Oligo-Polyols by Chemical Recovery of PU Wastes

What is it possible to do with these solid PU wastes  

On the other hand, the PU wastes represent a real value because in their composition there are extremely valuable petrochemical materials (e.g., oligo-polyols, isocyanates, silicon emulsifiers, flame retardants and so on) and for the formation of these petrochemical materials an appreciable quantity of energy was consumed. These ecological and economic reasons led to a very intensive research effort, to find a solution to render value to these valuable materials PU wastes. The scope of the recycling technologies described is to recover as much as possible of the materials and energy resources invested in the PU material. 

In the area of flexible foams the regrinding of foam wastes and their incorporation into new foams is the current way of recycling [2], Rebounding process linking of cut PU foams wastes by an adhesive, to obtain new PU foam materials into high quality carpet underlay is another process without the chemical destruction of the PU polymer [3, 4, 5]. 

Other variants of PU recycling are the pyrolysis and the recovery of the organic products resulting from thermal destruction of PU and energy recovery by the combustion of the PU wastes [6-10]. 

Chemical recovery processes by PU polymer breakdown through hydrolysis, glycolysis and aminolysis processes are extremely important because by using chemical reactions, the PU wastes are chemically transformed into new products which can possibly be used in the fabrication process of new PU. PU wastes are important raw materials for new polyols destined to become rigid and flexible foams. 

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