The Use of Textile Waste for Fibre-Reinforced Geopolymer Composite
Production
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The textile industry is among the top largest industries in the world, as the demand for new products proportionally increases with population growth. In 2014, 90.8 million tons of textile fibres have been produced which is expected to exceed 100 million tons by 2025. Many different types of fibres can be used for textile production, such as cotton, hemp, nylon, polyester, however, the application of synthetic fibres had become more common compared to natural fibres in the recent years (Pensupa et al. 2017).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The textile industry is among the top largest industries in the world, as the demand for new products proportionally increases with population growth. In 2014, 90.8 million tons of textile fibres have been produced which is expected to exceed 100 million tons by 2025. Many different types of fibres can be used for textile production, such as cotton, hemp, nylon, polyester, however, the application of synthetic fibres had become more common compared to natural fibres in the recent years (Pensupa et al. 2017).
Fundamental drying experiments with processed residual municipal solid waste materials
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Waste management companies and municipalities in southwestern Hungary aim the fulfillment of the EU’s target, namely to decrease landfilling below 10 % and increase recycling above 65 % of municipal solid wastes. However selective collection is continuously improved there is still high amount of residual MSW is generated. A new mechanical RMSW processing plant (20 t/h) and an experimental RDF pyrolysis plant (200 kg/h) had been built (Faitli et al. 2020) and now extensive research is being carried out to solve the local utilization of the bio-fraction and the RDF. This is the reason why this fundamental drying research was necessary. Dryer classification and the selection of the best solid waste drying techniques vary significantly due to the vast range of waste to be dried and the inherent challenges of dealing with non-standardized systems. In general, biomass dryers may be categorized according to their heat transmission technique and the physical qualities of wet particles.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Waste management companies and municipalities in southwestern Hungary aim the fulfillment of the EU’s target, namely to decrease landfilling below 10 % and increase recycling above 65 % of municipal solid wastes. However selective collection is continuously improved there is still high amount of residual MSW is generated. A new mechanical RMSW processing plant (20 t/h) and an experimental RDF pyrolysis plant (200 kg/h) had been built (Faitli et al. 2020) and now extensive research is being carried out to solve the local utilization of the bio-fraction and the RDF. This is the reason why this fundamental drying research was necessary. Dryer classification and the selection of the best solid waste drying techniques vary significantly due to the vast range of waste to be dried and the inherent challenges of dealing with non-standardized systems. In general, biomass dryers may be categorized according to their heat transmission technique and the physical qualities of wet particles.
Closed-loop recycling of packaging waste at the food manufacturer
Freiberger
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Packaging makes up an important part of food production both on side of suppliers and the manufacturer. Different kinds of packaging assure safe transport of goods as well as high quality of food products such as taste, smell, and colour. Therefore, plastic packaging provides a broad variety of properties, and their use in multilayer films enables tailoring properties, for example, films with desired medium barrier properties within excellent mechanical strength. However, the service life of plastic packaging is very short and at the end of it arises the problem of how to reuse or recycle such material to reduce plastic waste (Alipour et al. 2015), (Cenci-Goga et al. 2020).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Packaging makes up an important part of food production both on side of suppliers and the manufacturer. Different kinds of packaging assure safe transport of goods as well as high quality of food products such as taste, smell, and colour. Therefore, plastic packaging provides a broad variety of properties, and their use in multilayer films enables tailoring properties, for example, films with desired medium barrier properties within excellent mechanical strength. However, the service life of plastic packaging is very short and at the end of it arises the problem of how to reuse or recycle such material to reduce plastic waste (Alipour et al. 2015), (Cenci-Goga et al. 2020).
Tex2Mat: Recycling of industrial PA textiles to fibres and injection moulded parts
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The project Tex2Mat is a cooperation of several manufacturing companies and uni-versities. In the course of the project two waste streams from textile companies were analysed, one was textiles made from a mixture of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and cotton and the second one was a mixture of polyamides (PA). In this subproject regarding the PA the following members were selected in a way that all processing steps were represented along the complete value chain. The main objective the project was to analyse the whole value chain from the loom to collecting the waste, the recycling process and the production of the original product or other technical demanding products.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The project Tex2Mat is a cooperation of several manufacturing companies and uni-versities. In the course of the project two waste streams from textile companies were analysed, one was textiles made from a mixture of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and cotton and the second one was a mixture of polyamides (PA). In this subproject regarding the PA the following members were selected in a way that all processing steps were represented along the complete value chain. The main objective the project was to analyse the whole value chain from the loom to collecting the waste, the recycling process and the production of the original product or other technical demanding products.
Packaging recycling in EU member states – requirements from the circular economy package
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The EU has established concrete recycling targets for packaging waste for 2025 and 2030. Furthermore, the methodology for calculating the corresponding recycling rates has been amended. The new and stricter calculation methodology will potentially lead to decreases of the current rates. This will be particularly the case for plastic packaging, where denkstatt calculated a gap far above 10 % compared to smaller decreases (> 2 %) to be expected for glass or steel packaging.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The EU has established concrete recycling targets for packaging waste for 2025 and 2030. Furthermore, the methodology for calculating the corresponding recycling rates has been amended. The new and stricter calculation methodology will potentially lead to decreases of the current rates. This will be particularly the case for plastic packaging, where denkstatt calculated a gap far above 10 % compared to smaller decreases (> 2 %) to be expected for glass or steel packaging.
Collective research projects: Reviewing gaps in the recycling of multilayer flexible food packaging
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Recyclability and sustainability are conflicts in multilayer flexible food packaging, where material combinations (polymers, paper, aluminium) intend functionality. To increase the sustainability of multilayer flexible packaging through recyclable solutions, systemic and technical obstacles need to be considered. A holistic redesign approach, addressing food protection and the packaging’s end of life (collection, sorting, recycling) is essential to improve these already sustainable packaging solutions. To this, current collective research projects at the University of Applied Sciences, aim to closely link science and industry, promote research in the field of sustainable packaging and provide solutions to recycling goals of the European Union.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Recyclability and sustainability are conflicts in multilayer flexible food packaging, where material combinations (polymers, paper, aluminium) intend functionality. To increase the sustainability of multilayer flexible packaging through recyclable solutions, systemic and technical obstacles need to be considered. A holistic redesign approach, addressing food protection and the packaging’s end of life (collection, sorting, recycling) is essential to improve these already sustainable packaging solutions. To this, current collective research projects at the University of Applied Sciences, aim to closely link science and industry, promote research in the field of sustainable packaging and provide solutions to recycling goals of the European Union.
PlasticFreeDanube: Composition of macro-plastic waste in and along the Danube River
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The reliable estimates are essential to developing measures to reduce plastic pollution and to make successes measurable and visible. For this reason, the cross-border project "PlasticFreeDanube" (PFD), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of Interreg Slovakia-Austria, aims to gain new knowledge on this topic for the Danube.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The reliable estimates are essential to developing measures to reduce plastic pollution and to make successes measurable and visible. For this reason, the cross-border project "PlasticFreeDanube" (PFD), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of Interreg Slovakia-Austria, aims to gain new knowledge on this topic for the Danube.
Environmental-economic impact assessment of business models in the Austrian waste economy
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The dynamic macroeconomic one-region and multi-sector model WIFO.DYNK (dynamic new-Keynesian) was adapted to model the employment and value-added impacts of the Austrian waste economy in this respect. It is based on the most recent input-output tables of Statistics Austria.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The dynamic macroeconomic one-region and multi-sector model WIFO.DYNK (dynamic new-Keynesian) was adapted to model the employment and value-added impacts of the Austrian waste economy in this respect. It is based on the most recent input-output tables of Statistics Austria.
Influence of pre-screening before ballistic separation on NIR-sorting quality of plastic rich 3D-fractions out of MCW
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The exploitation of plastics gains more importance over time. In this con-text, material recycling is especially focused on packaging plastics. A further waste stream that contains a significant amount of plastics is mixed commercial solid waste. To assess the potential of plastics for recycling and energy recovery from these waste stream large-scale experiments were conducted. The potential of mechanical pre-processing with the aim of generating a 3D-plastics pre-concentrate was assessed. The focus of these investigations was put on the relevance of the screening stage and its influence on down-stream material processing via ballistic separation and sensor-based sorting. Results demonstrate not only that the screening of the waste leads to enrichment of plastics in coarse particle size ranges (especially > 80 mm) and transfer of contaminants, organics and minerals to fine fractions (especially < 10 mm), but also that sensor-based sorting performance can be significantly enhanced due to cleaning effects on plastics, induced by the material circulation and friction in a drum screen.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The exploitation of plastics gains more importance over time. In this con-text, material recycling is especially focused on packaging plastics. A further waste stream that contains a significant amount of plastics is mixed commercial solid waste. To assess the potential of plastics for recycling and energy recovery from these waste stream large-scale experiments were conducted. The potential of mechanical pre-processing with the aim of generating a 3D-plastics pre-concentrate was assessed. The focus of these investigations was put on the relevance of the screening stage and its influence on down-stream material processing via ballistic separation and sensor-based sorting. Results demonstrate not only that the screening of the waste leads to enrichment of plastics in coarse particle size ranges (especially > 80 mm) and transfer of contaminants, organics and minerals to fine fractions (especially < 10 mm), but also that sensor-based sorting performance can be significantly enhanced due to cleaning effects on plastics, induced by the material circulation and friction in a drum screen.
State-of-the-art and future perspectives in textile recycling
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Today, the blending of materials within textiles is an asset in the design of protective clothing and various technical applications, but material mixes and blends also found their way into retail trade. The rise in end-of-life items is thus putting pressure on waste management to develop suitable recycling processes. Still, in the textile sector, waste prevention claimed by policy seems to be a pious wish.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Today, the blending of materials within textiles is an asset in the design of protective clothing and various technical applications, but material mixes and blends also found their way into retail trade. The rise in end-of-life items is thus putting pressure on waste management to develop suitable recycling processes. Still, in the textile sector, waste prevention claimed by policy seems to be a pious wish.
