Examensarbete

Technologies to recycle PVC materials

Client

For 70 years Diab International AB has developed, manufactured, and sold high-performance core materials that can be found in applications all over the world, in industries like marine, aerospace, wind energy and transport. The core materials have a unique combination of characteristics such as low weight and high strength. The company's largest market is the wind power industry, where the core material is used as a component to build the blades of the turbine. In 2019 Diab signed a five-years supply agreement with Vestas, one of the world's leading suppliers of wind turbines.

Diab has 800 employees, production units in Sweden, Italy, US, China, Lithuania, and Ecuador combined with 14 sales units around the world.

Divinycell - PVC

The core materials that DIAB manufactures consist of various types of polymers/polymer compositions. One of them is Divinycell-PVC that offers excellent mechanical properties and low weight. It is widely used and has a proven track record in virtually every application area employing sandwich composites, including wind, marine, industry, and transport.

Divinycell-PVC consists of PVC as one part of the polymer network, and the other part of the network is a range of thermoset polymers of polyurea, polyamine, and polyamide. Other reaction products are also present. The PVC-part stands for almost 50 weight-% and the thermoset polymers for the rest of the polymer content.

Task

A significant proportion of the company's climate impact comes from the Divinycell-PVC waste. The mixture of thermoplastic and thermoset polymers makes the core material difficult to recycle, and at the same time the current manufacturing process creates a lot of waste, like chips and smaller parts after milling and sawing. This waste goes primarily to incineration.

The aim of this project is to investigate what possibilities there are to take care of the waste. Is there any technology on the market today that could be developed to recycle or break down the Divinycell-PVC material or parts of the material? Is there any research within this area? Are there any potential areas where the waste could be used?

Final delimitations are discussed with the supervisor at the university and contact person at the company.

Hållbarhetsmål som projektet berör

Uppdragsgivare Diab International
Förkunskaper Vi söker dig som läser exempelvis Kemiteknik eller Ekosystemteknik
Omfattning Examensarbete, 30 hp
Plats Helsingborg
Kontaktperson

Malin Planander
malin@sustainalink.se
0732-75 04 29

Övrig information

Reseersättning för resor med kollektivtrafik inom Skåne i samband med projektet

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