Project Details
Description
This project is funded by the Royal Society Research Grant. In this project, a recycled grade polypropylene materials will be developed for the rotational moulding plastic industry.
Rotational moulding (rotomoulding) is the main plastic manufacturing process to produce large hollow structures - storage tanks, automotive components, boats etc. To maintain the current growth rate (5.9%/year) of rotomoulding market globally, in-line with the environmental management and sustainable development goal, this sector is facing challenges in developing strategies for going forward. Although, most of the rotomoulded products are recyclable, the end-of-lives (EoL) recycling of the used rotomoulded products is very
difficult, because of the current complex product collection process and supply chain system in this industry. In addition, reducing the use of virgin materials leading to lower environment pollution could be achieved through
blending non-rotomoulded (post-consumer/post-industrial/mixtures) plastics with virgin rotomould-grade materials at a significant amount, which is not yet scientifically/commercially established in this sector. Therefore, this project aims to develop a new blend for rotomoulding industry through using non-rotomoulded recycled Polypropylene (PP) plastics with virgin rotomould-grade PP at an optimised blend-ratio between them. PP is mostly used materials after Polyethylene (PE) in this sector. Although PP offers better strength,
higher temperature resistance, it has lower impact toughness compared to PE. Moreover, the recycling of PP might affect the toughness properties adversely. Hence, the required toughness properties of the developed blend will be investigated and maintained using toughness modifying additives with the favourable manufacturing conditions. The project findings are expected to scale-up industrially for offering technological improvements to manufacturers in order to meet-up the increasing customer demands of having PP-based
products from recycled contents in this industry.
Rotational moulding (rotomoulding) is the main plastic manufacturing process to produce large hollow structures - storage tanks, automotive components, boats etc. To maintain the current growth rate (5.9%/year) of rotomoulding market globally, in-line with the environmental management and sustainable development goal, this sector is facing challenges in developing strategies for going forward. Although, most of the rotomoulded products are recyclable, the end-of-lives (EoL) recycling of the used rotomoulded products is very
difficult, because of the current complex product collection process and supply chain system in this industry. In addition, reducing the use of virgin materials leading to lower environment pollution could be achieved through
blending non-rotomoulded (post-consumer/post-industrial/mixtures) plastics with virgin rotomould-grade materials at a significant amount, which is not yet scientifically/commercially established in this sector. Therefore, this project aims to develop a new blend for rotomoulding industry through using non-rotomoulded recycled Polypropylene (PP) plastics with virgin rotomould-grade PP at an optimised blend-ratio between them. PP is mostly used materials after Polyethylene (PE) in this sector. Although PP offers better strength,
higher temperature resistance, it has lower impact toughness compared to PE. Moreover, the recycling of PP might affect the toughness properties adversely. Hence, the required toughness properties of the developed blend will be investigated and maintained using toughness modifying additives with the favourable manufacturing conditions. The project findings are expected to scale-up industrially for offering technological improvements to manufacturers in order to meet-up the increasing customer demands of having PP-based
products from recycled contents in this industry.
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 17/10/22 → 16/10/23 |
UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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