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

EcoPoly Solutions生产全系列的高密度聚乙烯（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、印刷薄膜袋和扁平袋。为了促进绿色生产过程，EcoPoly在生产许多产品时使用回收聚乙烯作为饲料。回收聚乙烯以颗粒的形式从不同的供应商获得。这些颗粒通常经过不同的破碎，分离，洗涤，挤压和制粒过程，然后在EcoPoly的另一个挤压过程中使用。此外，回收的聚合物有时与不同的树脂和添加剂混合。由于许多因素，包括在加工过程中发生的降解挑战、回收材料的未知历史以及添加剂混合过程中的复杂性，再生聚乙烯通常具有广泛的物理和机械性能。由于这种变化，EcoPoly在回收聚乙烯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Lakehead University（学术合作伙伴）合作，以深入了解由原料质量差和变化引起的故障机制。该项目包括以下步骤：(i)根据理化性质对原料进行表征，（ii）确定单个批次内以及不同批次之间原料的变化，（iii）根据其机械性质对薄膜进行表征，（iv）建立理化性质与最终薄膜性质之间的关系。该项目的成果不仅将为EcoPoly提供减少浪费的深刻见解，还将为利用回收树脂开发新一代塑料袋铺平道路，预计2019年的市场规模为1186亿美元。此外，该项目将使加拿大受益，因为它可以利用回收树脂开发环保袋。本项目拟为1名博士后提供技术培训。

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.