Recycled material

When recycling material to the reactor for whatever reason, the pressure drop through the reactor, phase separator (if there is one), and the heat exchangers upstream and downstream of the reactor must be overcome. This means increasing the pressure of any material to be recycled. 

Clearly, the time chart shown in Fig. 4.14 indicates that individual items of equipment have a poor utilization i.e., they are in use for only a small fraction of the batch cycle time. To improve the equipment utilization, overlap batches as shown in the time-event chart in Fig. 4.15. Here, more than one batch, at difierent processing stages, resides in the process at any given time. Clearly, it is not possible to recycle directly from the separators to the reactor, since the reactor is fed at a time different from that at which the separation is carried out. A storage tank is needed to hold the recycle material. This material is then used to provide part of the feed for the next batch. The final flowsheet for batch operation is shown in Fig. 4.16. Equipment utilization might be improved further by various methods which are considered in Chap. 8 when economic tradeoffs are discussed. 

Supply Projections. Additional supphes are expected to be necessary to meet the projected production shortfall. A significant contribution is likely to come from uranium production centers such as Eastern Europe and Asia, which are not included in the capabihty projections (27). The remaining shortfall between fresh production and reactor requirements is expected to be filled by several alternative sources, including excess inventory drawdown. These shortfalls could also be met by the utili2ation of low cost resources that could become available as a result of technical developments or pohcy changes, production from either low or higher cost resources not identified in production capabihty projections, recycled material such as spent fuel, and low enriched uranium converted from the high enriched uranium (HEU) found in warheads (28). 

More often than not, however, the demand for post-consumer materials has failed to keep pace with this boom in collection. In many regions of the United States and elsewhere, the supply of recyclable materials is so great that cities have been forced to either store the materials or curtail the number of items collected. Many principal cities worldwide have reported occasions when source-separated materials were actually sent to dumps or incinerators rather than being recycled (4). 

As a result of this oversupply, scrap values for many recyclable materials have fallen noticeably over the past few years. Further complicating matters are new efforts from regulators and environmental activists to mandate the reuse of certain materials (rates and dates) and that products be made with specified amounts of recycled material (product content laws). Such demand-side measures distort market forces and do not appear to be justified on either economic or environmental grounds. 

Economic Analysis. The economic success of recycling programs is subject to the following inequaUty where X = the cost to recover recyclable materials, Y = the cost of disposal, and Z = the value of the resource recovered. 

The route to 3-bromothiophene utilises a variation of the halogen dance technology (17). Preferably, 2,5-dibromothiophene [3141-27-3] is added to a solution of sodamide in thiophene containing the catalyst tris(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl)amine (l DA-1) (33) at temperatures marginally below reflux. On completion, quenching exothermically Hberates ammonia gas the organic phase is separated, washed, and distilled, and foremnning thiophene is recycled. Material of 97—98% purity is isolated. 

Over 250,000 metric tons of microcrystaUine cellulose have been sold siace its commercialisation ia 1962 and demand continues to iacrease. Its utihty has led to development of other coUoidal polymer microcrystals (see Colloids). For example, polyamides and polyesters from recycled materials can be biodegraded to give microcrystals having a size of 30 nm (37). 

Because HCl is constandy present in most parts of the equipment, corrosion is always a potential problem. Chlorine and benzene, or any recycled material, must be free of water to trace amounts to prevent corrosion and deactivation of the catalyst. The reactor product contains HCl and iron. In some plants, the product is neutralized with aqueous NaOH before distillation. In others, it is handled in a suitably-designed distillation train, which includes a final residue from which FeCl can be removed with the high boiling tars. 

The PEEK resia is gray, crystalline, and has excellent chemical resistance T is ca 185°C, and it melts at 288°C. The unfilled resia has an HPT of 165°C, which can be iacreased to near its melting poiat by incorporating glass filler. The resia is thermally stable, and maintains ductiUty for over one week after being heated to 320°C it can be kept for years at 200°C. Hydrolytic stabiUty is excellent. The resia is flame retardant, has low smoke emission, and can be processed at 340—400°C. Crystallinity is a function of mold temperature and can reach 30—35% at mold temperatures of 160°C. Recycled material can be safely processed. Properties are given ia Table 16. 

Manual Component Separation The manual separation of solid-waste components can be accomplished at the source where solid wastes are generated, at a transfer station, at a centralized processing station, or at the disposal site. Manual sorting at the source of generation is the most positive way to achieve the recoveiy and reuse of materials. The number and types of components salvaged or sorted (e.g., cardboard and high-quality paper, metals, and wood) depend on the location, the opportunities for recycling, and the resale market. There has been an evolution in the solid waste indus-tiy to combine manual and automatic separation techniques to reduce overall costs and produce a cleaner product, especially for recyclable materials. 

This will help to enhance the molecular weight of recycled materials which may have been subject to some molecular degradation. 

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