Abstract
Degradation of integral skin polyurethane foams (ISPUFs) was performed using diethylene glycol (DEG)/-sorbitol/water ternary green solvent system as an effective polyurethane bond destroying agent in combination with basic catalysts, namely sodium and potassium hydroxides, sodium acetate and sodium carbonate. The effects of studied catalysts were investigated and data showed the high performances of sodium hydroxide in recycling process. After completion of the reactions, appeared split phases contained recycled polyols in the upper phase. Reactions were studied using various DEG/-sorbitol/water ratios and the recovered polyols were characterized and data compared with an authentic sample.
Highlights
Since the last 40 years, polyurethanes have been used in an ever increasing range of applications e.g. flexible and rigid foams over thermoplastic elastomers to adhesives, paints and varnishes
Some studies have revealed that a proper glycolysis process may be used to resolve the disposal problems of PU wastes, along with obtaining a high quality polyol[4,5,6,7]
One of the main goals in this study was using sorbitol as a portion of destroying solvent system in the recycling process. For this propose and in order to studying the effects of sorbitol in the glycolysis reaction, we examined the dependence of reaction times to the sorbitol content by using different basic catalysts
Summary
Since the last 40 years, polyurethanes have been used in an ever increasing range of applications e.g. flexible and rigid foams over thermoplastic elastomers to adhesives, paints and varnishes. In the recent years and among chemical recycling methods the glycolysis one has been mentioned due to simple process operations as well as economical point of views This process means using destroying diols and/ or diamines compounds as a solvent system in order to breaking down of polyurethane functional groups and libration of the polyol as well as other valued chemicals. Some studies have revealed that a proper glycolysis process may be used to resolve the disposal problems of PU wastes, along with obtaining a high quality polyol[4,5,6,7] Simioni and his coworkers investigated the effect of different glycols and found ethylene glycol as a suitable solvent allowing the process to be performed in higher polymer / glycol ratios and the product was used as a part of raw materials for RIM of rigid PUF8. In the current work and in the continuing of glycolysis of PUFs waste, an attempt was made to use sorbitol/DEG/water ternary system as a new and eco-friendly solvent-reactant mixture to investigate efficiency in polyol recovering for the first time
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