CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.
Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .
Exploitable results
In Europe 400.000-tonnes of plastics from cable recovery are put to landfill each year. Cables contain various materials, such as PVC, metals, polyethylene and rubber. During the TRICARE project a recycling method was developed to recycle the PVC content of these cables.
When a PVC-rubber mixture is re-processed, the rubber degrades and causes air bubbles resulting in a low PVC quality. Therefore the aim of this project "Tribo-electric cable plastics recycling" (TRICARE ) was to recycle the PVC by establishing a dry-method for the separation of PVC, rubber and PE from cable scrap. The TRICARE project started in September 1998, which was possible thanks to the co-funding of the European Commission (Brite Euram Program). The co-ordination of the project was done by KEMA (NL), with the following partners participating; Cunha Barros (PT), Hamos (DE), Solvay (BE), Tecnometal (IT).
The charging-principle is based on the fact that materials get a positive or negative charge, when there is contact with other materials. After charging the particles, it can be separated by an electrostatic field. During the TRICARE project, a way has been developed which makes the electrical charge-gap between rubber- and PVC particles, of the shredded cables, as large as possible. The type of pre-treatment, types of charge, process control and equipment have done this.
The final results were as numbers: 90% PVC recovery, 85-89% PVC grade. The recycled PVC was upgraded with the VinyLoop® process and re-used in the cable processing industry, a new cable was produced with recycled PVC material. Also the recycled PVC can be used for other applications, like cables, shoe soles, garden-hoses etc.
With the possibility to re-use PVC in high quality products like power cables, a major landfill problem can be solved. The development of a dry separation technique based on Tribo-electric charging is unique in the recycling business.
The techniques and know-how developed in this project have paved a way for future material separation, like other polymer mixtures: from tubes, cars, other E&E products and even for the mineral-sand separation.
The result of the project is a dry recycling-process with low energy consumption. This process requires less manpower contrary to existing recycling-methods. Besides, there are no other additives necessary. Other advantage for this method is that there are no liquid or gaseous emissions and no wastewater is produced. A major side effect of the designed process should be an almost halogen-free waste fraction, for which alternative applications can be very feasible (more research is necessary in this field).
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