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Separation of poly (vinyl chloride) from poly(ethylene terephthalate) and other plastics using automatic sortation devices
Author(s) -
Gottesman Roy T.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
makromolekulare chemie. macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 0258-0322
DOI - 10.1002/masy.19920570112
Subject(s) - vinyl chloride , materials science , molding (decorative) , blow molding , polyethylene terephthalate , polymer , composite material , polyvinyl chloride , chlorine , polymer chemistry , copolymer , mold , metallurgy
While most poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) produced in the United States is used in the manufacture of durable building products, emphasis recently has been directed at recovery of PVC from post‐consumer disposable items such as bottles, rigid containers and rigid film. Manual sortation involving visual inspection for either the characteristic blow molding scar or code marking is at best only 90% accurate. Recent activity has focused on development of automatic sortation based on recognition of the chlorine atom which serves as a “fingerprint” for identifying PVC. Two separate technologies for sortation of such packaging are discussed in this paper ‐ the first involves X‐ray fluorescence, the second utilizes electromagnetic radiation absorption.