FMSG ECO: Melt Mastication for Upcycling of Polyolefins

FMSG ECO：用于聚烯烃升级循环的熔融塑炼

• 批准号: 2229091
• 负责人: Margaret SobkowiczKline
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Lowell
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2229091&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: FMSG; ECO; Melt; Mastication; Upcycling

The need for highly functional flexible packaging for food, medical products, and consumer goods is growing worldwide, but single-use plastics are also contributing to environmental pollution. Current materials are not recyclable because of their heterogeneity and related challenges in collection, separation, cleaning, and reprocessing. While chemical recycling methods are rapidly evolving, these approaches require high energy input, and the intrinsic material value is lost. This project will enable increased recycling of flexible films through creation of a manufacturing process for high performance barrier films from a single polymer type. Industrial, economic, and societal benefits respectively include: (1) enhanced functional properties in films for high volume applications, (2) cost competitiveness driven by technologies that are compatible with current processing systems, and (3) greatly enhanced plastics recycling enabled by simplified material systems. The research plan includes industry workshops for advancing the novel plastics processing technologies as well as educational webinars to impact plastics sustainability more broadly.This research will investigate new materials processing strategies designed to replace traditional multilayer packaging systems with polyethylenes of varying molecular weight, branching structures, and crystallinity to achieve properties superior to known best-in-class barrier films. These strategies require improved understanding and control of polymer morphology, specifically: (1) characterization of the melt-mastication dynamics, (2) scale-up with layer multiplying sonication, and (3) developing structure-process-property correlations to reproducibly induce high crystallinity and tortuous hierarchical structures starting from a range of polymer chain architectures. The research on future processing strategies will inform the use of single polymer types serving multiple purposes in a product design, reducing the number of polymers employed across the industry as well as other materials such as metallized foils, paper layers, and additives that adversely impact the recyclability of flexible packaging. By the end of the project, we aim to: (1) demonstrate technical feasibility of all-polyolefin barrier films using layer multiplying melt-mastication, (2) deliver a predictive model relating polymer and film structure to process conditions and performance in melt-masticated polymer multilayers, and (3) produce a model of the energy and life cycle characteristics of the process. The research plan includes educational workshops for advancing plastics sustainability knowledge, and community webinars to impact plastics sustainability more broadly. Recruitment of students from underrepresented groups, targeted manufacturing education activities, and outreach to local communities for workforce development training will enrich the research, increase its relevance, and result in tangible diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes.This Future Manufacturing award was supported by co-funding from the Chemical, Biological, Environmental Engineering and Transport Systems Division, and the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation Division in the Directorate for Engineering, and the Division of Materials Research in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

全球范围内对食品、医疗产品和消费品的高性能软包装的需求不断增长，但一次性塑料也造成了环境污染。目前的材料由于其异质性以及收集、分离、清洁和再加工方面的相关挑战而不可回收。虽然化学回收方法正在迅速发展，但这些方法需要高能量输入，并且会损失内在的材料价值。该项目将通过创建单一聚合物类型的高性能阻隔薄膜的制造工艺，增加柔性薄膜的回收利用。工业、经济和社会效益分别包括：（1）增强大批量应用薄膜的功能特性，（2）与当前加工系统兼容的技术驱动的成本竞争力，以及（3）通过简化的材料系统大大增强塑料回收。该研究计划包括推进新型塑料加工技术的行业研讨会以及更广泛地影响塑料可持续性的教育网络研讨会。这项研究将研究新材料加工策略，旨在用不同分子量、支化结构和结晶度的聚乙烯取代传统的多层包装系统，以获得优于已知的一流阻隔薄膜的性能。这些策略需要更好地理解和控制聚合物形态，特别是：（1）熔体塑炼动力学的表征，（2）通过层倍增超声处理进行放大，以及（3）开发结构-过程-性能相关性，以从一系列聚合物链结构开始可重复地诱导高结晶度和曲折的分层结构。对未来加工策略的研究将为产品设计中使用单一聚合物类型提供多种用途，从而减少整个行业使用的聚合物以及其他材料（例如金属箔、纸层和添加剂）的数量，这些材料会对软包装的可回收性产生不利影响。在项目结束时，我们的目标是：（1）展示使用层乘熔融塑炼的全聚烯烃阻隔薄膜的技术可行性，（2）提供将聚合物和薄膜结构与熔融塑炼聚合物多层的工艺条件和性能相关联的预测模型，以及（3）生成该工艺的能量和生命周期特征的模型。该研究计划包括推进塑料可持续性知识的教育研讨会，以及更广泛地影响塑料可持续性的社区网络研讨会。从代表性不足的群体中招募学生，开展有针对性的制造业教育活动，以及向当地社区推广劳动力发展培训，将丰富研究内容，提高其相关性，并带来切实的多样性、公平性和包容性成果。该未来制造奖得到了工程局化学、生物、环境工程和运输系统部门、土木、机械和制造创新部门以及工程局土木、机械和制造创新部门的共同资助。 数学和物理科学理事会的材料研究。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。