This site compiles and reports: Sharp (SHARP) develops a new technology that mixes plant plastics with waste plastics. Plant plastics are based on cereals. Waste plastics are recovered from discarded consumer electronics.
In the area of ​​consumer electronics, the use of this new technology to mix plant plastics with waste plastics can greatly reduce the impact on the environment compared to the use of ordinary plastics extracted from petroleum.
In the future, Sharp (SHARP) will test the commercial potential of this technology with the goal of using this hybrid plastic in Sharp's products in 2006. When the price of this plant plastic is reduced to the same level as ordinary plastics, it is estimated that by 2010, the share of this reusable resource (plant plastics and plastic waste) in all products will increase to 30%. .
At present, the raw materials for electronic consumer goods are almost entirely dependent on fossil materials such as oil, but in order to build a sustainable recycling society, it must be converted to reusable resources (plant plastics and plastic waste) as much as possible.
At the same time, plant plastics have a reduced environmental impact because burning these materials will not cause an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air. However, in terms of impact resistance, heat resistance, cost, and other factors, the problem still exists. In the field of durable consumer goods, especially electronic products, the application is still limited.
Since 1993, Sharp began to study the recycling of waste plastics for consumer electronics. In May 2003, he was able to recover polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) from used appliances. Repeatedly used regeneration technology is put into practice. Mainly used in new production of air-conditioning, televisions, refrigerators and washing machines and other components in the machine, without reducing the physical properties such as image material strength.
Key features of new technology that combines plant plastics and waste plastics
1) Develop compatible technologies for plant plastics and waste plastics, [evenly mixing different types of plant plastics and waste plastics, which can lead to micro-diffusion (increase molecular-level compatibility)]
2) Improve impact resistance, heat resistance and other properties to a practical level, especially for plant plastics.
3) Three applications wait for patent application
Technologies that make plant plastics and waste plastics compatible
In the mixing of polylactic acid [PLA] and polypropylene (PP), the two materials are not compatible with each other and form a gap between the PLA and the PP's surface boundary, which greatly reduces the physical properties ( For example, impact and heat resistance (see Figure 1)
Figure 1: When PLA and PP are mixed using traditional methods
However, mixing a suitable amount of newly developed compatibilizer (see FIG. 2) and a mixture of PLA and PP in a certain proportion, PLA forms a very fine diffusion, which makes the two materials compatible with each other, and thus greatly improves the The physical characteristics of this mixture. (See Figure 3)
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of compatibility agent
Figure 3: PLA is slightly diffusible when mixed with compatibilizer
(Zhang Lianxi) (source:Sharp Corporation)