Sorting, melting and remolding PVC is difficult, which is why so little of the roughly 60 million tons made each year comes back. A chemical route that runs at just 70 degrees Celsius skips all three and leaves a thick oil that keeps engines and gearboxes from wearing out.
Source ↗
👁 0
💬 0
The world makes about 60 million tonnes of PVC a year, and very little of it comes back around. In the United States, EPA data show that less than 5,000 tons of the 840,000 tons of PVC entering the municipal solid-waste stream in 2018 was recycled — well under 1 percent.
So why does PVC defeat the usual recycling methods so completely, and what did a team at Virginia Tech do about it?
The short version: they stopped trying to melt and remold it, and turned it into oil instead.
Why PVC beats the
So why does PVC defeat the usual recycling methods so completely, and what did a team at Virginia Tech do about it?
The short version: they stopped trying to melt and remold it, and turned it into oil instead.
Why PVC beats the
Comments (0)