Enhanced and Horizontal Recycling Technology of FRP using Sub-Critical Water(2)

Abstract

In enhanced and horizontal recycling of FRP, Fiber Reinforced Plastics, which are very difficult to be recycled, the separation and modification processes of styrene-fumaric acid copolymer (SFC) using 1-octanol were investigated. Almost 100% of the SFC was extracted with 1-octanol, and water residue in the SFC after extraction was 25wt%. The SFC extracted with 1-octanol was modified by 1-octanol with H₂SO₄ at 175 degree C for 17 hours. The modification was attained almost 100%. The modified SFC was mixed with a commercial low profile additive (LPA) to produce FRP sample board and tested. At 50% content of the modified SFC, the modified SFC showed almost equivalent performance to the commercial LPA. This suggests the possibility of “enhanced recycling” of FRP thermo-setting resin. The scale-up of this process was also investigated. Pilot plants of subcritical water hydrolysis and inorganic materials separation processes were designed and built. Pilot test using the pilot plants with a grinding pilot plant showed the performances which were almost more than 90% of that of bench plants. Bench plants of the SFC separation and modification processes were also designed and built. The bench-scale test showed the nearly 85% performance of beaker-scale test.