Recycling and reuse of waste artificial turf via solid-state shear milling technology

Qing Liu,Shuangqiao Yang,Pan He,Shibing Bai,Wenfeng Duan

doi:10.1039/c7ra11206h

Abstract

The strong 3-dimensional shear forces of solid-state shear milling technology allowed ultrafine milling of WAT to recycle and reuse it.

Highlights

Arti cial turf (AT) has been successfully used as a replacement for natural grass and is increasingly applied on athletics elds,[1] residential turfs and landscaping[2] (Fordyce, 2011)
The solid state shear milling reactor adopted its three-dimensional shear to ultra ne mill waste arti cial turf (WAT) at room temperature, only by ultra ne milling WAT at room temperature, the domain size and the performance of the material were controlled by the particle sizes and its distribution of the composite powder at the solid state
The S3M technique milled WAT into indiscriminate ultra ne powder at room temperature successfully and effectively, and the domain size and the performance of the material were controlled by the particle size and its distribution of the composite powder at the solid state

Summary

Introduction

Arti cial turf (AT) has been successfully used as a replacement for natural grass and is increasingly applied on athletics elds,[1] residential turfs and landscaping[2] (Fordyce, 2011). The life time of arti cial turf is only 5–10 years,[3] and a large amount of waste arti cial turf (WAT) are produced. The arti cial turf mainly consists of three parts:[3] arti cial grass bers (polyethylene, PE), carpet backing (polypropylene and poly(ethylene terephthalate), PP and PET) and adhesive (crosslinking polyacrylate and inorganic ller). The components of the arti cial grass bers and carpet backing are all thermal plastics, they are incompatible due to the big difference in their melt points (PE, $126 C; PP, $165 C; PET, $240 C) and their viscosities don't match each other. WAT includes some in lls, a mixture of sand and crumb rubber to support the ber blades and provide cushion

Methods

Results

Conclusion