Consumers increasingly expect and demand sustainable products without trade-offs in performance or cost. Concerned companies, like P&G, have established long-term sustainability goals that include the use of large percentages of recycled resins in their products and packaging. To satisfy consumers’ expectations and achieve companies’ goals, P&G has developed a novel purification technology that converts contaminated recycled polyolefins (PP and PE) into virgin-like resins.<br/><br/>The proprietary technology is based on the use of an alkane solvent at elevated temperature and pressure, and a novel combination of standard chemical engineering unit operations, such as liquid–liquid extraction, sedimentation, size exclusion and adsorbent filtrations, and devolatilization. These processes purify the recycled polyolefins via removal of odor, volatile organic chemicals, and other organic and particulate contaminants and additives. Virtually every step in the process requires a fundamental understanding of colloids, filtration of polymer solutions, high-pressure phase behavior, and surface chemistry/interactions.<br/><br/>The PP purification technology was patented by P&G and licensed to Innventure, which launched PureCycle Technologies (PCT) in September 2015 to commercialize the technology. The 70-ton capacity pilot plant started operation in July 2019, and a ~50 kta commercial-scale facility is currently under construction.

Dissolution recycling of polyolefins using alkane solvents

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.