Carpet recycling melt processing

Polymers from carpet waste produced by melt processing may be used to make products in a molding process, either alone or blended with virgin polymers. The recycled polymers may also be used as matrices in glass fiber reinforced composites. For such applications, the properties of the composites are dominated by the reinforcement (glass fibers), and therefore even recycled polymers without compatibilization could provide the composites with satisfactory mechanical properties. ... 

DuPont is recycling mineral-reinforced nylon 66 carpet, including that generated by Ford Motor Company that contains 25% postconsumer recycled content to manufacture engine air-cleaner housings. A proprietary process is used to reclaim the face fiber, which is melt-recycled and compoimded with virgin nylon. ... 

For many fabric recycling processes such as nylon depolymerization and polymer resin recovery, it is desirable or required to sort the feedstock according to the type of fibers. For carpet, the sorting is according to the type of the face fiber. A melt point indicator is an inexpensive instrument that can identily most fiber types, but it is generally slow and cannot distinguish between nylon 6,6 and polyester. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy are much more effective. Table 6.1 compares the various carpet identification systems. ... 

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