Mexico explores new ways to solve white pollution

The Institute of Chemistry of the National Autonomous University of Mexico studied a new method of solving "white pollution" that uses an aqueous solvent to restore waste polystyrene foam to the original pellet state.
The head of the research project, Jesús Gracia van Derek, said that the collected Styrofoam was dissolved in a reusable commercial solvent and the resulting mixed solution was dropped into water and dissolved. The styrofoam will be polymerized again into clean and easy-to-separate original balls that can be re-formed into foamed plastic products.
Van Derrick pointed out that at present, the world mainly uses "melt granulation method" to recover foam plastics, that is, it is melted and pressed into filaments after high temperature melting, and then cut into recycled plastic beads, but the use of such recycled beads The performance is obviously worse than that of the new ball, and the ball obtained by this new method called "precipitation precipitation method" is exactly the same in performance as the new ball after foaming, and can be immediately used for pressing. Mold production.
Van Derek stressed that there are other important aspects in the recycling of foam, but the key is to reduce the waste foam to the original ball before molding. At present, the study has entered the final stage of the extraction experiment. Next, the institute will establish a small experimental plant to verify the practicality of the recovery method and determine the production parameters for the next commercial promotion.
Because of its good thermoplastic properties and chemical stability, foams have become widely used packaging and shock-absorbing materials, but because of their non-degradability and great damage to the natural environment, how to recycle them has become a hot topic for scientists in various countries. .