Electrohydraulic Fragmentation of Aluminum and Polymer Fractions from Waste Pharmaceutical Blisters

Recently, awareness has been raised concerning the need to decrease the total environmental footprint throughout the life cycle of a medicine, including the packaging materials. Aluminum, a highly energy-intensive metal, is widely used in blister packages together with polymers. However, these blister packages suffer from poor recyclability, with the clear majority of waste blister packages (WBPs) disposed of in municipal solid waste, and therefore often being incinerated. In the current study, the separation of aluminum from the polymer in WPBs was investigated to make Al available for direct recycling at a secondary Al facility. The characterization of WPBs (ICP-OES, SEM-EDS, and TGA) showed that the investigated fractions consisted of approximately 10-12 wt.% of aluminum, with the clear majority of waste blister mass in the polymer fractions, which consisted of two overlapping layers. Moreover, the polymer layer also gave indications of the presence of Cl. WPBs were subjected to electro-hydraulic fragm...