Recycling polyurethane offers panel producers an opportunity for great economic savings while embracing sustainable practices.
August 4, 2021
Since 1990, CO2 emissions have increased by more than 50%, dramatically affecting Earth by changing precipitation cycles and temperatures.
In 2015, 196 Nations signed the Paris Agreement to reduce climate change risks and effects, undertaking to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C through a series of regulations aimed at reducing emissions in the atmosphere and encouraging efficient energy use. In parallel, Europe is working to be the first continent with zero climate impact by 2050.
Reducing energy consumption is the most efficient way to limit greenhouse gas emissions and ensure energy supply. In this context, polyurethane, thanks to its insulative properties, plays a fundamental role.
The two souls of polyurethane
Polyurethane is one of the most efficient and safest materials for maximizing efficiency for buildings, home appliances, and vehicles.
For roofs, walls, windows, and pipes in the building sector, polyurethane provides the most effective thermal insulation for maintaining internal temperature, reducing energy consumption and waste, and limiting energy loss from homes.
Similarly, in household appliances, using polyurethane leads to less consumption for refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, and similar equipment.
In the automotive sector — for seating, steering wheels, cavity filling, and other applications — PUR helps reduce the weight of cars and trucks, consequently saving fuel.
Polyurethane is essential to the energy transition, a fundamental tool, but also has an enormous limit: it is synthetic, not bio-based or biodegradable.
In more recent years, companies have invested a lot into research and development, looking for new ways to recycle or reintroduce end-of-life polyurethane back into the production process.
Is polyurethane recyclable?
Depending on the type of polyurethane, different recycling methods can be applied to recycle polyurethane to safeguard the environment and avoid wasting the material.
For some companies, especially sandwich panel producers, recycling polyurethane foam generated as process waste presents an important economic opportunity, especially considering that in the EU it costs 300-400 per ton to dispose of.
The three main polyurethane foam recycling processes are:
- Chemical recomposition and reintegration as a polymer: Many companies, mainly raw material suppliers, are investing in glycolysis or molecular cracking plants that can obtain reusable polymers from molded products
- Thermal valorization: polyurethane becomes an energy source, thanks to its high residual calorific value for incinerators which allows new energy to be generated, effectively replacing fossil fuels
- Mechanical reintegration: polyurethane is mechanically crushed or ground and then inserted into new raw materials
Reintegration after maceration
This PUR recycling method is commonly used when producing insulation panels. Producers of these panels must manage a percentage of process waste, ranging from 2% to 5% of the product: recycling polyurethane foam is a strategic choice.
In this case, PUR is reduced to flakes or powder and reintegrated into the new mixture.
For this type of polyurethane foam recycling, we developed a specific process with dedicated equipment: a re-integration module, dosing unit, and mixing head. Tests performed in our laboratory showed that conductivity, expansion and density of the foam with recycled PUR, after proper blending, are similar to foam without integrated material.
Due to the material’s intrinsic characteristics, panels produced with integrated recycled polyurethane are optimal in all cases when the panel is exposed to water or humidity, sudden temperature changes, and atmospheric agents.
A microscopic view of polyurethane blended with recycled polyurethane
