Open Source Waste Plastic Granulator

Arvind Ravindran,Theresa K Meyer,Joshua M Pearce,Walker Nelson,Andrew R Barnard,Shane Oberloier,Jacob Franz,Peter Gorecki,Sean Scsavnicki

doi:10.3390/technologies7040074

Arvind Ravindran, Theresa K Meyer + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies7040074

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Journal: Technologies	Publication Date: Oct 14, 2019
Citations: 13	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Michigan Technological University, Aalto University

Abstract

In order to accelerate deployment of distributed recycling by providing low-cost feed stocks of granulated post-consumer waste plastic, this study analyzes an open source waste plastic granulator system. It is designed, built, and tested for its ability to convert post-consumer waste, 3D printed products and waste into polymer feedstock for recyclebots of fused particle/granule printers. The technical specifications of the device are quantified in terms of power consumption (380 to 404 W for PET and PLA, respectively) and particle size distribution. The open source device can be fabricated for less than $2000 USD in materials. The experimentally measured power use is only a minor contribution to the overall embodied energy of distributed recycling of waste plastic. The resultant plastic particle size distributions were found to be appropriate for use in both recyclebots and direct material extrusion 3D printers. Simple retrofits are shown to reduce sound levels during operation by 4dB-5dB for the vacuum. These results indicate that the open source waste plastic granulator is an appropriate technology for community, library, maker space, fab lab, or small business–based distributed recycling.

Highlights

The open-source release of the self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3D printer [1,2,3] greatly expanded access to additive manufacturing (AM) because of several orders of magnitude reduction in costs [4]
This study successfully demonstrates the designs, build, and testing of an open source waste plastic granulator for its ability to convert post-consumer waste, 3D printed products, and 3D printer waste into polymer feedstock for recyclebots of fused particle/granule printers
The device can be built from open source plans using materials that cost less than $2000 USD

Summary

Introduction

The open-source release of the self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3D printer [1,2,3] greatly expanded access to additive manufacturing (AM) because of several orders of magnitude reduction in costs [4]. As open-source RepRap 3D printers spawned hundreds of clones, fused filament fabrication (FFF) enabled a shift in the trend from centralized to consumer (or prosumer) distributed manufacturing [4,5,6,7,8]. Commercial 3D printing filament is still sold for roughly an order of magnitude more than the cost of the raw materials of virgin plastic pellets (e.g., $15–100 USD/kg vs $1–10 USD/kg)

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Conclusion