Methods of Responsibly Managing End-of-Life Foams and Plastics Containing Flame Retardants: Part II

Abstract

This is Part II of a review covering the wide range of issues associated with all aspects of the use and responsible disposal of foam and plastic wastes containing toxic or potentially toxic flame retardants. We identify basic and applied research needs in the areas of responsible collection, pretreatment, processing, and management of these wastes. In Part II, we explore alternative technologies for the management of halogenated flame retardant (HFR) containing wastes, including chemical, mechanical, and thermal processes for recycling, treatment, and disposal.

Degradation of the Polymeric Brominated Flame Retardant “Polymeric FR” by Heat and UV Exposure

“…If these products are brought to landfill after their use as insulation material they might be exposed to heat again and in addition monomers deriving from the polymeric BFR could end up in the environment through water or attached to particles via air. 13,14 It should be noted that these possible ways of environmental contamination very much depend on national regulations and available technologies for recycling. Alternatively, incineration of foam based insulation products is regularly used.…”

Chemicals in Plastics - A Technical Report

“…Thermochemical processes, in particular pyrolysis, that generate monomers from plastic streams are increasingly used as recycling routes for waste streams that cannot be economically valorised by other primary recycling routes. The main target polymers for chemical recycling to produce monomers are PS (Prathiba et al 2018), PMMA (Maisels et al 2021), PET (Sinha et al 2010), PUR (Lucas et al 2018b) and PA (Mihut et al 2001). The general process involves a controlled transformation of polymers into monomers or oligomers of the same polymer that can be fed into the polymerization step of polymer production.…”

“…Chemical PUR recycling has been reviewed extensively (Lucas et al 2018a;Lucas et al 2018b). PUR is produced by the reaction of di-or polyisocyanate with a polyol.…”

Micro foaming performance of scCO2-aid glutaraldehyde/hexametaphosphate/thermoplastic starch foams modified by alkali treatment and montmorillonite nano-platelets

“…[1][2][3][4] The enormous volumes of non-biodegradable plastic foams often result in annoying waste disposal and contamination issues. [5][6][7] Development of biodegradable or sustainable starch or Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) plastic foams have attracted great attention for more than 20 years. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Great effort has been expended for developing biodegradable PLA foam materials.…”