ENGR101 Assigment 1 - Kees Vos - kvo21 PDF

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Engineering report assignment- take this as a 'do not copy' assignment. I only got 60% on this. ...

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ENGR101 2020 Assignment 1 Name: Kees Vos ID Number: 77289955 Username: kvo21 Workshop Number: Due Date and Time: 16th of March, 3pm

Declaration I confirm that the submission attached to this cover sheet is entirely my own work (apart from general verbal discussion with other students). Signed: Kees Vos

Return of work after marking (TICK ONE ONLY)

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I agree to this work being returned to me in a pool of other students’ work, with the markers’ comments and mark being hidden from casual view. I request that this work be treated as strictly confidential between the Department and me, and returned directly to me, upon providing suitable identification.

Marking Schedule Content (Summary, Introduction, Technical Information, Conclusions) Content does not relate well to the subject, very little useful information. A small amount of content but insufficient to meet the aim of the report. Good but some sections poor or minimal information. Mostly good but room for improvement in one aspect. Clear content, good summary, full of relevant information, good conclusion

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Grammar (grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice) There are a number of different problems in grammar, spelling and/or punctuation, and communication is not effective or report is difficult to read and understand. Readable but a number of improvements are possible. A small number of improvements are possible. Correct in all aspects. Difficult to improve further

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Format (Consistent typographical standard, spacing, headings) Inconsistent or distracting formatting that makes reading difficult. Room for improvement Very effective format that makes reading easy. Paragraphs correct, title page.

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Graph(s) (Clear, axes labelled, appropriate caption underneath) No graphs or very many improvements required Room for improvement Very clear, uncluttered, professional appearance, appropriate caption.

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Table(s) (Clear, uncluttered, units shown, appropriate caption above) No tables or many improvements required Room for improvement Very clear, uncluttered, professional appearance, appropriate caption above.

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Citation and Referencing (Range of sources, citations, references) Not cited within text or referenced at all or very poor citation. Only one of the three parts (range of sources, citations, references) has been done well. Two parts done well or room for improvement. Proper APA citation and referencing format used. All references are cited in the report. A good range of sources (≥ 5) are used.

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Penalties: no marking sheet (-1), word count (-1, -2) Total Mark Marker’s initials:

/22

Coloured and Opaque PET Recycling

Kees Vos

ENGR101 Foundations of Engineering 2020

University of Canterbury

Summary The use of NIR and optical sorting systems for sorting coloured PET plastics, the best system chosen was a whole unit mass feed system from TITECH. 10 ton/hour throughput, coloured sorting, resin sorting and 99% accuracy. The adoption of this technology will reduce contaminants in clear PET recycling. The sorted coloured PET plastics will then be repurposed for use in fibres (clothing, pillows, rope etc.). Goverment subsidies and/or regulations should be adopted to encourage companies to improve their sorting systems. Greater market for recycled PET plastics is also necessary. Increased amount of recycled PET plastic and a reduction in virgin PET is essential to improve recycling problem. Ultimately, this should decrease the amount of PET plastics entering landfills and oceans and improve recycling company potential profits.

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Table of Contents Summary............................................................i Introduction.......................................................1 Technical Information..............................................1 Conclusion.........................................................8 ENGR101 report guidelines..........................................9

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Introduction PET plastics are cheap, strong, light-weight and recyclable making them ideal for consumer products, such as bottles. The problem with coloured PET plastics when recycled produce opaque plastic reducing the value and appeal. By improving the sorting system of the bottles to remove coloured bottles into a separate facility/plant that would repurpose the plastic. In this project the goal is to achieve a better sorting system inside MRFs (materials recovery facility) using NIR and optical sorting systems. This report is focused on the feasibility to improve the sorting methods in MFRs to reduce coloured PET entering the facility providing a positive impact on the environment with more recycled plastics being repurposed and the companies wishing to improve their sorting and recycling efficiency.

Technical Information The issue with coloured and opaque PET bottles in the recycling facility are the additives used to colour PET bottles. Some milk bottles producers are switching from a HDPE to a cheaper PET with TiO2 coating. The transparency of clear recycled PET bottles is reduced (i.e haze effect), coloured PET bottles can have a TiO2 content up to 5% (Colored PET, Plastics Technology.) The issue being that recycled PET is harder to sell due to the restrictions of colouring and it’s more expensive than virgin PET (non-recycled) shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Price comparison of virgin PET flake compared to recycled PET flake in Europe (‘In the War Against Plastic, America Is a Big Threat’, 2019)

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Virgin PET is now cheaper than recycled giving a bigger incentive to use it over recycled PET. Aside from aesthetics, recycledPET plastics are not commonly used in food packaging due to an increased amount of contaminants migrating into the food/drink. The FDA sets strict contaminant regulations for plastics shown in Table 1. When antimony containing PET plastic is heated it can release the contaminant into the water that are above the FDA regulations. (Westerhoff et al., 2008)

Table 1: FDA regulation for contaminant migration in food (Contanimant levels in recycled PET plastic, Kontol)

Maximum concentration in the polymer Maximum migration amount Polymer

(ppb)

(ppb)

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

215

10

Polystyrene (PS)

180

6

90

5

(HDPE)

123

4

Polypropylene (PP)

778

25

92

3

256

10

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) High density polyethylene

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) Polycarbonate (PC)

It is necessary to use recycled PET for uses other than food packaging. To reduce recycled PET plastic in food packaging greater means of sorting is required in MRFs. NIR (near infra-red) sorting is a very successful means of sorting plastics. NIR sorting does not sort by colour but by resin of plastic. NIR uses a wavelength signature to determine the plastic type. Optical sorting systems use light to determine the colour to sort the plastic. A combination of the two technologies would prove an effective method of sorting plastic.

Defining Success Constraints to consider are: •

Technologically feasible

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Instant implementation (use existing technology)

•

Environmentally beneficial

•

Cost effective

•

Efficient

Success would be determined by the effective processing speed of the technology and the precision. >95% sorting accuracy would be considered a success with processing amount of at least 5 tons per hour, colour sorting and PET plastic sorting. The coloured PET plastics could then be repurposed as other goods such as clothing, fibres and paper water-proofing, there is a need to increase the market capacity for recycled PET plastics.

Testing The following tables are from an assessment of comercially available plastic sorting technology:

Table 2: Whole unit singulated feed (Demingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology, 2011)

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Table 3: Whole unit mass feed (Demingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology, 2011)

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Table 4: Whole unit mass feed (continued) (Demingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology, 2011)

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Table 5: Whole unit mass feed (continued) (Demingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology, 2011)

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Table 6: Whole unit mass feed (continued) (Demingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology, 2011)

From Table 4, Autosort by TITECH is the optimal choice for its ability to sort a wide range of plastics (including PET), colour sorting, 10 ton/hour throughput and 99% accuracy. The price of the unit is $250,000NZD making it an affordable choice. To ensure that better sorting systems are implemented goverments could enforce regulations or subsidies for recycling plants. Companies should adopt better sorting systems as a priority.

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Conclusion Coloured PET is a problem with every recycling plant with issues of hazing and contaminant migration in recycled PET plastics making it unsuitable for food and beverage packaging limiting its value and applications. With NIR and optical sorting plastic hazing in clear PET by coloring contaminants can be reduced reducing the need for more plastic. With the coloured plastic seperated it can be shipped to another factory to be further processed and repurposed into piping, clothing and other products. A decrease of virgin PET plastics and an increase of recycled PET is a must to ensure enough PET material is being recycled. Government incentives/regulations and company initiative to go ahead with better NIR and optical sorting systems could improve the productivity and environmental impact.

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References

Colored PET: Pretty To Look At; Headache For Recyclers. (n.d.). Retrieved 12 March 2020, from https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/colored-pet-pretty-to-look-at-headache-for-recyclersDemingling the mix: An assessment of commercially available automated sorting technology. (2011). 25. In the War Against Plastic, America Is a Big Threat. (2019, October 6). Bloomberg.Com. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-06/america-s-shale-boom-is-a-threatto-recycled-plastic-bottles Konkol, L. (n.d.). Contaminant levels in recycled PET plastic. 319. Westerhoff, P., Prapaipong, P., Shock, E., & Hillaireau, A. (2008). Antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic used for bottled drinking water. Water Research, 42(3), 551–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2007.07.048

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