Plastics industry wastes

W.C. Fergusson, Recovery of Resources from Plastics Industrial Waste, Chem. Ind. (London). p. 725, Sept. 4 (1976). 

Another factor potentially affecting the market for halogenated fire retardants is the waste disposal of plastics (see Wastes, industrial). As landfiU availabihty declines or becomes less popular, two alternatives are incineration and recycling (qv). The nature of the combustion products from halogenated products requires carefiil constmction and maintenance of incinerators (qv) to avoid damage to the incinerator itself and a pubHc health problem from the exhaust. The ease of recycling used products also has a potential effect on fire retardants. 

Technology Descriptions The use of thermoplastic solidification systems in radioactive waste disposal has led to the development of waste containment systems that can be adapted to industrial waste. In processing radioactive waste with bitumen or other thermoplastic material (such as paraffin or polyethylene), the waste is dried, heated and dispersed through a heated, plastic matrix. The mixture is then cooled to solidify the mass. 

Cellulosic materials, such as wood, in their different forms (i.e., wood flour and wood pulp), cotton, shell flours, ground com cobs, and other vegetable by-products or agro-wastes are used as the source of cellulosic raw materials for the plastic industry [29,56], at least as... 

In the South Pacific, man-made debris was surveyed on 24 islands in the Thousand Island archipelago north of Java in 1985 (66). Polyethylene bags, footwear and polystyrene blocks comprised more than 90% of the 27,600 items. The main source of this debris is the dumping of rubbish and domestic and industrial waste directly into the sea at Jakarta. On New Zealand beaches, plastic litter was widely distributed and predominantly in the form of polyethylene and polypropylene beads. Near Auckland and Wellington concentrations exceeded 10,000 and 40,000 beads m of beach, and the unweathered appearance of the beads implied a nearby source (66). 

The ISO 14000 series of environmental standards and their implications for the plastics industry are discussed. Aspects of ecolabelling and life cycle analysis and different options for recycling and waste disposal are examined. 

This article reports on a full-scale study of the incineration of plasties with ordinary municipal waste, conducted in Germany by APME. The results, which indicate that burning waste plastics does less damage to the environment than other waste disposal methods, are commented upon by the plastics industry, and environmentalists. 

Arcus gasification combuster is described and the principles upon which it works are explained. This combuster combines solid fuel gasification with the burning of the lean gases produced on a small capacity scale. The types of solid fuels which can be used are listed and these include segregated municipal waste and industrial waste such as rigid PU foam and plastics mixed with other materials. Uses of the gas produced are included. 

Phenol and substituted phenol compounds (Fig. 19) are known to be widespread as components of industrial wastes. These compounds are made worldwide in the course of many industrial processes, as for example in the manufacture of plastics, dyes, drugs, and antioxidants, and in the pulp and paper industry. Organophosphorus and chlorinated phenoxyacids also yield chlorinated and nitrophenols as major degradation products. 4-Nitrophenol was reported as a breakdown product after the hydrolysis and photolysis of Parathion in water and chlorinated phenols are formed by the hydrolysis and photolysis of chlorinated phenoxyacid herbicides [251-253]. 

Disposal of solid wastes is a significant problem for the petrochemical industry. Waste solids include water treatment sludge, ashes, fly ash and incinerator residue, plastics, ferrous and nonferrous metals, catalysts, organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, filter cakes, and viscous solids. 

ISO 105-X10 Textiles - Tests for colour fastness - Part XIO Assessment of migration of textile colours into polyvinyl chloride coatings ISO 264 1976 Unplasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fittings with plain sockets for pipes under pressure - Laying lengths - Metric series ISO 265-1 1988 Pipes and fittings of plastics materials - Fittings for domestic and industrial waste pipes - Basic dimensions Metric series - Part 1 Unplasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC-U)... 

J.F. Mullen (Dorr-Ohver luc.) reports that fluidized bed incinerators have been used for municipal sludge and industrial waste incineration since the early 1960s for a variety of wastes (petroleum tank bottoms, sludge from pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and nylon manufacturing operations), waste plastics, waste oils, and solvents. Fluid beds were first considered for incinerating hazardous wastes in the 1980s. 

Wood forms one of the world s most important chemical raw materials. It is the primary source of cellulose for the pulp and paper and cellulose industries. These industries are well up in the group of 10 major industries of the United Slates. For paper, rayon, films, lacquers, explosives and plastics, which comprise the greatest chemical uses of wood, it is the cellulose component (plus certain amounts of hemicellulose) of wood that is of value. The lignin forms a major industrial waste as a by-product of the paper and cellulose industries. Its major use is in its heat value in the recovery of alkaline pulping chemicals. A variety of minor uses for lignin have been developed, such as for the manufacture of vanillin, adhesives, plastics, oil-well drilling compounds and fillers for rubber. 

Some authors took advantage of the reactivity of polymers with ozone to recycle some peculiar plastic wastes coming from different origins. In this way, Fargere [155, 156] succeeded in degradation of cross-linked ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers used in the production of sport shoes. This operation was achieved on grinded industrial wastes in suspension in CC14. In a second... 

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