It is important to develop the scientific knowledge and stimulate innovations to recycling Plastics. The extremely large variety of plastic based objects that we use in our daily life are made of a wide range of plastic materials covering many different polymers, many different formulations. Plastics objects are also used for many purposes and there is therefore the need of various ways to collect, sort and treat them.
Methods of recycling of plastics are generally divided into four categories: primary, secondary, tertiary, and qua-ternary (see Figure 9). Primary recycling or closed loop recycling method is considered when the materials after recycling present equal or improved properties compared to the initial or virgin materials. When the recyclates present a decrease in the properties level, one may spook about secondary or down-cycling method. In tertiary (also known as chemical or feedstock) recycling method, the waste stream is converted into monomers or chemicals that could be advantageously used in the chemical industries. Finally, quaternary (also known as thermal recycling, energy recovery, and energy from waste) recycling method corresponds to the recovery of plastics as energy and is not considered as recycling for Circular Economy.
Various processes can be considered for chemical recycling which present different level of maturity. Hence this project that will study the decontamination of various PVC formulations using green solvents, and more particularly supercritical CO2
This work located in Saclay, France, in the heart of the University Paris-Saclay and will benefit from a very multidisciplinary and international environment.
This work will benefit from the prestigious framework of the France 2030 funding, and more precisely the PEPR Recycling (https://www.cnrs.fr/fr/pepr/pepr-recyclabilite-recyclage-et-reincorporation-des-materiaux-recycles ). It will be supervised by Dr. Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel: linkedin.com/in/jcpgabriel).