Resource Recovery Unit

The Resource Recovery Unit staff also provides direct technical assistance to industry, when requested, and can perform plant inspections, process reviews or just meet with plant inspections, process reviews or just meet with plant representatives to discuss regulatory or technological issues. 

Since 1976, the California Waste Exchange has successfully recycled numerous waste streams. In one year over SO waste streams were recycled that had previously been disposed. The Resource Recovery Unit is convinced that by keeping industry well informed the old throw away ethic can be changed to a more conservationist mode of thinking. 

---

Personnel supporting waste reduction efforts include one supervisor, three lead senior staff, and a multidisciplinary team of 25 engineers and scientists. These personnel are employed in the Waste Reduction Unit, the Resource Recovery Unit, and the Technology Clearinghouse Unit. These three units comprised the Waste Reduction Program. Each unit s activities are discussed below. 

Resource Recovery Unit - Robert McCormick o Directory of Recyclers... 

In the mid-1980s, issues regarding toxic metal and or-ganie emissions from eombustion of hazardous wastes in boilers and other proeess furnaces as well as incinerators became of concern to the EPA. Boilers and industrial furnaces burning hazardous waste were initially exempt from the RCRA incinerator requirements. Under RCRA, these units are considered to be resource recovery units, which do not fall under the definition of incinerators. In 1991, the final rales governing the... 

Spartanburg, S.C., 1995, pp.16. llins. 15/11/95. UNITED RESOURCE RECOVERY CORP. LOOK WHO S TALKING ABOUT US NOW ... 

Photocopies of journal articles relating to the Unipet process for the recycling of PETP developed by United Resource Recovery Corp. Details are given of the process which enables contaminated PETP to be recycled by the use of caustic soda which reacts with the PETP to yield ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, followed by heating and evaporation of the EG which reduces organic impurities to carbon dioxide and water and leaves solid terephthalic salt. Its implications for the industry are also discussed. 

The UnPET process for the depolymerisation of PETP has been developed by United Resouree Reeovery Corp. The proeess is elaimed to effieiently remove impurities present in post eonsumer PETP serap, even those present at a concentration of 40% or more. Key stages of the process whieh is proteeted by patent, are deseribed, and also details of the eompany s plans to invest over 5 million US dollars in a new faeility based on UnPET teehnology. UNITED RESOURCE RECOVERY CORP. 

In the United States, electrical and electronic appliances, when old and considered to be wastes, are sent to sanitary landfill sites for dismantling, separation, resource recovery, and disposal. Commercial companies are getting formed for the waste handling, packaging, transportation, resource recovery, and disposition operations, aiming at profit-making.1-3 5-11... 

Recycling programs have been remarkably successful in the United States since the 1960s. In 2000, there were curbside "source separation" recycling programs in 9,250 communities. In addition, there were 3,800 separate programs for the collection of yard trimmings. As already noted, resource recovery plants had become somewhat less popular, with just over 100 such plants in operation in 2000. These plants had a total daily capacity of 95,700 short tons (87,000 metric tons) of wastes. 

T0187 Covenant Environmental Technologies, Inc., Mobile Retort Unit T0188 Croy Dewatering Environmental Services, Inc., Dual-Phase Recovery Unit T0191 Cunningham-Davis Environmental (CDE Resources, Inc.), ID-20 Chemical Neutralization Process... 

UnPET [United Resource Recovery PolyEthylene Terephthalate] A process for recycling waste PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The PET is first hydrolyzed by hot aqueous alkali, and the product then undergoes five complex processes. The only products leaving the process are terephthalic acid, ethylene glycol, carbon dioxide, and water. Developed from 1996 by the United Resource Recovery Corporation, Spartanburg, SC, and operated on a large scale in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. 

Another possibility to use PET recyclate for food applications is the URRC process (United Resource Recovery Corporation). In this method the cleaned PET flakes are covered with concentrated caustic soda. After evaporation of the water in a rotary kiln the sodium hydroxide etches the surface of the PET at a temperature of more than 200°C. The resulting sodium terephthalate is removed by washing. The remaining flakes are used for the production of bottle preforms. Since 2000 several plants in Switzerland and Germany have been established [1],... 

The UnPET-process of the United Resource Recovery Cooperation [21] uses a concentrated alkaline solution for the saponification of finely grounded PET. In this process a preceding cleaning treatment is not necessary. The alkaline/PET mixture is heated to 230-290°C in a rotary kiln. After vaporizing the water the PET is saponified. Also EG is vaporized and collected. Impurities such as paper and polyethylene are oxidized by air. 

J. A. Schwartz, United Resource Recovery Corporation, US Patent, 5,580,905 (1996). 

Schultze, L. E. and Bauer, D. J. Operation of a mineral recovery unit on brine from the Salton Sea known geothermal resource area. Tech. Rep.BUMIENES-RI-8680, Bureau of Mines, Reno Research Center, Reno, NV, 1982. 

Considering that in 1970 there were 232 municipalities in the United States with populations ranging from 50,000 to 100,000, and 455 municipalities with populations ranging from 25,000 to 50,000, it appears that there are many potential users for small-scale resource recovery systems (15). The above two groups of municipalities represented a total population in 1970 of over 30 million people and probably generated close to 40,000 tons/day of MSW. 

Installation of closed-loop systems for in-process recycle Recycling on-site at other process units or off-site for reuse Finding new uses for previously unwanted byproducts Segregation of wastes by type to allow for recovery Reclamation processing of waste for resource recovery... 

Recypet This is a Swiss recycler using the HybridUnPET process from the United Resource Recovery Corporation. The website is WWW. cleanaway-pet. com. 

United Resource Recovery Corporation This outfit were the originators of the UnPET and ElybridUnPET processes. The former appears to be a saponification process. The latter is less clear, but appears to at least include an additional grinding stage to increase the efficiency of the overall process. The company is currently mainly involved in licensing out these processes to other recyclers. The website is www.urrc.net. 

---