Recycling of a post-industrial printed multilayer plastic film containing polyurethane inks by solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

• Published in: Resources, conservation and recycling Vol. 197; no. C; p. 107086
• Main Authors: Sánchez-Rivera, Kevin L., Munguía-López, Aurora del Carmen, Zhou, Panzheng, Cecon, Victor S., Yu, Jiuling, Nelson, Kevin, Miller, Daniel, Grey, Steve, Xu, Zhuo, Bar-Ziv, Ezra, Vorst, Keith L., Curtzwiler, Greg W., Van Lehn, Reid C., Zavala, Victor M., Huber, George W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.10.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Dissolution; Economics; Environmental; Plastic; Polymer; Recycling; Economics; Polymer; Environmental; Plastic; Recycling; Dissolution
• ISSN: 0921-3449; 1879-0658
• DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107086

•PE, EVOH, and PET can be recovered from a printed multilayer plastic film by STRAP.•The recovered polymers had comparable properties to the pure resins.•Color removal from PET was observed with biomass-derived gamma-valerolactone (GVL).•The process could be economically feasible at a processing capacity of 6,000 tons/year.•Environmental impacts related to plastic film production could be reduced by utilizing STRAP polymers. The recently reported Solvent-Targeted Recovery And Precipitation (STRAP) strategy is used to deconstruct multilayer plastic packaging films into their constituent resins by selective polymer dissolution. To broaden the applicability of STRAP, we demonstrate the process with a flexible post-industrial printed multilayer plastic film used for food packaging. The material was a reverse printed film composed of polyethylene (PE), ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyurethane (PU)-based inks. Removal of all colors was observed with biomass-derived gamma-valerolactone (GVL) and the recovered polymers possessed comparable properties to the corresponding virgin resins. A technoeconomic analysis indicates that this STRAP process could be economically feasible at a processing capacity of 6,000 tons per year. Moreover, the production of plastic films with materials recovered by this STRAP process can have a lower climate change impact than the production of films from virgin polymers. Synopsis. Solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) is a dissolution-based plastic recycling technique that can be used to recover the polymer components of a printed multilayer plastic film. [Display omitted]