Open AccessA Study on the Life Cycle Environmental Impact Comparison of Recycled Polyol of Waste Polyurethane with Virgin Polyol
Author(s) -
Inmog Yang,
Young-Sil Kim,
Daesoo Lee,
Bong Gyoo Cho,
Joong Woo Ahn
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
clean technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2288-0690
pISSN - 1598-9712
DOI - 10.7464/ksct.2015.21.3.171
Subject(s) - polyol , polyurethane , production (economics) , life cycle assessment , waste management , pulp and paper industry , environmental science , materials science , engineering , composite material , economics , macroeconomics
A life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was employed to evaluate environmental impact of recycled polyol from polyurethane in an R&D stage and to suggest future direction for improvement of environmental performance of the recycling technology. The comparison result shows between recycled polyol in the developing stage and in the anticipated mass production with virgin polyol production that environmental impact of recycled polyol of the developing stage and the anticipated mass production level correspond to 93%, 60% of that of virgin polyol, respectively. The LCA result identifies improvement areas of reducing environmental impact in recycling polyols, that is, use of alkylene oxide and steam. In the future research, this must be taken into consideration for better performance of recycling technology.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom