Looking for help?
Recycling technologies for flooring
Wood fibres can be recycled using the techniques described in the table below:
| Technique | Description | Advantages | Drawbacks |
| Ohmic technology | MDF pieces pass water bath with application of ohmic heating | Easily scalableContinuous | Water treatmentComplex to maintain |
| Boiling/ Microwave | Boiling of MDF pieces in water or heating of pre-soaked MDF pieces by using microwave as heating source | Easy | Low energy efficiencyNot suited for post- consumer recycled MDFBig investment |
| Chemical | Breaking the glue bond by using chemical products (e.g. acids) | EfficientCan be fast (speed) | Rinsing of fibresEnvironmental impactCorrosionQuality of fibers |
| Mechanical refining | Add MDF chips to virgin wood chips and inject in the standard production flow | EasyContinuousNo investment needed | Quality of fibersEnergy usage |
| Pulping process | Shredded MDF passed in a process ressembling a pulping process | ContinuousRobust | High energy useHigh water usage |
| Steam explosion | Cook the material under steam pressure | Resembling current MDF processEnergy efficient | High pressure process |
Multilayered carpets can be separated in a mechanical way (e.g. ACR technology Aquafil), or via physical (based on density), chemical (solvent or supercritical CO2 extraction) or thermal processes (EcoMeTex project, application of a separation layer).
Separation of multilayered materials in a more general way can be done via the Indar Inside technology based on blowing agents, or the solventbased processes NewCycling®,PolySep or CreaSolv®.
Separation processes for PVC containing materials: the VinyLoop® process, the Wietek technology and the CreaSolv® process can be considered.
Overview of recycling methods of individual polymer streams
| Polymer | Recycling process |
| Polyamide | MechanicalThermo-mechanicalChemical (up to monomer) |
| Polyester | MechanicalThermo-mechanicalChemical (up to monomer) |
| Polyolefins | Thermo-mechanicalCracking processes (plastic-to-intermediate, plastic-to-fuel, plastic-to-chemicals, chemical-monomer)Gasification |
| Polyvinyl chloride | Thermo-mechanicalCracking |
| Latex | Mechanically |
| Bitumen | Thermo-mechanical |
