Processing scheme based on selective dissolution to recycle food packaging and other polymeric wastes and its economic analysis

This investigation proposes the development of the selective dissolution process for recycling food packaging and other polymeric wastes. This process takes into account that the specific solvent of a particular polymer which is to be separated, must be a non-solvent for the remaining polymers. Likewise, taking into account the solubility of each polymer into various solvents as well as its production costs, the order of the polymers produced can be polyvinylchloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polybutadiene (PB), polyacrylnitrile (PAN), polyesters (PES), nylon and polyurethanes (PU). However, cost analysis of the process revealed that the recycling of food packaging polymers in the order of PE, PVC, PP, and PS is more cost-effective.