COtooCLEAN food grade recycled polyolefins

目前，由于缺乏一种技术，可以将消费后的聚烯烃（LDPE，LLDPE，HDPE，PP）薄膜净化回食品级，并为这些回收塑料创造高价值的终端市场，这对提高薄膜的回收率至关重要，因此薄膜的回收利用受到很大阻碍。该项目的愿景是通过一种高效的商业化工艺填补这一空白，该工艺可以集成到机械回收操作中，针对高质量的薄膜应用，以确保达到回收目标。COtooCLEAN是一种基于低压超临界CO2（scCO2）与绿色助溶剂组合的聚烯烃薄膜破坏性无水清洗工艺，可以在一个步骤中去除油，在EFSA挑战测试条件下，可有效净化聚烯烃薄膜，使其回到食品接触水平。在初步研究中，已经显示出许多有希望的结果，并且将极大地受益于处理条件的优化，以设计用于商业回收操作中的膜的去污和清洁的原型装置。目前使用含水或有机溶剂洗涤、干燥和热解吸的混合物来进行消费聚烯烃膜。这些工艺在所需的能量和对环境的影响方面都具有很高的成本，并且无法达到食品级合规性。ScCO2是一种无毒、不易燃、无腐蚀性的溶剂，可以通过使用助溶剂来选择性地去除污染物。将薄膜回收到食品级质量的潜力不仅将提供新的回收流，而且还将大大减少垃圾填埋，取代原始树脂，从而显著节省资源，减少碳排放和用水量。ScCO2广泛用于提取食品香料和咖啡因等成分。令人印象深刻的是，一个简单的相变可以分离溶解的污染物，并释放二氧化碳再次作为溶剂使用。通过这种方式，它不会产生含有杂质和污染物的含水废物，也不会产生去污溶剂，这些溶剂本身可能是竞争过程中看到的有害物质。商业化的COtooCLEAN工艺有可能提供一种独特的技术，填补食品级薄膜回收的差距。该项目由Nextek Ltd领导，联合利华，Amcor，Viridor，Allied Bakeries，SUPREX，诺丁汉大学，化学系和生物复合材料中心，班戈尔大学。

Currently the recycling of films is greatly held back by the absence of a technology that can decontaminate post consumer polyolefin (LDPE, LLDPE,HDPE,PP) films back to food-grade and create high value end-markets for these recycled plastics back into films which is critical to boosting the recycling rate of films. The vision of this project is to fill this gap with an efficient, commercial process that can be integrated into mechanical recycling operations, targeted at high-quality film applications, to ensure that recycling targets can be met.COtooCLEAN, is a disruptive waterless cleaning process for polyolefin films based on low-pressure super-critical CO2 (scCO2) in combination with green co-solvents that can, in a single step, remove oils, fats and printing inks and effectively decontaminate polyolefin films under EFSA Challenge Test conditions back to food contact levels.The COtooCLEAN technology, in preliminary research, has shown many promising results and would greatly benefit from the optimisation of the processing conditions to design a prototype plant for use in decontamination and cleaning of films in commercial recycling operations.The industrial decontamination of post-consumer polyolefin films is currently performed using a mixture of aqueous or organic solvent washing, drying and thermal desorption. These processes have a high cost both in terms of the energy required and their environmental impact and are unable to reach food-grade compliance.ScCO2 is a non-toxic, non-flammable, non-corrosive solvent and can be selective about the contaminants it removes by the use of co-solvents. It's potential to recycle film back to food-grade quality will not only offer a new recycling stream, but will also facilitate significant reductions in waste to landfill, displacement of virgin resin with significant savings in resources and reductions in carbon emissions and water usage.ScCO2 is widely used in the extraction of food flavours and components such as caffeine. Impressively, a simple phase change can isolate dissolved contaminants and free the CO2 for re-use as a solvent once again. In this way it does not produce aqueous waste containing impurities and contaminants, or decontamination solvents that could themselves be hazardous materials as seen in competitive processes.A commercialised COtooCLEAN process has the potential to provide a unique technology that fills the gap in food-grade recycling of films.The Project is led by Nextek Ltd with deep commercial and technical support from Unilever, Amcor, Viridor, Allied Bakeries, SUPREX, University of Nottingham, Chemistry Department and BioComposites Centre, Bangor University .