Valentini Francesco, Rigotti Daniele, Saletti Matteo, Beccaro Alberto, Pasquardini Laura, Pegoretti Alessandro, Dorigato Andrea
Department of Industrial Engineering and INSTM Research Unit, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Nuova Saimpa srl, Loc. al Ponte, 38083 Borgo Chiese, Italy.
Polymers (Basel). 2024 Nov 30;16(23):3378. doi: 10.3390/polym16233378.
In light of the significant impact of climate change, it is imperative to identify effective solutions to reduce the environmental burdens of industrial production and to promote recycling strategies also for thermosetting polymers. In this work, the mechanical recycling of phenolic resins, obtained from industrial production scrap of plastic knobs for household appliances, was optimized. The feasibility of a partial substitution of virgin materials with recycled ones was investigated both at a laboratory and industrial scale. Finally, the environmental benefits arising from the use of recycled material were quantified through a life cycle assessment (LCA). The results of laboratory characterization demonstrated that the thermal properties of the phenolic resins were not influenced by the presence of recycled material, and the mechanical performances were not significantly impaired up to a recycled content of 30 wt%. The industrial production trials demonstrated the feasibility of replacing up to 15 wt% of virgin material without any influence on the aesthetical features of the produced components. Finally, LCA of industrially produced knobs highlighted a limited benefit of virgin material substitution in the case of novolac chromium-plated samples, while an overall environmental impact reduction of around 7-10% was detected in the case of resol-based materials.
鉴于气候变化的重大影响，必须找到有效的解决方案，以减轻工业生产的环境负担，并推动热固性聚合物的回收利用策略。在这项工作中，对从家用电器塑料旋钮的工业生产废料中获得的酚醛树脂进行了机械回收优化。在实验室和工业规模上，研究了用回收材料部分替代原始材料的可行性。最后，通过生命周期评估（LCA）对使用回收材料所产生的环境效益进行了量化。实验室表征结果表明，酚醛树脂的热性能不受回收材料存在的影响，在回收含量高达30 wt%时，其机械性能也没有明显受损。工业生产试验表明，在不影响所生产部件美学特征的情况下，可替代高达15 wt%的原始材料。最后，对工业生产的旋钮进行的生命周期评估突出显示，对于酚醛清漆镀铬样品，原始材料替代的益处有限，而对于基于甲阶酚醛树脂的材料，检测到总体环境影响降低了约7-10%。
