Ionic Solvent-based Recycling of Polypropylene Products

Polypropylene (PP) is used in a wide variety of products such as automobile interiors, food and beverage packaging, consumer goods packaging, electronics, construction materials, carpets and other home furnishings. The typically very short life of PP products, of which about only 1 % is recycled, makes PP a substantial contributor to non-biodegradable plastics contamination of the environment. A cost effective and eco-friendly PP recycling process has become an important goal in the management of the global environment. Existing recycling technologies for PP are primarily mechanical and/or thermal and result in a lower quality ‘down-cycled’ product, which contains contaminants (such as dyestuffs) and degraded materials. The current EU research project (ISOPREP) under Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme aims to develop an integrated process for the solvent-based recycling of end-of-life polypropylene which will involve the optimization of dye leaching, filtration, purification, dissolvation, precipitation and solvent recovery stages and to exemplify the process at pilot scale using polypropylene carpet as feedstock. The students taking roles in this project will acquire broad knowledge and hand-on skills on the processing and recycling of polymers, separation and purification techniques and characterization of polymers.