tube, and the change in foam cell structures was also analyzed by micro-CT. On the basis of the results obtained, although the foam systems are no longer suitable to be used as seat cushions due to aging, they can still be used as sound insulation materials within a given frequency range, as their sound absorption capacity is suitable for such purpose.

Experimental and Analytical Investigation for Reduction in Cost of Polyurethane Waste Disposal at Adani Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd.

Adani hazira Port handles all types of cargo including bulk, break-bulk, bulk liquid chemicals, petroleum products & edible oil, containers, automotive and crude. project includes to investigation and estimation of reduction in cost of pig foam by experimental data collection and analysis of the pig foam for manufacturing of foam squeezing machine. and study the property of same.Adani is facing issue of more use of polyurethane foam, high disposal cost of polyurethane, higher time of reutilization. pipeline clearance is done with pigging operation. work plan is to Reduction in cost of foam pig utilization per annum, reduction in cost of polyurethane foam disposal. Keyword: 1. Project Management , 2. Waste Management, 3. Pipeline management , 4. Mechanical Engineering.

Advances in Low-Density Flexible Polyurethane Foams by Optimized Incorporation of High Amount of Recycled Polyol

An industrially manufactured recycled polyol, obtained by acidolysis process, was for the first time proved to be a possible replacement of the reference fossil-based polyol in a low-density formulation suitable for industrial production of flexible polyurethane foams. The influence of increasing recycled polyol amounts on the properties of the polyurethane foam has been studied, also performing foam emission tests to evaluate the environmental impact. Using 10 pbw recycled polyol in the standard formulation, significant differences of the physical properties were not observed, but increase of the recycled polyol amount to 30 pbw led to a dramatic decrease of the foam air flow and a very tight foam. To overcome this drawback, N,N′-bis[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]urea was selected as tertiary amine catalyst, enabling the preservation of foam properties even at high recycled polyol level (30 pbw). Foam emission data demonstrated that this optimized foam formulation also led to an important reduction of volatile organic compounds. The results open the way for further optimization studies in low-density flexible polyurethane foam formulations, to increase the reutilization of the polyurethane waste and reduce the amount of petroleum-based raw materials.

Polyurethane Recycling and Disposal: Methods and Prospects

Growing water and land pollution, the possibility of exhaustion of raw materials and resistance of plastics to physical and chemical factors results in increasing importance of synthetic polymers waste recycling, recovery and environmentally friendly ways of disposal. Polyurethanes (PU) are a family of versatile synthetic polymers with highly diverse applications. They are class of polymers derived from the condensation of polyisocyanates and polyalcohols. This paper reports the latest developments in the field of polyurethane disposal, recycling and recovery. Various methods tested and applied in recent years have proven that the processing of PU waste can be economically and ecologically beneficial. At the moment mechanical recycling and glycolysis are the most important ones. Polyurethanes’ biological degradation is highly promising for both post-consumer and postproduction waste. It can also be applied in bioremediation of water and soil contaminated with polyurethanes. Another possibility for biological methods is the synthesis of PU materials sensitive to biological degradation. In conclusion, a high diversity of polyurethane waste types and derivation results in demand for a wide range of methods of processing. Furthermore, already existing ones appear to be enough to state that the elimination of not reprocessed polyurethane waste in the future is possible.

Design and Characterization of Gypsum Mortars Dosed with Polyurethane Foam Waste PFW

The properties and the behaviour of plaster mortars designed with Polyurethane Foam Waste (PFW) are studied in this investigation. A characterization of the mixtures is completed, in accordance with the technical specifications of European Norms. The incorporation of polyurethane waste foam can yield porous and lighter mortars, with better resistance to water-vapour permeability, although with weaker mechanical strength and higher levels of absorbency. Nevertheless, suitable mechanical strengths were achieved, resulting in a new material that is compliant with the requirements of the construction industry. The use of PFW in the the manufacture of gypsum mortars for construction reduces the consumption of natural resources and, at the same time, recovers an industrial waste that is otherwise difficult to recycle.

Upcycling of polyurethane waste by mechanochemistry: synthesis of N-doped porous carbon materials for supercapacitor applications

We developed an upcycling process of polyurethane obtaining porous nitrogen-doped carbon materials that were applied in supercapacitor electrodes. In detail, a mechanochemical solvent-free one-pot synthesis is used and combined with a thermal treatment. Polyurethane is an ideal precursor already containing nitrogen in its backbone, yielding nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials with N content values of 1–8 wt %, high specific surface area values of up to 2150 m2·g−1 (at a N content of 1.6 wt %) and large pore volume values of up to 0.9 cm3·g−1. The materials were tested as electrodes for supercapacitors in aqueous 1 M Li2SO4 electrolyte (100 F·g−1), organic 1 M TEA-BF4 (ACN, 83 F·g−1) and EMIM-BF4 (70 F·g−1).

Towards Circular Economy: Different Strategies for Polyurethane Waste Recycling and the Obtaining of New Products

As a consequence of the high production and simultaneous consumption of polyurethanes (PU) a great volume of PU waste is landfilled. In this scenario, suitable and efficient routes for PU waste recycling have been searched for many years. In this work two series of PUs using different recycled PU sources were synthesized: a thermoplastic PU series using a glycolysated polyol obtained from the glycolysis of elastomeric PU waste (chemical recycling) and a PU flexible foam series loaded with PU dust waste created in the shaping of PU surf tables (mechanical recycling). Results showed that the incorporation of recycled components in the formulation improved mechanical properties both in the case of thermoplastic polyurethanes and polyurethane foams. The optimum glycolysated polyol was fixed in 15% over the total polyol weight for thermoplastic PUs. In the case of foams, a maximum of 20% PU dust over the polyol weight was incorporated.