A Circular Solution to Mixed Waste Paint Recycling

多年来，改善涂料工业的可持续性一直被提上议事日程，特别是在减少挥发性有机化合物(VOC)方面。环境和健康法规对涂料中的VOCs水平和其他挥发物的长期排放进行了监管，推动了涂料行业的重大转变，目前在英国和欧洲销售的装饰涂料中有80%以上是水性涂料。该行业的重点现已扩大到包括节约能源和资源、最大限度减少浪费、提高工艺效率，以及使用可再生和可回收材料以增强可持续性。涂料约90%的环境足迹由原材料制造产生的环境足迹以及下游使用和处置产生的环境足迹平均分享。涂料和涂料中需求最大的颜料是二氧化钛(Ti02)，由于其不透明、美观、耐用和提供保护性能，90%以上的产品中含有二氧化钛。二氧化钛的生产涉及高体现能源、污染废流的排放和稀缺自然资源的开采。对二氧化钛使用的环境足迹的任何改善都是受欢迎的，从英国每年产生的大约5600万升废油漆中回收颜料是实现这一目标的一个机会。目前，没有任何技术可以分离废油漆成分来提供工业规模的可行的回收颜料产品，而与第一次使用的产品相比，该产品的性能没有明显下降。在之前由Innovate UK支持的一个项目中，PRA成功地开发了实验室规模的二氧化钛回收工艺，其物理和化学性质与原始产品相似，可重复用作高质量颜料；其他矿物成分也可回收用作颜料、填充剂和填充剂。该工业研究项目是英国涂料行业最重要的三家组织-PRA World、Crown Paints和Venator-之间的合作。PRA工艺的成功扩大，将该技术从实验室发展到中试工厂，将使地方当局能够节省废油漆处理的成本，使回收在经济上具有吸引力。这将减轻废弃油漆处理/倾倒带来的日益增长的环境负担，并将有助于该行业的可持续性，以及英国政府对回收和减少垃圾填埋场的承诺。这一工艺的成功开发标志着废油漆回收和循环利用的一步改变。

Improvements in the sustainability of the coatings industry has been on the agenda for a number of years, particularly in the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Environmental and Health legislation regulating the levels of VOCs in coatings and longer-term emissions of other volatiles has driven a major shift in the coatings industry so that more than 80% of decorative paints now sold in the UK and Europe are water-based. The focus for the industry has now expanded to include energy and resource conservation, waste minimisation, improved process efficiency, and the use of renewable and recycled materials for enhanced sustainability. Approximately 90% of the environmental footprint of coatings is shared equally between that generated through raw material manufacture, and through downstream use and disposal.The most in-demand pigment used in paints and coatings is titanium dioxide (TiO2), found in over 90% of products because of the opacity, aesthetics, durability of colour and protection properties it provides. Production of TiO2 involves high embodied energy, emissions of polluting waste streams, and the extraction of scarce natural resources. Any improvements to the environmental footprint of TiO2 use is to be welcomed, and recycling of pigment from the approximately 56 million litres of waste paint generated in the UK each year, much of which goes to landfill, is one opportunity to achieve this.Currently, no technology can separate waste paint components to provide a commercially viable recovered pigment product on an industrial scale which does not exhibit significantly reduced performance compared to first-use product. In a previous Innovate UK-supported project, PRA successfully developed a lab-scale process for recovery of TiO2 with similar physical and chemical properties to virgin product for re-use as a high-quality pigment; other mineral components can also be recovered for reuse as pigments, fillers, and extenders.This industrial research project is a collaboration between three of the most important organisations in the paint and coatings industry in the UK -- PRA World, Crown Paints, and Venator. Successful scale-up of PRA's process, developing the technology from lab to pilot plant will enable local authorities to save costs for waste paint disposal, making recycling financially attractive. This will mitigate the growing environmental burden posed by waste paint disposal/flytipping and will contribute to sustainability in the industry and to UK government recycling and landfill reduction commitments. Successful development of this process presents a step change in waste paint recovery and recycling.