Method for recycling polymers and product produced from said method
The invention relates to a recycling method for obtaining a polymer from “post-consumer” materials, and to a material and a part consisting of polymers obtained from the recycling of used polymers.
1. A method for recycling polymers from ground “post-consumer” materials, the method comprising a step for extracting volatile organic compounds present within said polymers, wherein said volatile organic compounds are extracted by contacting the ground materials with a solution comprising at least a wetting agent and/or an agent for solubilizing fatty acid esters, at a temperature between 15° C. and 5° C. below the boiling point of said solution.
2. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said wetting agent is an alcohol.
3. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said wetting agent is a C1-C5 aliphatic alcohol.
4. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein the alcohol content of said solution is between 4% and 25% by volume.
5. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said agent for solubilizing said fatty acid esters is an acid added to said solution so that the solution pH is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 5.
6. The method for recycling according to claim 5 , wherein said acid is selected from the group of mineral acids.
7. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .
8. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymers to be recycled are polyolefins (homopolymers or copolymers of olefins).
10. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said extraction is carried out under atmospheric pressure.
11. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said solution is in liquid state.
12. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer resulting from said method is the same as the polymer contained in said “post-consumer” material subjected to said method.
13. The material obtained from the method according to claim 1 .
14. The part manufactured in the material according to claim 13 .
15. The method for recycling according to claim 3 , wherein the alcohol content of said solution is between 4% and 25% by volume.
16. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .
17. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .
18. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.
19. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.
20. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said wetting agent is a C1-C3 alcohol.
21. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said wetting agent is a denatured alcohol containing a mixture of C1, C2 and C3 alcohols.
22. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said agent for solubilizing said fatty acid esters is an acid added to said solution so that the solution pH is between 4 and 5.
23. The method for recycling according to claim 5 , wherein said acid is hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid.
24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymers to be recycled is polypropylene.