Relationships between Physio-chemical Properties and Quality of Films made of Recycled Polyethylene

EcoPoly Solutions生产全系列高密度聚乙烯(HDPE)、低密度聚乙烯(LDPE)和线性低密度聚乙烯(LLDPE)产品，包括可降解垃圾袋、印刷薄膜和塑料袋以及平面袋。为了促进绿色生产过程，EcoPoly在其许多产品的制造中使用回收聚乙烯作为原料。回收的聚乙烯是以颗粒形式从不同的供应商获得的。这些颗粒通常经过不同的粉碎、分离、洗涤、挤压和造粒工艺，然后用于EcoPoly的另一种挤压工艺。此外，回收的聚合物有时会与不同的树脂和添加剂混合。由于许多因素，回收聚乙烯通常具有广泛的物理和机械性能，包括加工过程中出现的降解挑战、回收材料的未知历史以及添加剂混合过程中的复杂性。由于这种差异，EcoPoly在用回收聚乙烯制成的产品的工艺和质量控制方面遇到了困难。在这个项目中，EcoPoly Solutions(工业合作伙伴)有兴趣与莱克黑德大学(学术合作伙伴)合作，以深入了解由于原料质量差和变化而导致的故障机理。该项目包括以下步骤：(1)根据物理化学性质对原料进行表征；(2)确定原料在单个批次内以及不同批次之间的差异；(3)根据薄膜的机械性能对薄膜进行表征；(4)建立物理化学性质与最终薄膜性能之间的关系。该项目的成果不仅将为EcoPoly提供减少废物的巨大洞察力，还将为利用回收树脂开发新一代塑料袋铺平道路，预计2019年市场规模为1186亿美元。此外，该项目将使加拿大受益，因为它将开发出使用回收树脂的环保袋。拟议的研究将为一名博士后研究员提供技术培训。

EcoPoly Solutions manufactures a full range of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) products including degradable trash bags, printed film & bags, and flat bags. To foster the green production process, EcoPoly uses recycled polyethylene as their feed in the manufacturing of many of their products. Recycled polyethylene is obtained in the form of pellets from different vendors. These pellets have usually undergone different crushing, separation, washing, extrusion and pelletizing processes before being used in another extrusion process at EcoPoly. Moreover, recycled polymers are sometimes mixed with different resins and additives. Recycled polyethylene generally possesses a broad range of physical and mechanical properties due to a number of factors, including degradation challenges that occur during processing, the unknown history of the recycled materials, and complexities in the additive mixing process. Because of this variation, EcoPoly experiences difficulties in the process and quality control of their products made out of recycled polyethylene. In this project, EcoPoly Solutions (industrial partner) is interested in collaborating with Lakehead University (academic partner) to gain deep insights about failure mechanisms originating from the poor quality and variation of the feedstock. The project includes the following steps: (i) characterize the feedstock in terms of physio-chemical properties, (ii) determine the variations in the feedstock within a single lot and also between different lots, (iii) characterize the films in terms of their mechanical properties, and (iv) establish relationships between the physio-chemical properties and the final film properties. The outcome of this project not only will provide EcoPoly with great insights into cutting their waste, but will also pave the path for developing a new generation of plastic bags out of recycled resins, an estimated market of $118.6 billion in 2019. Furthermore, the project will benefit Canada with the development of environmentally friendly bags out of recycled resins. The proposed study will provide technical training for one postdoctoral fellow.