Mon, 15 August, 2022
Committed to contributing to the change from the current linear economy model to a circular economy model, CeNTI aims to develop new added-value products using sustainable and recycled raw materials with lower environmental impact.
The ISOPREP project offers an innovative approach for a sustainable, solvent-based and cost-effective closed-loop recycling process for PP carpet piles and other complex waste streams. The ISOPREP process allows the reduction of dependency on fossil-based resources. The properties of the virgin quality recycled PP resulting from the process were evaluated and compared with fossil-based alternatives in a collaboration between CeNTI, LSBU, IPPE and Sabanci University.
Still within the concept of the ISOPREP project, utilising recycled PP obtained from the developed chemical recycling plant, CeNTI successfully produced thermoplastic compounds with up to 100% content of recycled PP. With these, melt spun textile fibres with recycled content up to 100% were produced, which fulfilled the requirements of weaving processes in terms of tenacity and elongation at break. Furthermore, with the developed compounds, CeNTI successfully produced coating formulations with 50% of this material, that were coated onto a PP-based non-woven by slot die extrusion on a roll-to-roll process. In parallel, it was also studied the feasibility of using the dissolved recycled PP as a feeding stream for wet spinning, as an alternative process to the melt spinning. The developed textile solutions are monomaterial, thus facilitating their recycling at the ISOPREP chemical recycling plant at their end of life.