When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Nowadays, most toothpaste tubes, coffee bags, and drink pouches, as well as some other food and personal-care product containers, are made of laminated packaging materials. That packaging may soon be recyclable in the U.K., according to Waste Management World.
Laminated packaging materials join several layers of materials into one sheet. Most often, the layers are plastic and aluminum. Laminated packaging offers benefits over traditional materials, such as reduced weight, extra cushioning, and better barrier protection. The low weight provides environmental benefits, including reducing transport cost and the amount of material to be disposed of. But in a world driven by weight-based targets, the low weight has basically made recyclers ignore them.
However, a critical mass is forming. In the U.K. alone, 139,000 tons of the packaging is consumed each year with 10% growth annually. It contains an average of 9.7% aluminum foil by weight. So the U.K.’s Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) recently commissioned environmental research specialists to investigate the viability of using a microwave-induced pyrolysis technology for recycling.
Enval, a U.K. company that spun off from the University of Cambridge, developed the process, which is focused on recycling aluminum-containing laminate structures.
During general pyrolysis, organic material, such as paper or plastic, is heated without oxygen, and the material degrades by basically shortening its molecular chains. Microwaves do not heat plastic. Therefore, in Enval’s process, microwaves heat and degrade carbon in the multilayer material, which in turn becomes the heat source to pyrolyze plastic into oils that can be used to generate electricity or become feedstock for specialty chemicals. The aluminum in the laminate material can be extracted as clean material for recycling with other aluminum.
WRAP also examined the economics of the process. According to Waste Management World:
Taking into account a number of other factors, such as operating costs, license fees, transport costs and savings on landfill tax, the report concludes that a commercial facility processing 2000 tonnes per year could potentially provide a payback period of around four years.
The next challenge, as Claire Shrewsbury, packaging program manager at WRAP, told Waste Management World, will be finding an effective way to collect these materials from the trash.
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