Polymer Recycling by Radiation

Abstract

Polymers have become integral part of human lives all over the world, owing to their multi-purpose utility starting from daily household commodities to high-performance industrial and medical applications. As a result, use of polymers has been increasing at a very rapid and alarming pace, leading to excessive accumulation of non-biodegradable polymeric wastes in the global environment after their service life. This effect of unsustainable ‘Polymer Pollution’ has become more prominent under the present world scenario, as a result of unchecked use of single-use polymer. One way of reducing the environmental pollution caused by polymers is to recycle them after their use. This will also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. However, although this recycling prospect is quite successfully done in case of thermoplastic polymers by using conventional recycling techniques like chemical, thermal and mechanical, recycling of thermosetting polymers, polymer composites and mixtures of polymers is not so straightforward. In this regard, use of radiation technologies has evolved as an important tool. This chapter will deal with this particular aspect of polymer and rubber recycling, as well as polymer sorting, by both ionizing and non-ionizing radiations. In-depth analysis of recently published research, bringing out the pros and cons, and comparison with other recycling technologies, will be the subject matter of this chapter.