Development of novel PU binder and processing plant technology for use in PU foam recycling

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Flexible polyurethane (PU) foam is used extensively in the manufacture of durable goods (e.g.vehicles & furniture). Despite continuous improvements in production methods, up to 20% ofall PU foam becomes scrap after cutting and shaping. Additionally, once products such asmattresses and chairs reach their end-of-life stage, the disposal of the PU foam content mustbe addressed.Rebonded PU foam carpet underlay is one highly successful product developed to deal withwaste foam. Although the benefits of recycled foam are numerous, the recycling process itselfis slow, lengthy and requires significant energy input due to the use of steam, a necessarycomponent of the binding process. Currently the production of underlay from waste foaminvolves bonding the foam “chippings” into large blocks with PU binders, using a steamcuring process.The use of steam in the processing of recycled PU foam has many disadvantages. Generatingsteam is extremely expensive and non-environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the foam blocksproduced have a high moisture content meaning they must be dried for up to 3-4 days in largestorage sheds before slitting. Pollutants trapped within the steam can also escape into theenvironment during evaporation.The Foam-Bind project proposes to transfer and develop technology used in the rubberrecycling industry and apply it to PU foam recycling applications in order to eliminate theneed for steam and thereby address the issues outlined above. Rosehill Polymers (RP) hasalready undertaken successful laboratory developmental work for the binding agent. We planto further develop the specialist polyurethane (PU) binder and also the dosing/mixing plantrequired to apply the binder to the chip foam.