Topic: Application of Green Manufacturing in Environmentally Friendly Polymers and Composites Recycling Process

Polymers and polymer composites are extensively used in several engineering areas, generating a massive amount of composite waste while facing persistent limitations in recycling capacity. Their inherent toughness, durability, and heterogeneity pose recycling challenges and complicate the commercialization of recycled waste. Future imperatives call for new strategies to reduce waste, optimize recycling endeavors, and employ recovered materials, thereby minimizing the fraction of waste requiring incineration for energy recovery and eliminating disposal. Achieving a circular economic business model necessitates designing products right from the start, emphasizing recyclability or reusability. Encouraging manufacturers to prioritize recyclability in the early stages of product design becomes crucial. A notable challenge in composite recycling is the lack of transparency within the composites supply chain. Consistency in raw materials typically ensures uniformity in the final product. However, when sourced from recyclates, maintaining consistency becomes increasingly challenging due to variations arising from their recycled nature. The application of eco-design and circular economy principles and the use of tools, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC), will contribute to the development of environmentally friendly products that are also economically feasible.

The following topics will be discussed in this Special Issue:
● Polymer composites recyclability;
● Depolymerization, solvolysis, and mechanical recycling;
● End-of-life solutions for bio-based and biodegradable polymers;
● Advancements in green composites;
● Eco-design and design strategies for recycling;
● Circularity and industrial symbiosis in the polymer sector;
● LCA and sustainability.

Thermoset composites recycling, sustainability, life cycle assessment, design for recycling, cradle to cradle

31 Jul 2024