Thermal Recovery of Functional Coatings (TReFCo)

当电脑、智能手机和电池等设备被送去回收时，并不是所有的材料都被捕获用于新设备。这些金属最有可能被回收，因为它们很容易分离，而且它们的回收方法已经很成熟。通常由稀有而昂贵的材料制成的特殊涂层使我们的现代电子产品能够工作。然而，当涉及到回收时，这些涂层往往会带来问题，它们可能意味着金属受到更严重的污染，因此这些涂层经常被烧毁，造成污染并增加回收过程的成本。这也意味着昂贵的精心设计的涂层已经失去了，其价值没有实现。TReFCo的目标是开发一种低成本的方法来去除这些涂层，以便它们可以重复使用来制造新的设备。这将带来多重好处；它将意味着有价值的原材料被保留在供应链内，支撑英国经济。这也将意味着，在回收过程之前，它们所涂覆的材料是更清洁的，确保以较低的成本获得更纯的回收产品。TReFCo采用的方法是使涂层受到近红外辐射，以燃烧将涂层固定在适当位置的粘合剂(胶)，而不会损坏涂层材料或基材。TReFCo还将开发新的粘合剂，这种粘合剂在暴露在近红外线辐射下时会松开，使得在回收之前拆卸设备变得更容易(也更便宜)。除了项目期间的技术开发外，还将进行生命周期分析，这将确保研究人员充分了解生产材料和回收材料的环境成本。确定任何破坏环境的区域，以便通过材料设计或改变加工方法来避免这些区域。总而言之，该项目的目标是使真正的循环经济的可能性更接近于成为现实。

When devices such as computers, smart phones and batteries are sent for recycling not all of the materials are captured for use in new devices. The metals are most likely to be recycled because they are easy to separate and their methods of recycling are well established. Specialist coatings often made with rare and expensive materials enable our modern electronics to work. However these coatings often cause problems when it comes to recycling, they can mean that the metals are more contaminated and so these coatings are often burnt off, causing pollution and adding cost to the recycling process. It also means that the expensive cleverly engineered coating has been lost and its value not realised.TReFCo aims to develop a low cost method for removing these coatings so that they can be reused to make new devices. This will have multiple benefits; it will mean that valuable raw materials are kept within the supply chain, supporting the UK economy. It will also mean that the materials that they were coated on are cleaner prior to their recycling process ensuring a purer recycled product at a lower cost. The method employed by TReFCo will be to subject the coatings to near infrared radiation to burn the binder (glue) that holds the coating in place without damaging the coating material or the substrate material. TReFCo will also develop new adhesives that will 'unglue' when exposed to near infrared radiation, making it easier (and cheaper) to take devices apart before they are recycled. This could also be used within a repair process.In addition to the technical developments during the project a lifecycle analysis will be undertaken - this will ensure that researchers fully understand the environmental costs of producing materials and recycling them. Identifying any areas that are environmentally damaging in order that they can be avoided by material design or by changing the processing methods. In all the aim of the project is to make the possibility of a truly circular economy one step closer to being a reality.