State-Of-The-Art Quantification of Polymer Solution Viscosity for Plastic Waste Recycling

Rita Kol; Tobias De Somer; Dagmar R D'hooge; Fabian Knappich; Kim Ragaert; Dimitris S Achilias; Steven De Meester

doi:10.1002/cssc.202100876

State-Of-The-Art Quantification of Polymer Solution Viscosity for Plastic Waste Recycling

ChemSusChem. 2021 Oct 5;14(19):4071-4102. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202100876. Epub 2021 Aug 27.

Authors

Rita Kol^{1

2}, Tobias De Somer¹, Dagmar R D'hooge³, Fabian Knappich^{4

5}, Kim Ragaert⁶, Dimitris S Achilias², Steven De Meester¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Circular Process Engineering (LCPE), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Graaf Karel De Goedelaan 5, 8500, Kortrijk, Belgium.
² Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
³ Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT) and Centre for Textiles Science and Engineering (CTSE), Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Technologiepark 125 and 70a, 9052, Zwijnaarde, Belgium.
⁴ Process Development for Polymer Recycling, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Giggenhauser Straße 35, 85354, Freising, Germany.
⁵ Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Alte Akademie 8, 85354, Freising, Germany.
⁶ Center for Polymer & Material Technologies (CPMT), Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Architecture, Ghent University, Technologiepark 130, B-9052, Zwijnaarde, Belgium.

Abstract

Solvent-based recycling is a promising approach for closed-loop recovery of plastic-containing waste. It avoids the energy cost to depolymerize the plastic but still allows to clean the polymer of contaminants and additives. However, viscosity plays an important role in handling the polymer solutions at high concentrations and in the cleaning steps. This Review addresses the viscosity behavior of polymer solutions, available data, and (mostly algebraic) models developed. The non-Newtonian viscosity models, such as the Carreau and Yasuda-Cohen-Armstrong models, pragmatically describe the viscosity of polymer solutions at different concentrations and shear rate ranges. This Review also describes how viscosity influences filtration and centrifugation processes, which are crucial steps in the cleaning of the polymer and includes a polystyrene/styrene case study.

Keywords: dyes/pigments; plastics recycling; separations; solvent effects; viscosity.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

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